USCIS Ombudsman Report Reflects On Unprecedented Backlogs

On June 15, 2022, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) ombudsman published formal recommendations on how the federal agency can address certain systemic issues. According to the report, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated processing delays for immigration filings at the USCIS. Some believe that the pandemic revealed potential inefficiencies within the agency. While some factors may have been "outside of USCIS's control," the processing delays for millions of immigration cases may also partly be due to the agency's policies.

Ombudsman's Report

The recent report included recommendations for USCIS "to address the agency's chronic funding challenges" that have thus far hindered the agency's ability to meet its congressionally defined mission of providing prompt, consistent, and fair adjudications to customers. Because USCIS does not receive funding or appropriations from Congress for its humanitarian services (such as refugee and asylum programs), the