By. José J. Teurbe-Tolón

For the past several years, applications made to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) for obtaining immigration benefits have taken increasingly longer to process. Part of this is due to the general nature of Federal government bureaucracy, where it is nearly impossible for management to hold its subordinates accountable for their actions or work product. Since the Federal government is the sole monopolistic provider of immigration benefits, the general principles of economics do not apply, so there is no incentive for these agencies to provide more efficient service.

For example, when processing applications, USCIS requests a criminal background check from the FBI before they are able to finish processing. The FBI’s fingerprint checks are in fact relatively efficient, as they use up-to-date technology and well-trained employees. In contrast, the namecheck process is hindered to a near halt by lack of well-trained employees and Cold War Era technology. This results in adding length to already lengthy processing times, as well as the dissemination of inaccurate or inadequate information.

A finding by Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn Fine indicates that the FBI’s failure to raise fees on namechecks for 17 years has led to the use of this antiquated technology. The FBI has stated that even with this technology, the USCIS backlogs have been the result of USCIS’S request that the FBI re-namecheck close to 3 million applicants after the September 11 attacks.

Whether the FBI or USCIS is the party most responsible for the delays, it is clear that something must be done to expedite these applications. One solution would be for the Secretary of Homeland Security or for the judicial system to mandate a time limit on the administrative processing of immigration applications, particularly applications for citizenship, residency, or employment. Although the ultimate solution may be to institute a policy of accountability for Federal government employees from the highest levels down, the necessity to reduce the backlog and speed up processing times may be best served by setting a time limit immediately, while maintaining the hope that the future will yield better policies and procedures to ensure the rights of a group that has been historically unprotected by our Nation’s law: the immigrants.