USCIS Staff Cuts Threaten to Worsen Immigration Backlogs
Mass retirements and layoffs at USCIS spark fears of longer immigration delays.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is facing significant staff reductions, with reports indicating that up to 20,000 employees have been asked to retire early or face layoffs. The cuts, part of the Trump administration’s broader push to streamline federal agencies, have raised alarms about potential delays in processing immigration applications, threatening to exacerbate existing backlogs and impact families, businesses, and asylum seekers.
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The layoffs began in February, with nearly 50 USCIS employees terminated as part of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reduction of 405 workers. “Under President Trump’s leadership, we are making sweeping cuts and reform across the federal government to eliminate egregious waste and incompetence that has been happening for decades at the expense of the American taxpayer,” said DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin. The agency identified those cut as “non-mission critical personnel in probationary status,” though critics argue the losses will hinder core functions.
USCIS, which processes applications for citizenship, green cards, asylum, and work permits, handled a record 10.9 million applications last fiscal year. The agency relies on fees for 96% of its budget, making the rationale for cuts—often framed as reducing wasteful spending—puzzling to some. “Cuts at USCIS baffled some within the leadership ranks of the agency, who noted the agency is largely funded by immigration application fees, not congressional appropriations,” according to agency insiders.
The most recent wave of reductions, reported this month, involves internal communications urging up to 20,000 staff—roughly 80% of USCIS’s workforce—to accept early retirement or risk termination. “This would be a disaster for US immigration,” said Dee Das, an immigration advocate tracking the developments. “Last time this happened in 2020, backlogs doubled.” In 2020, furloughs and hiring freezes led to processing times for some applications, like green cards, stretching to 20 months, a precedent experts fear could repeat.
Michael Knowles, vice president of the National CIS Council 119, which represents about 14,500 USCIS employees, highlighted the human toll. “They’ve shown they’re capable through their previous employment to become immigration officers, adjudicators, economists, analysts, asylum officers, refugee officers—these are all jobs that one needs considerable knowledge, skills and experience to do before you even get hired,” he said of the affected workers. Knowles noted that the 45 employees fired in February included support staff and adjudications officers, though none were asylum officers.
The cuts come as USCIS grapples with a growing humanitarian caseload, including over one million pending asylum claims as of 2023. “USCIS has struggled to obtain sufficient staffing and additional federal funding to address this increased workload,” a DHS Office of Inspector General report found, underscoring the agency’s challenges even before the layoffs. Advocates warn that further reductions could slow processing for family-based petitions, employment visas, and humanitarian protections, potentially separating families and disrupting businesses reliant on immigrant labor.
While enforcement agencies like ICE and Customs and Border Protection have been spared, the focus on slashing USCIS staff has drawn criticism. “Processing times will rise. Families will be separated. Businesses will suffer,” Das said, echoing concerns from immigration attorneys who report clients already facing years-long waits.
USCIS’s shift toward automation, including electronic filing, aims to offset staffing losses, but experts question its short-term efficacy. “While USCIS’s automation efforts will purportedly lead to efficiencies in the long term, the short-term impacts are creating uncertainties for petitioners and applicants,” said immigration attorney Gianfranco Berardi. As the agency navigates these cuts, the ripple effects on the immigration system remain a growing concern.