WASHINGTON (Diya TV) — A wave of concern is sweeping through the U.S. immigration system after approximately 20,000 employees of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) received an internal memo urging them to consider early retirement or prepare for possible layoffs. The agency, which processes millions of immigration applications annually, faces a potential staffing crisis that could paralyze its operations and reignite massive backlogs, experts warn.
The memo signals a potential “reduction in force,” a move that Doug Rand, a former senior advisor to USCIS, described as a serious threat to both national security and family reunification efforts. “If USCIS sheds employees, backlogs and processing times will shoot up,” Rand warned in a widely shared post on social media.
USCIS is unique among federal agencies because it is funded almost entirely through application fees rather than taxpayer dollars. That funding model makes the agency vulnerable to fluctuations in immigration demand and application volume. A similar crisis unfolded in 2020, when a sharp drop in fee revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic forced USCIS to freeze hiring and lose over a thousand officers through attrition. The result: backlogs doubled within a year, and processing times for green card renewals and other routine services soared to eight months or more.
The Biden administration began reversing this trend in 2021 by hiring thousands of new officers and support staff, increasing application fees, and streamlining workflows. By 2023, USCIS had made significant progress, achieving its first reduction in case backlogs in over a decade, all while handling a record number of applications. Processing times for green card renewals, for example, dropped from months to just weeks.
That progress, however, is now in jeopardy. If the current reduction in force proceeds as suggested, USCIS could face another wave of delays, with ripple effects across multiple sectors. U.S. hospitals, technology companies, farms, and families all depend on timely immigration processing for skilled workers, seasonal laborers, and reunification with loved ones abroad.
“This would be a disaster for U.S. immigration,” warned Deedy Das, a tech executive and immigration advocate who flagged the memo on social media. “Families will be separated. Businesses will suffer.”
Adding to the tension is a newly announced immigration policy requiring immigrants arriving after April 11, 2025, to register under the Alien Registration Requirement (ARR), a revival of provisions from the Alien Registration Act of 1940. Immigrants must register within 30 days of arrival and carry proof of legal status at all times. While individuals with valid work visas or green cards will not have to register again, they will still be subject to the document-carrying requirement. Failure to comply could lead to fines or imprisonment.
Rand emphasized that a shrinking USCIS workforce could undermine the vetting and national security processes critical to U.S. immigration enforcement. “Backlogs make it harder to ensure national security, because cases sit for months or even years before full vetting can occur,” he said.
He also reiterated that the agency’s mission, established by Congress, is service-focused, as reflected in its name. “These customers are millions of U.S. citizens, U.S. companies, and aspiring Americans-in-waiting who paid a lot of money to get a timely answer,” Rand said.
