Immigration Benefits: Eleventh Report Required by the Haitian	 
Refugee
							 
Immigration Fairness Act of 1998 (13-AUG-04, GAO-04-1030R).	 
                                                                 
This report responds to certain requirements of the Haitian	 
Refugee Immigration Fairness Act (HRIFA) of 1998 that authorized 
certain Haitian nationals and their dependents to apply to adjust
their status to legal permanent residence. Section 902(k) of the 
act requires the Comptroller General to report every 6 months on 
the number of Haitian nationals who have applied and been	 
approved to adjust their status to legal permanent residence. The
reports are to contain a breakdown of the number of Haitians who 
applied and the number who were approved as asylum applicants,	 
parolees, children without parents, orphaned children, or	 
abandoned children; or as the eligible dependents of these	 
applicants, including spouses, children, and unmarried sons or	 
daughters. Reports are to be provided until all applications have
been finally adjudicated. This is our eleventh report.		 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-04-1030R					        
    ACCNO:   A11663						        
  TITLE:     Immigration Benefits: Eleventh Report Required by the    
Haitian Refugee
						 
Immigration Fairness Act of 1998				 
     DATE:   08/13/2004 
  SUBJECT:   Immigrants 					 
	     Immigration and naturalization law 		 
	     Immigration information systems			 
	     Immigration or emigration				 
	     Dependents 					 
	     Reporting requirements				 
	     EOIR Automated Nationwide System for		 
	     Immigration Review 				 
                                                                 
	     INS Computer Linked Application			 
	     Information System 				 
                                                                 
	     Haiti						 

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GAO-04-1030R

United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548

August 13, 2004

The Honorable Ted Stevens
Chairman
The Honorable Robert C. Byrd
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on Appropriations
United States Senate

The Honorable Orrin G. Hatch
Chairman
The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on the Judiciary
United States Senate

The Honorable C. W. Bill Young
Chairman
The Honorable David R. Obey
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on Appropriations
House of Representatives

The Honorable F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr.
Chairman
The Honorable John Conyers, Jr.
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on the Judiciary
House of Representatives

Subject: Immigration Benefits: Eleventh Report Required by the Haitian
Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998

This report responds to certain requirements of the Haitian Refugee
Immigration Fairness Act (HRIFA) of 19981 that authorized certain Haitian
nationals and their dependents to apply to adjust their status to legal
permanent residence. Section 902(k) of the act requires the Comptroller
General to report every 6 months on the number of Haitian nationals who
have applied and been approved to adjust their status to legal permanent
residence. The reports

1P.L. 105-277, 112 Stat. 2681-538.

are to contain a breakdown of the number of Haitians who applied and the
number who were approved as asylum applicants, parolees, children without
parents, orphaned children, or abandoned children; or as the eligible
dependents of these applicants, including spouses, children, and unmarried
sons or daughters. Reports are to be provided until all applications have
been finally adjudicated. This is our eleventh report.2

RESULTS IN BRIEF

Through June 30, 2004, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
(USCIS), formerly part of the Immigration and Naturalization Service
(INS), had received a total of 38,548 HRIFA applications and had approved
11,917 of these applications.3 The Executive Office for Immigration Review
(EOIR) had 1,418 applications filed and had approved 454 of them. Details
on the categories of the applicants and approvals are provided in this
report.

BACKGROUND

Haitian applicants are to send their applications to USCIS's Nebraska
Service Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. A contractor at the service center is
responsible for processing the applications up to the point of their
adjudication by USCIS examiners. An application may be adjudicated at the
service center or in a USCIS district with jurisdiction over the area
where the alien applicant resides. Generally, applications that are
complete and evidentially sufficient can be adjudicated at the service
center, according to USCIS officials. If an interview is required or other
issues need to be resolved, the application is to be forwarded to the
appropriate USCIS district, where the applicant can be interviewed and the
application adjudicated. Data on Haitian applicants are to be entered in
USCIS's Computer Linked Application Information System (CLAIMS).

2The previous reports were (1) GAO, Immigration Benefits: Applications for
Adjustment of Status

Under the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998, GAO/GGD-99-92R
(Washington, D.C.: Apr. 21, 1999); (2) Immigration Benefits: Second Report
Required by the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998,
GAO/GGD-00-25R (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 19, 1999); (3) Immigration
Benefits: Third Report Required by the Haitian Refugee Immigration
Fairness Act of 1998, GAO/GGD-00-122R (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 14, 2000);
(4) Immigration Benefits: Fourth Report Required by the Haitian Refugee
Immigration Fairness Act of 1998, GAO-01-118R (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 20,
2000); (5) Immigration Benefits: Fifth Report Required by the Haitian
Immigration Fairness Act of 1998, GAO-01-651R (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 20,
2001); (6) Immigration Benefits: Sixth Report Required by the Haitian
Immigration Fairness Act of 1998, GAO-02-114R (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 22,
2001); (7) Immigration Benefits: Seventh Report Required by the Haitian
Immigration Fairness Act of 1998, GAO-02-600R (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 18,
2002); (8) Immigration Benefits: Eighth Report Required by the Haitian
Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998, GAO-03-240R (Washington, D.C.:
Oct. 22, 2002); (9) Immigration Benefits: Ninth Report Required by the
Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998, GAO-03-681R (Washington,
D.C.: April 21, 2003); (10) Immigration Benefits: Tenth Report Required by
the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998, GAO-04-189R
(Washington, D.C.: October 17, 2003). 3On March 1, 2003, INS was
transferred from the Department of Justice to the Department of

Homeland Security. Within Homeland Security, the adjudication of HRIFA
benefits is the responsibility of USCIS.

Haitian nationals who are eligible for HRIFA should file their
applications with EOIR rather than USCIS if they have (1) a proceeding
pending before the Immigration Court or the Board of Immigration Appeals
or (2) a pending motion to reopen or reconsider filed on or before May 12,
1999. Thus, Haitian nationals who are in deportation, exclusion, or
removal proceedings, and whose cases have not been administratively
closed, are to file their HRIFA application with EOIR, not USCIS.4 Data on
Haitian applicants are to be entered in EOIR's case-tracking system, the
Automated Nationwide System for Immigration Review (ANSIR).

The deadline for principal applicants to file an application for
adjustment of status under HRIFA was March 31, 2000. Dependents of
principal applicants have no application deadline.5

HRIFA APPLICATIONS RECEIVED AND APPROVED BY USCIS

Through June 30, 2004, USCIS data showed that it had received 38,548 HRIFA
applications at its Nebraska Service Center, all of which had been entered
into CLAIMS. The categories and numbers of these applicants are shown in
table 1. Through June 30, 2004, USCIS had approved 11,917 applications for
adjustment of status under HRIFA.

Table 1: HRIFA Applications and Categories of Applications Received and
Approved by USCIS, through June 30, 2004

Principal or Number of applications in Number of applications dependent
Category of applicant CLAIMS approved

      Principal                 Asylum                 17,325           6,228 
      Principal                 Parolee                8,902            2,744 
      Principal          Child without parents         1,228              138 
      Principal             Orphaned child              240      
      Principal             Abandoned child             481      
      Dependent                 Spouse                 3,532              829 
      Dependent                  Child                 6,487            1,841 
      Dependent        Unmarried son or daughter        353      
        Total                                          38,548          11,917 

Source: USCIS data.

HRIFA APPLICATIONS FILED WITH AND APPROVED BY EOIR

Through June 30, 2004, EOIR data from ANSIR showed that 1,418 HRIFA
applications had been filed with EOIR, of which 454 had been approved for
adjustment of status. Table 2 provides information on the categories and
numbers of HRIFA applicants and approvals.

4EOIR was not transferred to the Department of Homeland Security and
remains part of the

Department of Justice.
5The Legal Immigration and Family Equity Act (title XI of P.L. 106-553, as
amended by title XV of P.L.

106-554) went into effect on December 21, 2000. This act amended HRIFA to
waive certain grounds of
inadmissibility for aliens applying for relief under HRIFA. Finalized
regulations implementing these
changes to HRIFA went into effect on June 4, 2002.

Table 2: HRIFA Applications and Categories of Applications Filed with and
Approved by EOIR, through June 30, 2004

Principal or Number of applications in Number of applications dependent
Category of applicant ANSIR approved

       Principal                  Asylum                 794              242 
       Principal                 Parolee                 353              109 
       Principal          Child without parents           72               27 
       Principal              Orphaned child              10                5 
       Principal             Abandoned child              10                4 
       Dependent                  Spouse                 118               43 
       Dependent                  Child                   52               19 
       Dependent             Unmarried son or                     
                                 daughter                         

9

                                Total 1,418 454

Source: EOIR data.

OBJECTIVES, SCOPE, AND METHODOLOGY

Our objectives for this report were to determine (1) the number and
categories of applicants
who filed applications with USCIS or EOIR and (2) the number and
categories of applicants
whose applications were approved by USCIS or EOIR. To attain these
objectives, we relied
on USCIS and EOIR to provide us with data from their CLAIMS and ANSIR
systems,
respectively, on applicants and the number of approvals. We assessed the
reliability of the
data by reviewing existing information about the data and the system that
produced them,
and we questioned agency officials knowledgeable about the data. We
determined that the
data were sufficiently reliable for the purposes of this report. We
conducted our work
between June and August 2004, in accordance with generally accepted
government auditing
standards.

We provided the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security with a draft
of this report for
comment. The Departments had no comments on this report.

We are providing copies of this report to the Attorney General and the
Secretary of the
Department of Homeland Security and will make copies available to others
upon request. If
you have any questions about this report, please contact me at (202)
512-8777. The key
contributor to this assignment was Tanya Cruz.

Laurie E. Ekstrand
Director, Homeland Security

and Justice Issues

(440340)
*** End of document. ***