The USCIS (United States Citizenship & Immigration Services) warned its federal workers that furloughs are on the way on July 20 due to a significant budget shortfall developed by the pandemic Coronavirus.
The agency described that unless Congress takes 1.2 billion dollars to operate the agency efficiently, otherwise workers will be out of work starting the upcoming month.
#Breaking Thousands of federal immigration employees brace for furloughs https://t.co/SsoqKY4XjF #News #Report via #FoxNews #Politics
— Jorge Luis Lopez Esq (@lopezgovlaw) June 11, 2020
In a statement to the media outlet, the Spokesperson of USCIS said that without congressional interference, the agency will require to administratively furlough a part of their workers on approximately July 20. Moreover, he added that they continue to operate with Congress to offer essential funding to stop this unfortunate consequence.
The USCIS did not give the exact figure of workers affected, but a media company, Fox News, said that officials of the agency have informed a rough figure of staff that could affect around 13,000 workers or above two-thirds of the entire workforce, reported by a source familiar with the conference.
Besides this, the agency had already warned the federal union of the looming furloughs, and the AFGE (American Federation of Government Employees) had given a warning to its union followers on Wednesday.
Fox News reviewed an email sent by AFGE that said around 13,000 USCIS (US Citizenship & Immigration) workers are facing furloughs, and we have only a few days to back them. Furthermore, we have acquired notice that Homeland Security’s Department decides to furlough more than seventy percent of employees at the United States Citizenship & Immigration due to a significant deficiency in the budget that partly linked to the pandemic Coronavirus.
USCIS offices halted to avoid pandemic Coronavirus
United States Citizenship & Immigration offices halted in March to stop blowout of the pandemic Coronavirus, hanging in-person services and facilities at field and asylum offices. Furthermore, the United States President, Donald Trump, even placed many limitations on green cards for those who were already in the nation, that are normally managed by USCIS.
USCIS is a different agency from other govt. agencies, it operates with fee funding, means that its major revenue acquired by applicants in the form of fees for their applications to be processed.
In May, USCIS warned Congress and its employees about the budget shortfall. It is because the agency’s revenue collection from petition receipts and applications is expected to drop by sixty-one percent this year that means the agency will consume funding this summer, the agency says.
Although, the agency’s wish to approve a 1.2 billion dollars bill by Congress to permit it to create payroll. Moreover, USCIS declared to pay those funds back to the United States Treasury, including a ten percent upsurge to immigration applications.
