After DC shooting, USCIS' review of Green Card applications to have ‘tremendous effect on the backlog’ – what to know

A former senior USCIS functionary has revealed that the bureau’s fresh proclaimed critique of green card and other immigration applications could lead to massive delays. It could also place a huge strain on resources.

This comes after a shooting in Washington, DC, killed West Virginia National Guard Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, and wounded West Virginia Air National Guard Andrew Wolfe. The shooting was carried out by Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who was shot by another Guard member and taken into custody.

Ricky Murray, who was chief of staff of Refugee and International Operations at USCIS until November 29, told Newsweek that the effort was unprecedented in scope. "This is going to have a tremendous effect on the backlog. Having to pull resources together to review hundreds of thousands of cases is going to require thousands of man-hours. These man-hours are only going to be taken from processing of new filings," Murray said. "There are finite resources. You can expect to see significant delays in the processing of any new forms in the area that USCIS steals the resources from to do this re-review."

USCIS is now handling a record 11.3 million pending applications. This is the highest number in history.

The review was outlined in a USCIS memo published this month. It targets pending applications from people with adjusted status and from countries classified as high risk by the agency.

The pause affects as many as 19 countries that were subject to travel restrictions in the past. These include Afghanistan, Cuba, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Venezuela. Immigrants from these countries can expect to face delays for green cards, work permits, travel documents, visa extensions, and even naturalization, even if their interviews or other standard vetting processes have been completed.

According to USCIS, the measure is meant to make sure that individuals receiving immigration benefits do not pose a national security risk. A timeline to complete the review has not been specified yet.

USCIS cited the shooting of the National Guard members as a reason for the pause and increased scrutiny for people from those countries. “My primary responsibility is to ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible,” USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said in a statement after the attack.

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"The memo is unique in that it is using a single event to call into question the validity of the benefits of thousands of immigrants, almost all who have nothing to do with this isolated event. Immigrants of 18 of the 19 countries have no ties to this event, and even a very limited number of Afghans have ever even had contact with the perpetrator of the heinous event spurring this release of this memo," said Murray.

Experts told Newsweek that the review will possibly only identify a small number of cases where applicants were not admissible at the time of filing. "I think this is a needle-in-the-haystack search. Reviewing these hundreds of thousands of petitions and applications will inevitably discover a small swath of cases where the applicant was not admissible at the time of filing. Those cases can be rescinded or revoked, depending on the petition. But, this will be an extremely time-consuming process for very little extra security," Murray said, adding that the policy could slow the processing of new filings.

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According to attorneys, applicants from affected countries have already had their interviews canceled or delayed. The memo urges field offices to make the review of pending applications a priority while continuing routine processing as resources allow, but experts believe this balance will be difficult to maintain.

"There is a limited legal framework to reopen already approved petitions en masse, so this work is going to be a tremendous drain on already scarce resources at USCIS, with a limited probability of success in reaching the stated goal," Murray said.

Murray added, "Those who have an adjusted status may be re-reviewed in accordance with this memo. However, the regulations allow for this within a five-year period, a process known as recession. But doing it on this scale is unprecedented. Generally, this is done on a single case or group of cases where a bad actor or fraud is found."

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