[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2586 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
106th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2586
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 18, 2000
Mrs. Feinstein (for herself, Mr. Abraham, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Jeffords, Mr.
Reid, Mr. Moynihan, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Graham, Mr. Durbin, and Mr.
DeWine) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Immigration Services and
Infrastructure Improvements Act of 2000''.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Applications for naturalization have increased
dramatically in recent years, outpacing the Immigration and
Naturalization Service's ability to process them.
(2) The dramatic increase in applications for
naturalization and the inability of the Immigration and
Naturalization Service to deal with them adequately has
resulted in an unacceptably large backlog in naturalization
adjudications.
(3) The processing times in the Immigration and
Naturalization Service's other immigration benefits have been
unacceptably long. Applicants for family- and employment-based
visas are waiting as long as 3 to 4 years to obtain a visa or
an adjustment to lawful permanent resident status.
(4) In California, the delays in processing adjustment of
status applications have averaged 52 months. In Texas, the
delays have averaged 69 months. Residents of New York have had
to wait up to 28 months; in Florida, 26 months; in Illinois, 37
months; in Oregon, 31 months; and in Arizona, 49 months. Most
other States have experienced unacceptably long processing and
adjudication delays.
(5) Applicants pay fees to have their applications
adjudicated in a timely manner. These fees have increased
dramatically in recent years without a commensurate increase in
the capability of that Immigration and Naturalization Service
to process and adjudicate these cases in an efficient manner.
(6) Processing these applications in a timely fashion is
critical. Each 12-month delay in adjudicating an adjustment of
status application requires the alien to file applications to
extend employment authorization to work and advance parole
documents to travel.
(7) The enormous delays in processing applications for
families and businesses have had a negative impact on the
reunification of spouses and minor children and the ability of
law-abiding and contributing members of our communities to
participate fully in the civic life of the United States.
(8) United States employers have also experienced
debilitating delays in hiring employees who contribute to the
economic growth of the United States. These delays have forced
employers to send highly skilled and valued employees out of
the United States because their immigrant petitions were not
approved in a timely fashion. Such disruptions seriously
threaten the competitive edge of the United States in the
global marketplace.
(b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to--
(1) provide the Immigration and Naturalization Service with
the mechanisms it needs to eliminate the current backlog in the
processing of immigration benefit applications within 1 year
after enactment of this Act and to maintain the elimination of
the backlog in future years; and
(2) provide for regular congressional oversight of the
performance of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in
eliminating the backlog and processing delays in immigration
benefits adjudications.
(c) Policy.--It is the sense of Congress that the processing of an
immigration benefit application should be completed not later than 180
days after the initial filing of the application, except that a
petition for a nonimmigrant visa under section 214(c) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act should be processed not later than 30
days after the filing of the petition.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Backlog.--The term ``backlog'' means, with respect to
an immigration benefit application, the period of time in
excess of 180 days that such application has been pending
before the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
(2) Immigration benefit application.--The term
``immigration benefit application'' means any application or
petition to confer, certify, change, adjust, or extend any
status granted under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
SEC. 4. IMMIGRATION SERVICES AND INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENT ACCOUNT.
(a) Authority of the Attorney General.--The Attorney General shall
take such measures as may be necessary to--
(1) reduce the backlog in the processing of immigration
benefit applications, with the objective of the total
elimination of the backlog not later than one year after the
date of enactment of this Act;
(2) make such other improvements in the processing of
immigration benefit applications as may be necessary to ensure
that a backlog does not develop after such date; and
(3) make such improvements in infrastructure as may be
necessary to effectively provide immigration services.
(b) Authorization of Appropriations.--
(1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated to
the Department of Justice from time to time such sums as may be
necessary for the Attorney General to carry out subsection (a).
(2) Designation of account in treasury.--Amounts
appropriated pursuant to paragraph (1) may be referred to as
the ``Immigration Services and Infrastructure Improvements
Account''.
(3) Availability of funds.--Amounts appropriated pursuant
to paragraph (1) are authorized to remain available until
expended.
(4) Limitation on expenditures.--None of the funds
appropriated pursuant to paragraph (1) may be expended until
the report described in section 5(a) has been submitted to
Congress.
SEC. 5. REPORTS TO CONGRESS.
(a) Backlog Elimination Plan.--
(1) Report required.--Not later than 90 days after the date
of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall submit a
report to the Committees on the Judiciary and Appropriations of
the Senate and the House of Representatives concerning--
(A) the backlogs in immigration benefit
applications in existence as of the date of enactment
of this Act; and
(B) the Attorney General's plan for eliminating
such backlogs.
(2) Report elements.--The report shall include--
(A) an assessment of the data systems used in
adjudicating and reporting on the status of immigration
benefit applications, including--
(i) a description of the adequacy of
existing computer hardware, computer software,
and other mechanisms to comply with the
adjudications and reporting requirements of
this Act; and
(ii) a plan for implementing improvements
to existing data systems to accomplish the
purpose of this Act, as described in section
2(b);
(B) a description of the quality controls to be put
into force to ensure timely, fair, accurate, and
complete processing and adjudication of such
applications;
(C) the elements specified in subsection (b)(2);
(D) an estimate of the amount of appropriated funds
that would be necessary in order to eliminate the
backlogs in each category of immigration benefit
applications described in subsection (b)(2); and
(E) a detailed plan on how the Attorney General
will use any funds in the Immigration Services and
Infrastructure Improvements Account to comply with the
purposes of this Act.
(b) Annual Reports.--
(1) In general.--Beginning 90 days after the end of the
first fiscal year for which any appropriation authorized by
section 4(b) is made, and 90 days after the end of each fiscal
year thereafter, the Attorney General shall submit a report to
the Committees on the Judiciary and Appropriations of the
Senate and the House of Representatives concerning the status
of--
(A) the Immigration Services and Infrastructure
Improvements Account including any unobligated balances
of appropriations in the Account; and
(B) the Attorney General's efforts to eliminate
backlogs in any immigration benefit application
described in paragraph (2).
(2) Report elements.--The report shall include--
(A) State-by-State data on--
(i) the number of naturalization cases
adjudicated in each quarter of each fiscal
year;
(ii) the average processing time for
naturalization applications;
(iii) the number of naturalization
applications pending for up to 6 months, 12
months, 18 months, 24 months, 36 months, and 48
months or more;
(iv) estimated processing times
adjudicating newly submitted naturalization
applications;
(v) an analysis of the appropriate
processing times for naturalization
applications; and
(vi) the additional resources and process
changes needed to eliminate the backlog for
naturalization adjudications;
(B) the status of applications or, where
applicable, petitions described in subparagraph (C), by
Immigration and Naturalization Service district,
including--
(i) the number of cases adjudicated in each
quarter of each fiscal year;
(ii) the average processing time for such
applications or petitions;
(iii) the number of applications or
petitions pending for up to 6 months, 12
months, 18 months, 24 months, 36 months, and 48
months or more;
(iv) the estimated processing times
adjudicating newly submitted applications or
petitions;
(v) an analysis of the appropriate
processing times for applications or petitions;
and
(vi) a description of the additional
resources and process changes needed to
eliminate the backlog for such processing and
adjudications; and
(C) a status report on--
(i) applications for adjustments of status
to that of an alien lawfully admitted for
permanent residence;
(ii) petitions for nonimmigrant visas under
section 214 of the Immigration and Nationality
Act;
(iii) petitions filed under section 204 of
such Act to classify aliens as immediate
relatives or preference immigrants under
section 203 of such Act;
(iv) applications for asylum under section
208 of such Act;
(v) registrations for Temporary Protected
Status under section 244 of such Act; and
(vi) a description of the additional
resources and process changes needed to
eliminate the backlog for such processing and
adjudications.
(3) Absence of appropriated funds.--In the event that no
funds are appropriated subject to section 4(b) in the fiscal
year in which this Act is enacted, the Attorney General shall
submit a report to Congress not later than 90 days after the
end of such fiscal year, and each fiscal year thereafter,
containing the elements described in paragraph (2).
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