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the consideration of refugee and asylum claims; as well as related humanitarian and
international concerns. 265
For FY 2014, USCIS’s budget was $3.4 billion, approximately 5 percent of the
Department’s entire budget. 266 USCIS has two primary sources of funding—fee-based
mandatory appropriations and discretionary appropriations. 267 The vast majority of USCIS
funding comes from the fees collected for immigration services, such as applications and
petitions. 268 A primary responsibility for USCIS is to swiftly process and adjudicate petitions
for immigrant benefits. The number of pending cases and backlog related to processing benefits
has been a challenge of USCIS and its predecessor agency INS. 269 In 2002, USCIS released a
plan that would eliminate the backlog by the end of FY 2006. 270 However, the status of USCIS’s
immigration benefits backlog is unclear. In 2010, the Congressional Research Service reported:
“Although USCIS reports that the backlog has been reduced since Congress began
appropriating direct funds for backlog elimination, questions remain because of new definitions
of what constitutes a backlog.” 271 Some evidence suggests that it remains a problem, including a
class action lawsuit that was filed in July 2014 on behalf of more than 40,000 immigrants who
claim that they have faced unnecessary delays with some waiting more than two years for their
265 Ruth Ellen Wasem, “Toward More Effective Immigration Policies: Selected Organizational Issues,”
Congressional Research Service; Ruth Ellen Wasem, Alison Siskin, and March Rosenblum, “DHS Immigration
Functions and Implications for Comprehensive Immigration Reform,” Congressional Research Service, Slideshow,
March 18, 2013, at 8.
266 DHS Office of Inspector General, “U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Information Technology
Management Progress and Challenges,” OIG-14-112, July 2014, p.3.
267 The fee-based mandatory appropriation is comprised of the Immigration Examination Fee Account (IEFA) and
two other, smaller fee sources, the H-1B Nonimmigrant Petitioner Account and the Fraud Prevention and Detection
Account. William A. Kandel, “USCIS Budget Authority, Detailed: FY 2002 – FY 2015, Requested and Actual
Amounts,” Congressional Research Service, Excel spreadsheet prepared by Request from Senator Coburn’s staff,
April 14, 2014.
268 William A. Kandel, “U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Immigration Fees and Adjudication Costs:
Proposed Adjustments and Historical Context,” Congressional Research Service, RL34040, July 16, 2010, p.5. The
fee-based mandatory appropriation has ranged from $1.45 billion to $3.37 billion per year since FY 2003. William A.
Kandel, “USCIS Budget Authority, Detailed: FY 2002 – FY 2015, Requested and Actual Amounts,” Congressional
Research Service, Excel spreadsheet prepared by Request from Senator Coburn’s staff, April 14, 2014.
269 In November 2005, GAO reported “recurring backlogs of benefit applications have been a long-standing problem
for the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) whose benefit adjudication functions are now the
responsibility of USCIS.” Government Accountability Office, “Immigration Benefits: Improvements Needed to
Address Backlogs and Ensure Quality of Adjudications,” November 2005, GAO-06-20, p.2.
270 Id, p.3.
271 William A. Kandel, “U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Immigration Fees and Adjudication Costs:
Proposed Adjustments and Historical Context,” Congressional Research Service, RL34040, July 16, 2010, p.24.
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