US Immigration Agency Drops Furlough for 13,000 Workers

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced Tuesday that it will cancel their planned furlough of 13,000 workers.

The immigration agency was scheduled to have the furlough on Sunday, but they had sustained pressure from both sides of the Congress to drop this.

USCIS Deputy Director for Policy Joseph Edlow spoke on behalf of the immigration agency. He said dropping the furlough now comes with "severe operational cost".

Edlow added that the agency will witness an increase in backlogs and wait times across the board.

Under Homeland Security, the USCIS is in charge of applications for visas, asylum, and citizenship. They are largely funded by fees.

They announced a potential furlough in May after the COVID-19 pandemic took hold of the country, noted The Hill.

A furlough was first announced to take place on late July, but cost-cutting measures and an increase in income improved the agency's situation. The furlough was first delayed before it was cancelled.

The agency was first projected to see a $571 million deficit due to the lockdown.

Operational Changes with Furlough

It warned that they would have been forced to furlough roughly 70% of their workers if it did not get $1.2 billion emergency funding from Congress. The drastic worker decrease would cause big changes in the agency's operations.

Edlow said USCIS went through some cost saving measures. A Fox News report details these efforts.

One was reducing federal contracts that assist the agency with a range of duties, including large amounts of paperwork. There were also cuts made on nonessential travel, said a report from AP News.

The move let the agency avoid furloughs but it is also the reason people will have to wait longer for their services to be fulfilled.

USCIS said that lawmakers were not encouraging such operational changes. But the Congress did not grant them the $1.2 billion they needed for operations, reported Federal Times.

The effects of these operational changes are still not clear at this time, but the new changes give the agency a $230 million surplus. The surplus lets them put off furloughs until the end of the year.

The agency is also expected to remain solved at least through November. By that point, it is expected that new funding is already in place for USCIS.

USCIS in Better Financial Situation

"The USCIS financial situation has improved considerably since the agency first made Congress aware of a potential need for emergency appropriated funds," they wrote in a joint letter earlier this week.

They added that as they are on a better financial situation, and there are efforts in Congress to ensure they remain up and working, they were allowed to further delay furloughs and contract reductions.

The agency has roughly $.8 billion in budget, which comes almost entirely from fees. The fees are for people to live or work in the country.

Immigration restrictions due to the pandemic made this income source drop.

The agency had to close for more than two months. They said COVID-19 caused the USCIS's revenue to decline by half.

Feeds will increase by roughly 20% starting October 2. They will also scrap fee waivers, including for asylum seekers.

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