Will US immigration wait be longer now? USCIS employees get ‘retire or get fired’ warning amid internal shake-up

US immigration employees working for the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have allegedly received an internal email encouraging them to retire early or risk being terminated in the upcoming “reduction in force” move, as per Doug Rand, the former senior advisor for the USCIS's post on LinkedIn. 

“This week, employees of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) received an email encouraging them to retire early or risk being terminated through an upcoming ‘reduction in force’,” said Rand in his post.

This potential layoff is likely to increase US immigration delays, which would impact millions of people who await to meet their families, as well as people who rely on foreign doctors in America.

“If USCIS sheds employees, backlogs and processing times will shoot up. Members of Congress — Republicans and Democrats alike — will be inundated with calls from constituents desperate for help with languishing applications. Parents waiting to adopt a child. A U.S. citizen waiting to bring their husband or wife home as a permanent resident. Hospitals in need of doctors. Growers in need of farmworkers. Millions of people, waiting,” said Rand in his post. 

What happened in 2020?

In 2020, the United States witnessed the loss of thousands of immigration officers who left their jobs, which resulted in a backlog of applications that more than doubled within a year.

“When the pandemic hit and USCIS saw a sharp decrease in fee revenues, they instituted a hiring freeze. The agency lost over a thousand immigration officers through attrition (the blue line below) — and that's exactly when the backlog started to bulge, more than doubling within a year (the red blob below),” according to Rand's post.

Rand was part of the leadership team at USCIS, which in 2021 attempted to reverse the immigration backlog trend. The leadership team then hired thousands of new officers and support staff and raised the fees and immigration charges to help meet the staffing needs. 

Matter of National Security?

In his post, Doug Rand also highlighted that the ultimate goal for the agency should be cutting out the backlog in immigration to ensure fair and timely processing for everyone entering the United States.

This also risks the matter of national security, as when the process is backlog-free, then a proper, timely verification can be done; otherwise, rushing a vetting process may be harder for security reasons.

“Let’s also keep in mind that backlogs make it harder to ensure national security, because cases sit for months or even years before full vetting can occur,” said Rand.

Currently, more than 20,000 employees are working at USCIS. However, Rand's post did not specify the number of employees who have received the threat of a potential layoff as the agency eyes a reduction in workforce.