U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said Monday it has resumed processing asylum applications from countries it does not classify as high risk, while keeping broader immigration holds and tougher reviews in place under Trump administration policy.
In a March 30 update, USCIS said the change is part of a case review process that allows some holds to be lifted after review by multiple offices.
The agency said it has also lifted holds in several other categories, including certain petitions filed by U.S. citizens, some intercountry adoption forms, some rescheduled oath ceremonies, certain special immigrant visa petitions and some employment authorization documents.
USCIS said the original holds were imposed through a series of policy memorandums covering pending asylum cases, immigration benefit requests filed by applicants from what it calls high-risk countries, and adjustment-of-status applications under the diversity immigrant visa program.
Those actions followed Executive Order 14161 and two presidential proclamations, 10949 and 10998, which it said together restricted entry from 39 countries that lacked adequate screening information, USCIS said.
According to USCIS, an ongoing review of pending cases found serious gaps in earlier review procedures. The agency said some applicants for naturalization and lawful permanent residence were not checked thoroughly enough and that some applications were approved when they should not have been.
USCIS said it has since tightened several review measures. Those steps include shorter validity periods for some work permits, expanded social media and financial reviews, more community interviews, and Operation PARRIS, which the agency said conducts additional background checks, re-interviews and reviews of refugee claims.
The agency also said it is building new system links to flag biometric matches and criminal information automatically, requiring final arrest encounter reviews before decisions are made, and working with the State Department on country-by-country risk analysis tied to the travel ban proclamations.
USCIS said it will continue reviewing other application categories and could lift additional holds as that process continues.
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