Washington, D.C. – Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, with a group of Democratic colleagues, this week sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Nielsen expressing concerns about the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) plan to establish an internal oversight division to supervise the agency’s caseworkers and reports that such a unit may be used to discourage caseworkers from using discretion when deciding immigration cases.
“While robust oversight to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse is a wholly appropriate duty for any federal government agency, we are troubled by the suggestion that USCIS’ new division will instead be devoted to the surveillance of USCIS caseworkers in order to discourage from using discretion in adjudication of immigration benefits,” wrote the senators. “Given the absence of significant concerns in the 2016 Inspector General report, we are concerned this new unit could send the message that USCIS leadership believes its officers and adjudicators are not doing their jobs appropriately or professionally, and are placing the legal immigration system at grave imminent risk.”
A copy of the letter is available HERE.