USCIS failed to reduce backlog of asylum applications: Inspector General report

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) did not adjudicate affirmative asylum applications in time to meet deadlines and address an existing backlog, the Office of Inspector General found in a report released Friday.

"At the end of fiscal year 2023, USCIS had more than 1 million asylum cases pending determination," the OIG said in a press release. Out of those, the agency had over 786,000 affirmative asylum cases pending for more than 180 days from the filing date.

The watchdog partially attributed the backlog in part to insufficient funding and inadequate staffing to deal with the caseloads.

"The rise in asylum claims without a corresponding increase in resources will continue to prevent USCIS from meeting statutory timelines and result in the continued growth of the backlog of affirmative asylum cases," the OIG report further asserted.

Other watchdogs and oversight panels have recently criticized the Department of Homeland Security's handling of the situation at the southern border and number of illegal border crossings.

The House Judiciary Committee and the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, for instance, released a report this week that exposed the Biden administration using taxpayer dollars to pay for services for illegal immigrants.