Immigration Benefits: Sixteenth Report Required by the Haitian	 
Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998 (27-APR-07,		 
GAO-07-796R).							 
                                                                 
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 GAO's sixteenth report.	 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-07-796R					        
    ACCNO:   A68852						        
  TITLE:     Immigration Benefits: Sixteenth Report Required by the   
Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998		 
     DATE:   04/27/2007 
  SUBJECT:   Children						 
	     Homeland security					 
	     Immigration					 
	     Immigration and naturalization law 		 
	     Immigration information systems			 
	     Naturalization					 
	     Program evaluation 				 
	     Refugees						 
	     Statistical data					 
	     Immigrants 					 
	     EOIR Automated Nationwide System for		 
	     Immigration Review 				 
                                                                 
	     INS Computer Linked Application			 
	     Information Management System			 
                                                                 

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GAO-07-796R

April 27, 2007

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

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

The Honorable Dave Obey
Chairman
The Honorable Jerry Lewis
Ranking Member
Committee on Appropriations
House of Representatives

The Honorable John Conyers, Jr.
Chairman
The Honorable Lamar S. Smith
Ranking Member
Committee on the Judiciary
House of Representatives

Subject: Immigration Benefits: SixteenthReport 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
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 sixteenth report.^2

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

Results in Brief

Through March 31, 2007, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS),
formerly part of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), had
received a total of 40,844 HRIFA applications and had approved 17,538 of
these applications.^3 The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR)
had 2,020 applications filed and had approved 797 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 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 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).

^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 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.: Apr. 21, 2003); (10) Immigration
Benefits: Tenth Report Required by the Haitian Refugee Immigration
Fairness Act of 1998, GAO-04-189R (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 17, 2003); (11)
Immigration Benefits: Eleventh Report Required by the Haitian Refugee
Immigration Fairness Act of 1998, GAO-04-1030R (Washington, D.C.: Aug. 13,
2004); (12) Immigration Benefits: Twelfth Report Required by the Haitian
Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998, GAO-05-481R (Washington, D.C.:
Apr. 14, 2005), (13) Immigration Benefits: Thirteenth Report Required by
the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998, GAO-06-122R
(Washington, D.C.: Oct. 21, 2005), (14) Immigration Benefits: Fourteenth
Report Required by the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998,
GAO-06-589R (Washington, D.C.: April 21, 2006); and (15) Immigration
Benefits: Fifteenth Report Required by the Haitian Refugee Immigration
Fairness Act of 1998, GAO-07-168R (Washington, D.C.: November 9, 2006).

^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.

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 March 31, 2007, USCIS data showed that it had received 40,844
HRIFA applications at its Nebraska Service Center, all of which had been
entered into CLAIMS.^6 The categories and numbers of these applicants are
shown in table 1. Through March 31, 2007, USCIS had approved 17,538
applications for adjustment of status under HRIFA.

^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. Regulations
implementing these changes to HRIFA went into effect on May 31, 2001, and
motions to reopen immigration court proceedings for aliens made eligible
for HRIFA benefits by these changes had to be filed by June 19, 2001.

^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.

Table 1: HRIFA Applications and Categories of Applications Received and
Approved by USCIS, through March 31, 2007

Principal or Category of      Number of applications             Number of 
                                              in CLAIMS applications approved 
dependent    applicant                                                     
Principal    Asylum                           17,344                 7,174 
Principal    Parolee                           8,904                 3,037 
Principal    Child without                     1,230                   164 
                parents                                                       
Principal    Orphaned child                      240                    35 
Principal    Abandoned child                     481                    42 
Dependent    Spouse                            3,864                 1,485 
Dependent    Child                             8,343                 5,493 
Dependent    Unmarried son or                    438                   108 
                daughter                                                      
Total                                         40,844                17,538 

Source: USCIS data.

HRIFA Applications Filed with and Approved by EOIR

Through March 31, 2007, EOIR data from ANSIR showed that 2,020 HRIFA
applications had been filed with EOIR, of which 797 had been approved for
adjustment of status.^7 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 March 31, 2007

Principal or Category of      Number of applications             Number of 
                                               in ANSIR applications approved 
dependent    applicant                                                     
Principal    Asylum                            1,113                   426 
Principal    Parolee                             478                   178 
Principal    Child without                       105                    43 
                parents                                                       
Principal    Orphaned child                       16                     6 
Principal    Abandoned child                      23                    11 
Dependent    Spouse                              184                    86 
Dependent    Child                                83                    38 
Dependent    Unmarried son or                     18                     9 
                daughter                                                      
Total                                          2,020                   797 

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 in April 2007, 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.

We provided the Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Homeland Security (DHS)
with a draft of this report for comment. DOJ and DHS had no comments on
the 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 contributors to this
assignment were Evi Rezmovic and R.E. Canjar.

Richard M. Stana
Director, Homeland Security and Justice Issues

(440609)
*** End of document. ***