In this video, I'm going to provide an update, what's going to happen now that the Congress
failed to reach a deal on its stimulus package, which specifically with respect to immigration.
What's going to happen now that USCIS is actually going to go ahead and furlough
more than a third of its entire workforce? This is actually happening. So,
we'll talk about it in this video, the latest update on that. Now, many of you
have questions and concerns. So, let's talk about it. And I'll see you on the other side.
So, it looks like the USCIS is actually going to be going forward with their plans
to furlough more than a third of their entire staff, which is going to be pretty devastating.
And we're going to talk about how it's going to impact applications, and what's going to happen
now that the talks at Congress with respect to the stimulus solution pretty much failed. And there
was not really mention about immigration solutions or funding for immigration in those talk. So,
let's talk about what it means next now that we are in mid-August, and how it's going to impact
your cases. Before we dive in, if you’re here for the first time, once again, make sure you
subscribe to the channel. Click that bell to be notified so you don't miss any of our videos.
And also, give us that big like so YouTube will be able to share this video with people just like you
who want to see more of that content. My name is Jacob Sapochnik. I am an immigration
attorney located in San Diego, California. And my passion is to help immigrants just like you
get that information through videos, and articles, and all the other stuff that we do. So,
let's talk about what's happening right now with the whole furlough situation. So as you know,
Congress, unfortunately, failed to reach a deal on the stimulus package. Specifically, in this case,
as it relates to immigration and funding for USCIS was not a result. USCIS announced recently
that they're going to furlough 13,000 out of their 20,000 staff, which is pretty significant.
And they said in addition to that, they also said that they made efforts to limit the spending. So,
they were trying to cut some salaries. And they were doing some other adjustments to show that
they were being careful with the funding, with their money but they still needed support from
Congress with respect to more funding which isn’t received to this date. And as a result, unless a
miracle happens, they will be going forward with the furloughs by August 30, 2020. And again,
as you remember, they specifically requested at least 1.2 billion to help them stay afloat
and continue with their operations. This didn't happen. What did happen is that President Trump
signed for executive orders, each addressing different economical programs. But immigration
was not one of those programs, unfortunately. And as a result, the furlough programs will continue
to go forward, unless something happens. And as you remember, in previous videos,
we talked about the furlough and kind of some of the things that we think happened that led to it.
And the whole economical crisis with the USCIS as we mentioned before that because of the
government, it's actually the government that put the barriers of people to apply,
people are scared to apply. There's a survey that was released recently that shows a decrease of
more than 900,000 applications from 2017 to 2019. It shows the decrease in the amount of people
that actually apply for immigration benefits. And again, the whole climate of immigration,
there’s a lot of fear, people are concerned. And there's also a lot of delays and backlogs
just because of the agency that is not being able to process applications properly, as well as
adjudicate the applications on time as well. And that's even before they'll furlough their people.
Congressional Democrats actually wrote the senate about a month ago, specifically say that any money
that is going to be given to the USCIS should be somehow connected with some process like strings
attached. If they get money, they should be doing certain things. And if they are going to be doing
certain things that are not part of that list, the money should not be given to them. For example,
if they're going to be receiving funds, they should not be using those funds
to continue immigration enforcement. So, some of the proposals by congressional Democrats,
they were presented via document to the Senate specifically said that
if USCIS is going to receive funding, this funding should be attached to some sort of
conditions. So, for example, if they received the funding, they should not be using this money to
increase enforcement and try to get more people denied. They should be using this money to invest
in technology to offer remote naturalization ceremonies, for example, and things like that,
using more technology for e-signatures to avoid people from sending documents and increasing
the efficiency of their processing. That's what they should be doing with their money.
And that was something that some of the proposal that was mentioned. And that was brought to the
attention of the Senate because if any funding bill will pass, it should come with those
conditions. And so, how is it going to affect you? So like I said, we are two weeks away from
these furloughs, which I think they were going to happen. I think what's important right now is that
you should be able to still file applications. If you're thinking about filing an I-130,
or work petition, you should still be able to file. Again, immigration will remain open for
receiving applications, what I think that’s going to happen is that there’s going to be more delays
in processing, receiving your IDs, and getting receipt notices out there. Definitely, things are
going to get more slow with respect to interviews that are going to come when they're going to
reopen all service center processing. We're definitely going to be entering into an era of
uncertainty because if they're going to be losing 13,000 people who are typically there,
processing cases, answering questions, it's going to be difficult to get answers from the USCIS. And
a lot of cases are going to go into limbo. So, my suggestion right now, if you have a case ready to
file, just file it now while the system is still working because we don't know exactly what impact
those furloughs are going to be on people that are going to be new filers, and specifically the
people that are waiting for months, and sometimes years to get their interview appointment. So,
of course, we'll keep you posted, we'll update you. But as of now, furloughs are going to
proceed. And there's going to be quite a lot of uncertainty happening beginning of September. So,
we'll keep you posted. Obviously, we’ll make another video once I know more information.
Once again, make sure you subscribe to our channel. If you're here for the first time,
give us that big like, and do not forget to join our Facebook group. The link is
also in the description of this video so you'll be able to join our community
and continue the discussion over there. So, thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next video.