Without action from Congress, ICE faces a $500 million budget crisis
According to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) may be facing a problem. budget deficit by more than $500 million unless Congress provides additional funds.
As federal authorities predict another wave of border crossings in the coming months, DHS officials say key areas of ICE operations could run out of money as soon as May 2024.
US Citizenship Costs Are Rising
In the United States, more than 9 million green card holders are currently eligible for citizenship but have not yet applied. On April 1, the cost of applying for naturalization will increase by up to 19%. Many immigration advocates say raising fees will only deter permanent residents from naturalizing.
The rise in naturalization costs is part of a broader context USCIS Fee Restructuring – the first since 2016. Xiao Wang, CEO of Boundless said USA Today believes that USCIS fee increases should be tied to inflation “so that we’re not in a world where a huge amount of time passes and then there’s a big jump.”
Migrant encounters at US-Mexico border reach record high
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statisticsDecember 2023 saw the highest number of migrant encounters at the US-Mexico border on record. CBP officers encountered 249,735 migrants attempting to cross the border in December 2023, far surpassing the previous peak of around 224,000 encounters in May 2022.
USCIS reduces case backlog for first time in ten years
USCIS recently announcement its accomplishments for fiscal year 2023. With a focus on improving the customer experience and accelerating employment-based immigration, naturalization, and humanitarian assistance efforts, USCIS successfully to reduce its backlog of cases for the first time in more than a decade.
In an unprecedented effort, USCIS processed more than 10.9 million cases and completed more than 10 million in 2023, reducing its backlog by 15%.