By Jesus Garcia
The Citizenship and Immigration Services agency (USCIS) has modified its way of operation, increasing collaboration with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office.in order to detain immigrants who have open immigration processes, such as the Inexperienced Card, and other types of visas.
A recent report from Novel Yorker explained how USCIS has become a kind of “trap” for some immigrants who have appointments at the agency, as part of their legal processes to protect their stay in the US.
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Although USCIS conducts investigations into possible immigration fraud, the agency regularly followed specific investigative processes and it was not common to know that a person was detained during an interview.
Although arrests during appointments for Green Card interviews or other visas occurred even in Trump’s first term in office, this second term the situation is different, a radical change.
“Since its creation in 2002, USCIS has been the only Department of Homeland Security immigration agency that does not make arrests or participate in raids,” recalls the Novel Yorker report. “Unlike armed ICE and Border Patrol agents, the approximately twenty thousand USCIS officers, none of whom have traditionally carried weapons, act primarily as administrators of the legal immigration system.”
The journalist Jonathan Blitzer explained in the podcast ‘El Diario Sin Límites’ the significant changes that USCIS is undergoing and how the agency has even lost trust among its users.
“They saw us as the friendly and supportive side, the agency that was trying to help people,” acknowledged a USCIS official quoted by Blitzer.
>> Why is USCIS changing the way it operates?
>> How do ICE detentions operate?
>> What types of immigrants are most at risk?
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