Immigration Essay

     The government shutdown is having an impact on green card hearings. There are many people who say that that the shutdown is not having an impact on hearings at all and then there are some people who say that it is, in fact, having an impact and a pretty big one at that.

     In the article "The Latest Government Shutdown Won't Disrupt the Immigration System" from boundless.com, it states that during a partial government shutdown, the agencies that are associated with the government do not stop. They are able to do this because agencies such as these are not funded by the government, Congress, tax payers, etc. The USCIS falls under this category. USCIS stands for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. In their official statement it stated that the shutdown "does not affect the USCIS's fee-funded activities" and that their offices "will remain open and all individuals should attend their interviews and appointments as scheduled". It also states that common forms will not be "furloughed or work unpaid" like the other employees of the government and in the other parts of the Department of Homeland and Security. It is also stated that there shouldn't be any "extra delays" because of the shutdown. 

     In the article "What Happens to My Case During the Government Shutdown?" from  ilgrp.com, it lists all of the frequently asked questions about the shutdown and then provides answers to those questions. To the question "Can I still file a petition for immigration status?" it responds that immigration petitions can be filed at any time because the USCIS office is open during the shutdown. They also respond that the USCIS has a statement that says "fee-for-service activities preformed by USCIS are not affected by a lapse in the annual funding" because pay fees when they apply for benefits. The other main question is "What if I have a petition that is already filled?" in which they respond "petitions will continue to move forward" and "filed petitions will not be abandoned".

     In the article "Immigration Impact of Potential Partial Government Shutdown" from fragomen.com, it states that an "overview" of the situation is that if a partial government shutdown occurs after December 21, immigration benefits processing at DOL, USCIS, CBP, and U.S. consulates should continue, however, E-Verify, EB-5 Regional Center, and some other USCIS immigration programs would expire if Congress fails to reach a budget in time. 

     In the article "How the Government Shutdown Impacts the USCIS" from fileright.com , it states that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services is a little different than most of the federal offices because mostly everything else is run majorly off of immigrant fees. In the article "December 2018 Potential Government Shutdown and Impact on Immigration Processes" from nationalreview.com , they state that the president says he will not sign any funding bill that does not include funding for construction of a wall on the US-Mexico border and that this shutdown will end when Congress passes a funding bill and President Trump signs it into law. As many of the other articles have stated, this one too states that a shutdown "would not affect the continued employment of 'essential personnel'" because these organizations are fee-based and self-sustaining. 

     In the recording " Shutdown - Delayed Immigration Cases could Further Strain Backlogged System" from  npr.com, Rachel Martin starts the conversation off by saying that along with all of the consequences the shutdown is causing, the immigration courts across the the country and closed, which is against all of their statements. Laura Benshoff then says that the Immigration Attorney, Matthew Archam, hasn't called up his clients to tell them that they don't have to show up in court. Matthew then replies that he "kind of mentioned" to "a few" of his clients that their hearings will not be going forward because of the government shutdown. Ashley Tabaddor works for Immigration services and she alone has 2,000 pending cases and the whole Immigration Services has more than 700,000 cases. 

     Because of the shutdown, these cases are being pushed back and back and back until they figure out something. So regardless to their statements about not closing their offices or pushing cases back, they are doing just that. 

 

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