Trump administration preparing to close international immigration offices [View all]
Source: Washington Post
The Trump administration is preparing to shutter all 21 international offices of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a move that could slow the processing of family visa applications, foreign adoptions and citizenship petitions from members of the military.
USCIS Director L. Francis Cissna said in an email to staff Tuesday that he is working to transfer those duties -- now performed by employees worldwide -- to domestic offices and the State Department's embassies and consulates. He wrote that if the State Department agrees, the agency would move to close its international field offices in coming months "in an effort to maximize our agency's finite resources."
"I believe by doing so, we will better leverage our funds to address backlogs in the United States while also leveraging existing Department of State resources at post," he wrote. "Change can be difficult and can cause consternation. I want to assure you we will work to make this as smooth a transition as possible for each of our USCIS staff while also ensuring that those utilizing our services may continue to do so and our agency operations continue undisrupted."
The shift will ripple to offices in New Delhi, Port-au-Prince, Rome and numerous other cities where the agency has offices that handle emergencies, smooth backlogs in immigration petitions, and provide direct information in foreign languages. USCIS foreign offices also investigate fraud.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/trump-administration-preparing-to-close-international-immigration-offices/2019/03/12/e8db2be4-44d3-11e9-aaf8-4512a6fe3439_story.html
Probably will be taken to court. I expect these are line items that Congress puts in the budget/appropriations.
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