GAO (Government Accountability Office) investigates serious errors in processing cases at the border.
Thousands of families apprehended by the Border Patrol have been cited in the past year by said law enforcement entity to appear in U.S. immigration court. Although immigrants followed the corresponding steps of the process, they encountered several difficulties that could jeopardize their future in the country.
It appears that many of the documents collected and addresses from the government were incorrect or incomplete. This led to a thorough review of the way the Biden administration and federal immigration agencies handle the high immigration numbers in the wake of this year’s record immigration.
The organization in charge of this, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), conducted a research on how the Joe Biden administration has done things at the border to manage the crisis that comes with having broken the immigration record time and time again. Of particular interest have been the procedures carried out by border crossers in the custody of the U.S. government.
At Jaskot Law, we bring you all the details about GAO’s findings and what the agency found about the incorrect immigration documents.
What happened at the border?
After the pandemic and after Joe Biden took office, immigration numbers in the United States exploded in 2021. Millions of immigrants attempted to cross the border, some of which were documented, while many others weren’t.
Faced with this almost overwhelming situation, the administration has implemented a wide range of measures. Border patrols saw their facilities overcrowded, overburdened, and detention centers held an unprecedentedly high number of immigrants. In response to this, the government issued some families a “Notice to Inform” directing them to attend a USCIS office in their destination city within 60 days.
As a result, the amount of paperwork to be carried out by border agents was reduced, easing the bureaucratic burden, and leaving the paperwork in the hands of these families. Around 94,000 notices were issued from the agency, according to GAO reports. In short, what they were being asked to do was to initiate their own deportation proceedings.
What problems are ICE and the government facing?
According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, in the first three months of these new processes alone, more than 60% of the documentations had erroneous or incomplete content. There are many reasons behind such situation, some of which are related to judicial problems within the ICE agency itself, misinformation given to immigrants (such as the address where they should report), among others.
Evidently, the attempt to speed things up and optimize has yielded the opposite results. Senator James Lankford told reporters:
“Basically, they had a backlog at the border and just moved it inland.”
We have not yet had any response from the Department of State (DOS) on the Government Accountability Office report, but we anticipate that there will be one. For its part, USCIS responded by offering new immigration registration figures.
At Jaskot Law, we are devoted to the immigrant community in the United States. We bring you daily news, law changes, and guides to better understand immigration prosecutions. You can contact us via web or by calling +1 (410) 235-6868.
