‘There is nothing to do but pray.’ A broken immigration system fails an NC refugee and her kids
Immigration returned to the headlines when Governors Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis sent dozens of asylum-seekers to Martha’s Vineyard. Both criticized the federal government’s lack of action, while the Biden administration insisted it has a plan to manage migration while upholding “our values as a nation of immigrants.” Unfortunately, we’re failing at both.
Our immigration system is broken and getting worse. Children are still being separated from parents at the southern border. Allies who were promised protection are languishing in Afghanistan. The backlog for an employer-sponsored green card has surpassed three years, amid labor shortages. One technical failure is at the root of all this: Budgeting.
Unlike nearly any other government agency, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is reliant on application fees. Approximately 96% of its $4.8 billion budget is covered by fees for work permits and other basic immigration services. This funding model undermines the agency’s mission to facilitate lawful migration and places its core operations at risk when application levels are low.
Under the Trump administration, tightened requirements for family reunification petitions, elimination of Temporary Protected Status for six countries, and restrictions on legal migration contributed to a drastic reduction in USCIS funding even before the pandemic hit and applications dropped further. USCIS begged Congress for $1.2 billion of relief to avoid furloughs, but the proposal stalled under a Republican Senate and Democratic House, forcing the agency to make deep cuts, including to its contact center and application support services. The backlog has ballooned to 5.2 million cases, atop 8.5 million pending requests.
The agency needs proper Congressional appropriations, not just short-term injections of cash that do not address the instability of the funding model.
It is not just a question of efficiency, but also of economic growth and humanitarian responsibility. Without reliable H-1B visa services, U.S. businesses are losing access to the professional talent that has made our country a global leader in STEM. Application fees also subsidize humanitarian programs, meaning that immigrants are shouldering our commitment to refugees, who suffer life-and-death consequences.
Such is the case of Jitu Debbo, a 48-year-old Ethiopian refugee living in Winston-Salem. At the time of her departure, Jitu’s two daughters were too young to brave the 2,100-mile journey to Cairo, where she filed for refugee status. As soon as she could, Jitu applied for her young daughters to join her in America.
That was over three years ago. In the meantime, Jitu’s mother, sole caretaker of the girls, has died. Civil war broke out in Ethiopia, resulting in random acts of sexual violence and kidnapping. Jitu’s older daughter has aged out of eligibility during the 42-month wait, leaving Jitu with the excruciating decision to bring her 12-year-old daughter to safety while leaving her other daughter behind.
A frontline worker in an emergency room during the pandemic, Jitu has asked the offices of Sens. Thom Tillis and Richard Burr and U.S. Reps. Virginia Foxx and Kathy Manning to help. The USCIS response is always the same: No news, wait 180 days before contacting us again. “There is nothing to do but pray,” Jitu told me. “Their safety is in God’s hands.”
Proponents of the fee-funded model suggest raising fees, but USCIS is slow-moving. The last fee-setting update took 2.5 years to complete, by which time the fees were not adjusted to inflation. The model is bad — period. Raising fees would be further self-defeating, especially when the immigration process already costs $4,000-$12,000 on average.
Upon release of his budget in March, President Biden said, “Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.” If we value our identity as a nation of immigrants, Congressional appropriations should reflect that. We owe it to those seeking opportunity in the U.S. to provide them with feasible legal options, not a quagmire of red tape that leaves us all worse off.
This story was originally published September 29, 2022 at 1:42 PM with the headline "‘There is nothing to do but pray.’ A broken immigration system fails an NC refugee and her kids."