We came. We saw. We advocated. It mattered.

Last month, our Managing Attorney, Fiona McEntee, and 500 other fierce immigration lawyers, returned to Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. to take part in the American Immigration Lawyers Association National Day of Action (AILA NDA).

One specific issue addressed “was the tremendous increase in USCIS processing times and getting Congress involved in oversight of the agency. From FY2017 to FY2018, while the overall case receipts were down 13%, there was a massive 19% increase in processing times.” Not only did Fiona and her colleagues share these startling statistics, they “were able to relay direct client stories to show this slowdown is having a devastating effect on their lives. And it worked!”

Since AILA’s NDA, 82 Democratic members of Congress have asked the Government Accountability Office to conduct an investigation into USCIS backlogs.Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Tex.) and 81 other lawmakers wrote a letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro to investigate the crisis-level delays that are “hurting families and businesses that depend on timely adjudications.”

Fiona wrote a blog post on the impact of AILA NDA and this resulting investigation and it’s been published on AILA’s Think Immigration Blog.

Advocacy matters, and it works!

Read more here.