This is the accessible text file for GAO report number GAO-06-589R entitled 'Immigration Benefits: Fourteenth Report Required by the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998' which was released on April 21, 2006. This text file was formatted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to be accessible to users with visual impairments, as part of a longer term project to improve GAO products' accessibility. Every attempt has been made to maintain the structural and data integrity of the original printed product. Accessibility features, such as text descriptions of tables, consecutively numbered footnotes placed at the end of the file, and the text of agency comment letters, are provided but may not exactly duplicate the presentation or format of the printed version. The portable document format (PDF) file is an exact electronic replica of the printed version. We welcome your feedback. Please E-mail your comments regarding the contents or accessibility features of this document to Webmaster@gao.gov. This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright protection in the United States. It may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety without further permission from GAO. Because this work may contain copyrighted images or other material, permission from the copyright holder may be necessary if you wish to reproduce this material separately. Government Accountability Office: GAO: April 21, 2006: The Honorable Thad Cochran: Chairman: The Honorable Robert C. Byrd: Ranking Member: Committee on Appropriations: United States Senate: The Honorable Arlen Specter: Chairman: The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy: Ranking Member: Committee on the Judiciary: United States Senate: The Honorable Jerry Lewis: Chairman: The Honorable David R. Obey: Ranking Member: Committee on Appropriations: House of Representatives: The Honorable F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. Chairman: The Honorable John Conyers, Jr. Ranking Member: Committee on the Judiciary: House of Representatives: Subject: Immigration Benefits: Fourteenth 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[Footnote 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 fourteenth report.[Footnote 2] Results in Brief: Through March 31, 2006, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), formerly part of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), had received a total of 39,850 HRIFA applications and had approved 15,369 of these applications.[Footnote 3] The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) had 1,869 applications filed and had approved 709 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). 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.[Footnote 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.[Footnote 5] HRIFA Applications Received and Approved by USCIS: Through March 31, 2006, USCIS data showed that it had received 39,850 HRIFA applications at its Nebraska Service Center, all of which had been entered into CLAIMS.[Footnote 6] The categories and numbers of these applicants are shown in table 1. Through March 31, 2006, USCIS had approved 15,369 applications for adjustment of status under HRIFA. Table 1: HRIFA Applications and Categories of Applications Received and Approved by USCIS, through March 31, 2006: Principal or Dependent: Principal; Category of applicant: Asylum; Number of applications in CLAIMS: 17,331; Number of applications approved: 6,921. Principal or Dependent: Principal; Category of applicant: Parolee; Number of applications in CLAIMS: 8,902; Number of applications approved: 2,943. Principal or Dependent: Principal; Category of applicant: Child without parents; Number of applications in CLAIMS: 1,228; Number of applications approved: 151. Principal or Dependent: Principal; Category of applicant: Orphaned child; Number of applications in CLAIMS: 240; Number of applications approved: 30. Principal or Dependent: Principal; Category of applicant: Abandoned child; Number of applications in CLAIMS: 481; Number of applications approved: 34. Principal or Dependent: Dependent; Category of applicant: Spouse; Number of applications in CLAIMS: 3,727; Number of applications approved: 1,230. Principal or Dependent: Dependent; Category of applicant: Child; Number of applications in CLAIMS: 7,536; Number of applications approved: 3,964. Principal or Dependent: Dependent; Category of applicant: Unmarried son or daughter; Number of applications in CLAIMS: 405; Number of applications approved: 96. Total; Category of applicant: [Empty]; Number of applications in CLAIMS: 39,850; Number of applications approved: 15,369. Source: USCIS data. [End of table] HRIFA Applications Filed with and Approved by EOIR: Through March 31, 2006, EOIR data from ANSIR showed that 1,869 HRIFA applications had been filed with EOIR, of which 709 had been approved for adjustment of status.[Footnote 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, 2006: Principal or Dependent: Principal; Category of applicant: Asylum; Number of applications in ANSIR: 1,041; Number of applications approved: 380. Principal or Dependent: Principal; Category of applicant: Parolee; Number of applications in ANSIR: 449; Number of applications approved: 160. Principal or Dependent: Principal; Category of applicant: Child without parents; Number of applications in ANSIR: 95; Number of applications approved: 37. Principal or Dependent: Principal; Category of applicant: Orphaned child; Number of applications in ANSIR: 16; Number of applications approved: 6. Principal or Dependent: Principal; Category of applicant: Abandoned child; Number of applications in ANSIR: 18; Number of applications approved: 10. Principal or Dependent: Dependent; Category of applicant: Spouse; Number of applications in ANSIR: 163; Number of applications approved: 75. Principal or Dependent: Dependent; Category of applicant: Child; Number of applications in ANSIR: 73; Number of applications approved: 33. Principal or Dependent: Dependent; Category of applicant: Unmarried son or daughter; Number of applications in ANSIR: 14[A]; Number of applications approved: 8. Principal or Dependent: Total; Category of applicant: [Empty]; Number of applications in ANSIR: 1,869; 7Number of applications approved: 09. Source: EOIR data. [A] In our last report, GAO-06-122R, EOIR data provided as of the end of September 30, 2005, showed a total of 15 applications in ANSIR for this category. An EOIR official explained that the data in the ANSIR system was changed from 15 to 14 applications because the ultimate relief granted in one case was not HRIFA. [End of table] 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 between March and April 2006, in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. We provided the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security 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 Vickie Miller. Signed by: Paul L. Jones: Director, Homeland Security and Justice Issues: (440505): FOOTNOTES [1] Pub. L. No. 105-277, tit. IX, 112 Stat. 2681-538. [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); and (13) Immigration Benefits: Thirteenth Report Required by the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998, GAO-06-122R (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 21, 2005). [3] On March 1, 2003, INS was transferred from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Within Homeland Security, the adjudication of HRIFA benefits is the responsibility of USCIS. [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. [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. [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.