WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Representatives Lou Correa (CA-46) and Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04) led 86 Members in a letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and USCIS Director Joseph Edlow urging DHS to reduce delays in processing DACA renewal requests.
In the letter, the Members note that DACA “has allowed hundreds of thousands of Dreamers to live and work in the only country they have ever known,” and express grave concern about the “sharp increase in processing times for our constituents’ DACA and EAD renewal requests,” even for those who complied fully with renewal guidance by submitting their applications well in advance of their expiration dates.
The Members emphasize that because of USCIS’s processing delays, DACA recipients “are losing their jobs even though their employers want to keep them on, struggling to make ends meet, and facing detention and removal.” These delays are “particularly harmful given that many DACA recipients are employed in critical sectors, including nursing, education, construction, and other essential industries, where interruptions in employment can have significant consequences not only for the individuals and their families, but also for the communities and local economies that rely on their contributions.”
The Members urge DHS and USCIS leaders to “address this urgent situation by expediting processing for DACA recipients,” and ask a series of oversight questions to understand the reason for the delays.
Read the letter here.
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