So yeah, CBP's systems suck, have always sucked, and no one cares enough to upgrade or fix them. Good times!
4/4
06.03.2026 18:03
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So yeah, CBP's systems suck, have always sucked, and no one cares enough to upgrade or fix them. Good times!
4/4
This meant 30K cases needed to be processed manually by officers...that's a lot. USCIS tried to get CBP to correct the problem, even having the Chief Data Officer escalate it to her counterpart, and nothing worked. Eventually USCIS changed the processing logic on their end to resume automation.
3/4
Normally this wouldn't be a big issue, but it caused a name mismatch in USCIS systems when a parolee would submit their work permit application. USCIS used a form of automated processing to quickly approve cases that had no issues, but this little error caused over 30K cases to have an issue!
2/4
Fun story about how awful CBP's IT is, and DHS in general.
In 2023, an automated update ran by CBP's ATS caused certain CHNV parolees' middle names to be duplicated as a 2nd, first name. This occurred at the time of entry and no one could figure out why it was happening.
1/4
Today, I made it clear to the leaders of ICE, CBP, and USCIS that one day, they will ALL be held accountable for their role in this dark moment in our nation’s history. I guarantee it.
Seems like USCIS has begun hiring their LEO positions.
At the GS13 level, they are being paid at the same level as front-line supervisors and senior adjudicators.
No clue on the source of funds, but if it's from application fees, a huge misallocation of resources.
www.usajobs.gov/job/853500000
Applying quotes here is legit crazy.
The pressure on the agency to hit this will not only involve finding bogus cases but will be an enormous resource drain.
Last time around, they detailed a lot of really experienced officers on this and hit the agency hard. Will imagine it will be the same now.
r/USCIS icon Go to USCIS r/USCIS • 5h ago Key-Moose8321 Oath ceremony canceled N-400 (Citizenship) My country of birth was added to the partial restricted country list released yesterday. I was scheduled to have my oath ceremony tomorrow after waiting for almost 45days since my interview was approved. Got an email that my oath has been canceled today. I’m so sad. Does anyone have an idea how/when this will be resolved?
Anecdotal evidence that the indefinite "pause" on adjudication of immigration benefits for countries on the travel ban has been expanded to include the 20 countries added yesterday. On reddit, a user posted that their naturalization oath ceremony — the final step to becoming a citizen — was halted.
More than 2,900 attorneys quit the Justice Department or were fired during the first 10 months of this year -- about triple the number who depart in a typical year. personnel records obtained by Reuters show.
NEW: President Trump is expanding the previous 19-country travel ban to a whopping 39 countries (plus the Palestinian Authority), and appears to expand a block on legal immigration to now include spouses, children, and parents of U.S. citizens, who were previously exempted.
New from me and @daralind.bsky.social for @immcouncil.org: If you want to know what happened with the huge pause on immigration benefit processing at USCIS, check out our explainer here! www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/trump-a...
www.uscis.gov/sites/defaul...
2/2
USCIS dropping work permit validity for some categories, including those waiting on a green card, from 5 years to 18 months. Encouraging that it's not back to 12 months, but this will still result in extra work for the agency and more headaches (and $) for applicants applying more frequently.
1/2
I don't, though I'm sure it's already circulating at some level.
It depends! For green card applicants, they don't accrue unlawful presence, but can fall out of status waiting. And if the hold extends to all forms, it can cause people to not have a valid status or a brief lapse in status.
Breaking the news this morning to my first dual-national client from one of these countries was rough, because I know how these holds really work! It's awful not to be able to provide answers or even a "why" when these holds get put into place.
There's allegedly a "soft" hold on some other countries as well, likely the 10 or so more countries Noem has been rumored to add to the original 19.
My understanding is that cooperation with ICE is largely being left to the local office director's discretion. Wouldn't be surprised though if ICE starts putting more pressure on the "soft" FODs soon.
Basically how the officers viewed and treated it too, iirc.
It was a huge resource suck on the officers too. If I remember correctly, there was an internal figure that showed it added an extra 23 mins per case of officer touch time.
If operationalized by USCIS (and a big if), the effects would extend beyond the obvious cruelty and stupidity of national origin discrimination here.
The amount of work officers would be doing to create this detailed analysis would create a huge resource strain and lead to even more backlogs.
Midnight in Paris always pops into my head when people wax poetic about "better times."
I believe the U4U parolees where classified as refugees for benefits though, right? There was subsequent legislation that did this. I remember that as a key point why USCIS had to refund the initial EAD filing fee.
Really disappointing, though not entirely unexpected. The new admin will continue looking at ways to "squeeze" immigrants here by chocking off employment authorization to encourage self-deportation.
Expect more actions in the next year aimed at limiting EADs further, especially C18s and C10s.
USCIS Q3 data dropped today and woof, it's not pretty. Total pending cases at a new record high of 11.5m, net backlog increased from 4.9m to 5.4m cases, and "frontlog" bizarrely increased to 60K cases.
A lot of red flags in this data.
www.uscis.gov/tools/report...
There was a similar thread months ago and I even pointed to the DHS AI use case website to show, "nope!"
But alas, we just keep shouting into the void.
If there are any immigration reporters out there who'd like to talk anything USCIS, please feel free to DM me. @tanvi.bsky.social, @crampell.bsky.social, @mhackman.bsky.social, @kreighbaum.bsky.social, @micarosenberg.bsky.social @tedhesson.bsky.social @haleaziz.bsky.social
There are a lot of great immigration voices out there, especially on policy and with high-level operational experience. I plan to try and post more here with a focus specifically on USCIS from a front-line perspective.
2/2
Welp. First day as a former USCIS employee and it's a bit surreal. Very grateful to my former colleagues at the agency, other immigration attorneys, and trusting new clients, who have been supportive of my return to private practice. It's certainly an adjustment!
1/2
Thanks Aaron!
