Backlog Reduction Bill Introduced in the House
Posted Jul 14, 2000

On June 29, 2000, Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) introduced an INS Backlog Reduction Bill, H.R. 4798, that closely resembles a similar bill (S.2586) pending in the Senate. Both bills would create a special account earmarked for backlog reduction and improvements in INS procedures. Rather than relying upon user fees to fund this account, the bill would enable direct appropriation by the U.S. Congress of the necessary funds. One key difference between the House and Senate Bills is the definition of the timeframe for a case to be considered backlogged. H.R. 4798 defines a backlogged case as a nonimmigrant (temporary, e.g. H1) case pending more than 30 days or an immigrant (permanent) case pending over 90 days. This is stricter than the timeframes in S. 2586, which considers "backlog" to mean any case pending more than 180 days, except for H, L, O, and P non-immigrants, whose timeframe is 30 days.

According to AILA, the authors of these bills "recognize that many of the processing delays are Congress' responsibility. In recent years, Congress has pumped funds into enforcement, provided insufficient additional money and much attention to naturalization, and diverted money from adjudications to pay for non adjudicatory functions, thereby contributing to the enormous backlogs in almost every area of the agency."

In contrast to the above understanding, the House's DOJ / INS budget proposal (see preceding article) would perpetuate the practice of raiding the user fee account to pay for enforcement initiatives, a move opposed by AILA and many immigration law attorneys, including those at the Law Office of Sheela Murthy.