Boundless Immigration News Weekly Recap Archive: February 23, 2024

Without Congressional Action, ICE Faces $500 Million Budget Crisis

According to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could face a budget shortfall of over $500 million unless Congress allocates additional funding.

With federal authorities predicting a new surge 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.

U.S. Citizenship Costs Are On the Rise

More than 9 million green card holders in the U.S. are currently eligible for citizenship but have yet to apply. On April 1, the cost of the naturalization application will increase as much as 19%. Many immigration advocates say the increased fees will only deter permanent residents from naturalizing.

The rise in naturalization costs are part of a wider USCIS fee restructure – the first since 2016. Boundless CEO Xiao Wang told USA Today that USCIS fee increases should be tied to inflation "so that we’re not in a world where there is significant time that passes and then there is a big jump."

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Migrant Encounters at U.S.-Mexico Border Hit Record High

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics, December 2023 saw the highest number of migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border of any month on record. CBP agents encountered 249,735 migrants attempting to cross the border in December 2023, far surpassing the previous peak of about 224,000 encounters in May 2022.

USCIS Reduces Case Backlog for the First Time in Ten Years

USCIS recently announced its achievements for FY 2023. With a self-proclaimed focus on enhancing customer experience and expediting employment-based immigration, naturalization, and humanitarian efforts, USCIS has successfully reduced its backlog of cases for the first time in over a decade.

In an unprecedented effort, USCIS handled over 10.9 million case filings and completed over 10 million in 2023, effectively reducing its backlog by 15%.