Immigration Benefits: Tenth Report Required by the Haitian	 
Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998 (17-OCT-03,		 
GAO-04-189R).							 
                                                                 
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 tenth report.		 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-04-189R					        
    ACCNO:   A08738						        
  TITLE:     Immigration Benefits: Tenth Report Required by the       
Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998		 
     DATE:   10/17/2003 
  SUBJECT:   Dependents 					 
	     Immigrants 					 
	     Immigration and naturalization law 		 
	     Immigration information systems			 
	     Reporting requirements				 
	     Immigration or emigration				 
	     EOIR Automated Nationwide System for		 
	     Immigration Review 				 
                                                                 
	     INS Computer Linked Application			 
	     Information System 				 
                                                                 
	     Haiti						 

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GAO-04-189R

United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548

October 17, 2003

Congressional Committees

Subject: Immigration Benefits: Tenth 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 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 tenth report.2

Results in Brief

Through September 30, 2003, the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration
Services (BCIS), formerly part of the Immigration and Naturalization
Service (INS), had received a total of 37,851 HRIFA applications and had
approved 11,067of these applications.3 The Executive

Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) had 1,094 applications filed and had
approved 273 of them. Details on the categories of the applicants and
approvals are provided in this report.

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

2The previous reports were (1) U.S. General Accounting Office, 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); and (9) Immigration Benefits: Ninth Report Required by the
Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998, GAO-03-681R (Washington,
D.C.: Apr. 21, 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 BCIS.

Background

Haitian applicants are to send their applications to BCIS'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 BCIS examiners. An application may be adjudicated at the
service center or in a BCIS 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 BCIS officials. If an interview is required or other issues
need to be resolved, the application is to be forwarded to the appropriate
BCIS district where the applicant can be interviewed and the application
adjudicated. Data on Haitian applicants are to be entered in BCIS's
Computer Linked Application Information System (CLAIMS).

Haitian nationals who are eligible for HRIFA should file their
applications with EOIR rather than BCIS 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 BCIS.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 filing 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 BCIS

Through September 30, 2003, BCIS data showed that it had received 37,851
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 September 30, 2003, BCIS had approved
11,067applications for adjustment of status under HRIFA.

Table 1: HRIFA Applications and Categories of Applications Received and
Approved by BCIS, through September 30, 2003

                                       Number of applications in    Number of 
Principal or   Category of                             CLAIMS applications 
    dependent      applicant                                         approved 
    Principal        Asylum                               17,324        5,992 
    Principal       Parolee                                8,899        2,611 
                 Child without                                            121 
    Principal       parents                                1,228 
    Principal    Orphaned child                              240           25 
    Principal   Abandoned child                              480           24 
    Dependent        Spouse                                3,414          745 
    Dependent        Child                                 5,931        1,474 
                Unmarried son or                             335           75 
    Dependent       daughter                                     
      Total                                               37,851       11,067 

Source: BCIS data.

4EOIR was not transferred to 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. Interim regulations
implementing these changes to HRIFA went into effect on May 31, 2001.

HRIFA Applications Filed with and Approved by EOIR

Through September 30, 2003, EOIR data from ANSIR showed that 1,094 HRIFA
applications had been filed with EOIR, of which 273 had been approved for
adjustment of status. Table 2 provides information on the categories and
numbers of HRIFA applicants and approvals.

Table 2: HRIFA Applications and Categories of Applications Filed with and
Approved by EOIR, through September 30, 2003

                                                                    Number of 
Principal or   Category of    Number of applications in ANSIR applications 
    dependent      applicant                                         approved 
    Principal        Asylum                                  629          145 
    Principal       Parolee                                  281           66 
                 Child without                                50           22 
    Principal       parents                                      
    Principal    Orphaned child                                7            4 
    Principal   Abandoned child                                6            3 
    Dependent        Spouse                                   75           21 
    Dependent        Child                                    39            9 
                Unmarried son or                               7            3 
    Dependent       daughter                                     
      Total                                                1,094          273 

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 BCIS or EOIR and (2) the number and categories
of applicants
whose applications were approved by BCIS or EOIR. To attain these
objectives, we relied on
BCIS and EOIR to provide us with data on applicants and the number of
approvals. We did
not independently verify the data provided by BCIS or EOIR. We conducted
our work
between September and October 2003, 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 and received their informal comments on October 15, 2003. BCIS and
EOIR had no
comments on the report.

We are sending copies of this letter to the Attorney General and the
Secretary of the
Department of Homeland Security and will make copies available to others
upon request. The
letter is also available on GAO's home page at http://www.gao.gov. If you
have any questions
about this report, please contact me at (202) 512-8777. The key
contributor to this assignment
was Anthony L. Hill.

Laurie E. Ekstrand
Director, Homeland Security

and Justice Issues

(440254)

List of Congressional Committees

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
*** End of document. ***