Immigration Benefits: Thirteenth Report Required by the Haitian  
Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998 (21-OCT-05,		 
GAO-06-122R).							 
                                                                 
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 lawful 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 lawful 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 thirteenth report.	 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-06-122R					        
    ACCNO:   A40157						        
  TITLE:     Immigration Benefits: Thirteenth Report Required by the  
Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998		 
     DATE:   10/21/2005 
  SUBJECT:   Dependents 					 
	     Homeland security					 
	     Immigrants 					 
	     Immigration					 
	     Immigration and naturalization law 		 
	     Immigration information systems			 
	     Reporting requirements				 
	     EOIR Automated Nationwide System for		 
	     Immigration Review 				 
                                                                 
	     Haiti						 
	     INS Computer Linked Application			 
	     Information Management System			 
                                                                 

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GAO-06-122R

     

     * Results in Brief
     * Background
          * HRIFA Applications Received and Approved by USCIS
          * HRIFA Applications Filed with and Approved by EOIR
     * Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548

October 21, 2005

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

The Honorable Arlen Specter Chairman The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy
Ranking Minority Member Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate

The Honorable Jerry Lewis 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: Thirteenth 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 1998 1 that authorized certain Haitian
nationals and their dependents to apply to adjust their status to lawful
permanent residence. Section 902(k) of the act requires the Comptroller

1

Pub. L. No. 105-277, tit. IX, 112 Stat. 2681-538.

                                Results in Brief

General to report every 6 months on the number of Haitian nationals who
have applied and been approved to adjust their status to lawful 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 thirteenth report. 2

Through September 30, 2005, United States Citizenship and Immigration
Services (USCIS), formerly part of the Immigration and Naturalization
Service (INS), had received a total of 39,524 HRIFA applications and had
approved 14,050 of these applications. 3 The Executive Office for
Immigration Review (EOIR) had 1,792 applications filed and had approved
656 of them. Details on the categories of the applicants and approvals are
provided in this report.

2

The 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);

(11) Immigration Benefits: Eleventh Report Required by the Haitian Refugee
Immigration Fairness Act of 1998, GAO-04-1030R (Washington, D.C.: August
13, 2004); and (12) Immigration Benefits: Twelfth Report Required by the
Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998, GAO-05-481R (Washington,
D.C.: April 14, 2005).

3

On 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.

                                   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 adjudication officers. 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 Management System
(CLAIMS).

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

4

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

5

The Legal Immigration and Family Equity Act (title XI of Pub. L. No.
106-553, as amended by title XV of Pub. L. No. 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.

HRIFA Applications Through September 30, 2005, USCIS data showed that it
had received Received and Approved by 39,524 HRIFA applications at its
Nebraska Service Center, all of which had USCIS been entered into CLAIMS.
6 The categories and numbers of these

applicants are shown in table 1. Through September 30, 2005, USCIS had

approved 14,050 applications for adjustment of status under HRIFA.

Table 1: HRIFA Applications and Categories of Applications Received and
Approved by USCIS, through September 30, 2005

Principal or Category of dependent applicant

             Number of Number of applications in applications CLAIMS approved

                         Principal Asylum 17,329 6,544

                         Principal Parolee 8,902 2,847

Principal Child without 1,228 parents

Principal Orphaned child 240

Principal Abandoned child 481

                          Dependent Spouse 3,686 1,063

                          Dependent Child 7,268 3,301

Dependent Unmarried son or 390 daughter

                              Total 39,524 14,050

                              Source: USCIS data.

6

Although March 31, 2000, was the application deadline for principals to
file applications for adjustment of status under HRIFA, there have
continued to be slight increases in CLAIMS in the number of principal
applicants. According to USCIS, CLAIMS data may be adjusted for various
reasons. For example, USCIS may determine that a principal's application
was rejected in error during the filing period that ended on March 31,
2000; or, a principal may have submitted the application to a field
office, and the application may not have been correctly routed to the
Nebraska Service Center. As USCIS becomes aware of such cases, it enters
them into CLAIMS.

HRIFA Applications Filed Through September 30, 2005, EOIR data from ANSIR
showed that 1,792 with and Approved by HRIFA applications had been filed
with EOIR, of which 656 had been EOIR approved for adjustment of status. 7
Table 2 provides information on the

categories and numbers of HRIFA applicants and approvals.

                       Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

Table 2: HRIFA Applications and Categories of Applications Filed with and
Approved by EOIR, through September 30, 2005

Principal or Category of dependent applicant

              Number of Number of applications in applications ANSIR approved

                            Principal Asylum 996 350

                           Principal Parolee 435 150

Principal Child without parents 90

                         Principal Orphaned child 14 5

Principal Abandoned child 16

                            Dependent Spouse 155 71

                             Dependent Child 71 31

Dependent Unmarried son or 15 daughter

                                Total 1,792 656

                               Source: EOIR data.

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 September and October 2005, in accordance with generally
accepted government auditing standards.

7

Principal applicants who filed an initial application for benefits with
the Immigration and Naturalization Service on or before the filing
deadline of March 31, 2000, may renew their application for HRIFA benefits
with EOIR even after the deadline. Such cases, which would be entered into
ANSIR when the application is renewed before EOIR, account for increases
in the total number of principal applicants over time.

  Page 5 GAO-06-122R Immigration Benefits

We provided the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security with a draft
of this report for comment. DOJ had no comments on the report. DHS did not
comment on the substance of the report, but provided technical comments,
which we incorporated as appropriate.

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 Evi Rezmovic.

Paul L. Jones Director, Homeland Security and Justice Issues

(440457)
*** End of document. ***