I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4798

To reduce the backlog in the processing of immigration benefit applications

and to make improvements to infrastructure necessary for the effective

provision of immigration services, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 29, 2000

Ms. LOFGREN (for herself, Mr. MCCOLLUM, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. ROSLEHTINEN, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. KING, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. HORN, Mr.

SERRANO, Mrs. BONO, Mr. FARR of California, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr.

BERMAN, Mr. MEEHAN, Ms. VELA ́

ZQUEZ, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. DOOLEY

of California, Mrs. THURMAN, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. CONDIT,

Mr. WEINER, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. MATSUI, Mr. MORAN of

Virginia, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Ms.

SANCHEZ, Ms. MCCARTHY of Missouri, Ms. RIVERS, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr.

PAYNE, and Mrs. NAPOLITANO) introduced the following bill; which was

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To reduce the backlog in the processing of immigration benefit applications and to make improvements to infrastructure necessary for the effective provision of immigration

services, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Immigration Services

3 and Infrastructure Improvements Act of 2000’’.

4 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find6 ings:

7 (1) Applications for naturalization have in8 creased dramatically in recent years, outpacing the

9 Immigration and Naturalization Service’s ability to

10 process them.

11 (2) The dramatic increase in applications for

12 naturalization and the inability of the Immigration

13 and Naturalization Service to deal with them ade14 quately has resulted in an unacceptably large back15 log in naturalization adjudications.

16 (3) The processing times in the Immigration

17 and Naturalization Service’s other immigration ben18 efits have been unacceptably long. Applicants for

19 family- and employment-based visas are waiting as

20 long as 3 to 4 years to obtain a visa or an adjust21 ment to lawful permanent resident status.

22 (4) In California, the delays in processing ad23 justment of status applications have averaged 52

24 months. In Texas, the delays have averaged 69

25 months. Residents of New York have had to wait up

26 to 28 months; in Florida, 26 months; in Illinois, 37
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1 months; in Oregon, 31 months; and in Arizona, 49

2 months. Most other States have experienced unac3 ceptably long processing and adjudication delays.

4 (5) Applicants pay fees to have their applica5 tions adjudicated in a timely manner. These fees

6 have increased dramatically in recent years without

7 a commensurate increase in the capability of that

8 Immigration and Naturalization Service to process

9 and adjudicate these cases in an efficient manner.

10 (6) Processing these applications in a timely

11 fashion is critical. Each 12-month delay in adjudi12 cating an adjustment of status application requires

13 the alien to file applications to extend employment

14 authorization to work and advance parole documents

15 to travel.

16 (7) The enormous delays in processing applica17 tions for families and businesses have had a negative

18 impact on the reunification of spouses and minor

19 children and the ability of law-abiding and contrib20 uting members of our communities to participate

21 fully in the civic life of the United States.

22 (8) United States employers have also experi23 enced debilitating delays in hiring employees who

24 contribute to the economic growth of the United

25 States. These delays have forced employers to send
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1 highly skilled and valued employees out of the

2 United States because their immigrant petitions

3 were not approved in a timely fashion. Such disrup4 tions seriously threaten the competitive edge of the

5 United States in the global marketplace.

6 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to—

7 (1) provide the Immigration and Naturalization

8 Service with the mechanisms it needs to eliminate

9 the current backlog in the processing of immigration

10 benefit applications within 1 year after enactment of

11 this Act and to maintain the elimination of the back12 log in future years; and

13 (2) provide for regular congressional oversight

14 of the performance of the Immigration and Natu15 ralization Service in eliminating the backlog and

16 processing delays in immigration benefits adjudica17 tions.

18 (c) POLICY.—It is the sense of Congress that the

19 processing of an immigration benefit application should be

20 completed not later than 90 days after the initial filing

21 of the application, except that a petition for a non22 immigrant visa under section 214(c) of the Immigration

23 and Nationality Act should be processed not later than

24 30 days after the filing of the petition.
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1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

2 In this Act:

3 (1) BACKLOG.—The term ‘‘backlog’’ means—

4 (A) with respect to an immigration benefit

5 application relating to status as an immigrant,

6 the period of time in excess of 90 days that

7 such application has been pending before the

8 Immigration and Naturalization Service; and

9 (B) with respect to an immigration benefit

10 application relating to status as a non11 immigrant, the period of time in excess of 30

12 days that such application has been pending be13 fore the Immigration and Naturalization Serv14 ice.

15 (2) IMMIGRATION BENEFIT APPLICATION.—The

16 term ‘‘immigration benefit application’’ means any

17 application or petition to confer, certify, change, ad18 just, or extend any status granted under the Immi19 gration and Nationality Act.

20 SEC. 4. IMMIGRATION SERVICES AND INFRASTRUCTURE

21 IMPROVEMENT ACCOUNT.

22 (a) AUTHORITY OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The

23 Attorney General shall take such measures as may be nec24 essary to—

25 (1) reduce the backlog in the processing of im26 migration benefit applications, with the objective of
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1 the total elimination of the backlog not later than

2 one year after the date of enactment of this Act;

3 (2) make such other improvements in the proc4 essing of immigration benefit applications as may be

5 necessary to ensure that a backlog does not develop

6 after such date; and

7 (3) make such improvements in infrastructure

8 as may be necessary to effectively provide immigra9 tion services.

10 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be

12 appropriated to the Department of Justice from

13 time to time such sums as may be necessary for the

14 Attorney General to carry out subsection (a).

15 (2) DESIGNATION OF ACCOUNT IN TREAS16 URY.—Amounts appropriated pursuant to paragraph

17 (1) may be referred to as the ‘‘Immigration Services

18 and Infrastructure Improvements Account’’.

19 (3) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts appro20 priated pursuant to paragraph (1) are authorized to

21 remain available until expended.

22 (4) LIMITATION ON EXPENDITURES.—None of

23 the funds appropriated pursuant to paragraph (1)

24 may be expended until the report described in sec25 tion 5(a) has been submitted to Congress.
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1 SEC. 5. REPORTS TO CONGRESS.

2 (a) BACKLOG ELIMINATION PLAN.—

3 (1) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 90

4 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the At5 torney General shall submit a report to the Commit6 tees on the Judiciary and Appropriations of the Sen7 ate and the House of Representatives concerning—

8 (A) the backlogs in immigration benefit ap9 plications in existence as of the date of enact10 ment of this Act; and

11 (B) the Attorney General’s plan for elimi12 nating such backlogs.

13 (2) REPORT ELEMENTS.—The report shall

14 include—

15 (A) an assessment of the data systems

16 used in adjudicating and reporting on the sta17 tus of immigration benefit applications,

18 including—

19 (i) a description of the adequacy of

20 existing computer hardware, computer

21 software, and other mechanisms to comply

22 with the adjudications and reporting re23 quirements of this Act; and

24 (ii) a plan for implementing improve25 ments to existing data systems to accom-
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1 plish the purpose of this Act, as described

2 in section 2(b);

3 (B) a description of the quality controls to

4 be put into force to ensure timely, fair, accu5 rate, and complete processing and adjudication

6 of such applications;

7 (C) the elements specified in subsection

8 (b)(2);

9 (D) an estimate of the amount of appro10 priated funds that would be necessary in order

11 to eliminate the backlogs in each category of

12 immigration benefit applications described in

13 subsection (b)(2); and

14 (E) a detailed plan on how the Attorney

15 General will use any funds in the Immigration

16 Services and Infrastructure Improvements Ac17 count to comply with the purposes of this Act.

18 (b) ANNUAL REPORTS.—

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning 90 days after the

20 end of the first fiscal year for which any appropria21 tion authorized by section 4(b) is made, and 90 days

22 after the end of each fiscal year thereafter, the At23 torney General shall submit a report to the Commit24 tees on the Judiciary and Appropriations of the Sen-
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1 ate and the House of Representatives concerning the

2 status of—

3 (A) the Immigration Services and Infra4 structure Improvements Account including any

5 unobligated balances of appropriations in the

6 Account; and

7 (B) the Attorney General’s efforts to elimi8 nate backlogs in any immigration benefit appli9 cation described in paragraph (2).

10 (2) REPORT ELEMENTS.—The report shall

11 include—

12 (A) State-by-State data on—

13 (i) the number of naturalization cases

14 adjudicated in each quarter of each fiscal

15 year;

16 (ii) the average processing time for

17 naturalization applications;

18 (iii) the number of naturalization ap19 plications pending for up to 3 months, 6

20 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24

21 months, 36 months, and 48 months or

22 more;

23 (iv) estimated processing times adju24 dicating newly submitted naturalization ap25 plications;
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1 (v) an analysis of the appropriate

2 processing times for naturalization applica3 tions; and

4 (vi) the additional resources and proc5 ess changes needed to eliminate the back6 log for naturalization adjudications;

7 (B) the status of applications or, where ap8 plicable, petitions described in subparagraph

9 (C), by Immigration and Naturalization Service

10 district, including—

11 (i) the number of cases adjudicated in

12 each quarter of each fiscal year;

13 (ii) the average processing time for

14 such applications or petitions;

15 (iii) the number of applications or pe16 titions pending for up to 3 months, 6

17 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24

18 months, 36 months, and 48 months or

19 more;

20 (iv) the estimated processing times

21 adjudicating newly submitted applications

22 or petitions;

23 (v) an analysis of the appropriate

24 processing times for applications or peti25 tions; and
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1 (vi) a description of the additional re2 sources and process changes needed to

3 eliminate the backlog for such processing

4 and adjudications; and

5 (C) a status report on—

6 (i) applications for adjustments of sta7 tus to that of an alien lawfully admitted

8 for permanent residence;

9 (ii) petitions for nonimmigrant visas

10 under section 214 of the Immigration and

11 Nationality Act;

12 (iii) petitions filed under section 204

13 of such Act to classify aliens as immediate

14 relatives or preference immigrants under

15 section 203 of such Act;

16 (iv) applications for asylum under sec17 tion 208 of such Act;

18 (v) registrations for Temporary Pro19 tected Status under section 244 of such

20 Act; and

21 (vi) a description of the additional re22 sources and process changes needed to

23 eliminate the backlog for such processing

24 and adjudications.
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1 (3) ABSENCE OF APPROPRIATED FUNDS.—In

2 the event that no funds are appropriated subject to

3 section 4(b) in the fiscal year in which this Act is

4 enacted, the Attorney General shall submit a report

5 to Congress not later than 90 days after the end of

6 such fiscal year, and each fiscal year thereafter, con7 taining the elements described in paragraph (2).

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