Delay and Deny

WASHINGTON — The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington ruled today that the federal government’s Controlled Application Review and Resolution Program (CARRP) is “arbitrary and capricious,” and violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). CARRP is a discriminatory policy that instructs immigration officers to label some people applying for immigration benefits – like green cards or citizenship – as “national security concerns.” According to CARRP, someone can be branded as a “national security concern” based on innocuous characteristics, like speaking another language or having an advanced technical degree. Once USCIS decides a person is a “national security concern,” it bends over backwards to find a way to reject their application for benefits. People in CARRP have to endure extended processing delays and much higher denial rates, which can tear apart their personal and professional lives. “This decision makes clear that CARRP was a horribly flawed idea from the beginning,” said Charlie Hogle, staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project. “It needlessly harms aspiring Americans, many of whom have homes, families, and careers here.” In its decision, the court recognized that, despite years of litigation, the federal government has never pointed to any evidence explaining its decision to create CARRP. The court also found that, in designing CARRP, the federal government failed to consider whether it would be able to decide applications in CARRP within a reasonable amount of time, as the law requires. These failures make CARRP unlawful. “Today’s order is a huge step forward in vindicating the rights of thousands of people with lawful status who are subjected to arbitrary and unlawful delays that wreak havoc on their lives,” said Matt Adams, legal director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. “These delays —often for years—cause people to lose jobs and homes.” The plaintiffs challenging CARRP also argued that the policy violates their constitutional rights to due process and equal protection. The court did not agree with those arguments, even as it concluded that CARRP violates the APA. The plaintiffs in Wagafe v. USCIS are represented by the ACLU, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Perkins Coie LLP, the Law Offices of Stacy Tolchin, and the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program.

WHAT: The American Civil Liberties Union, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP), and their partners will be in federal court on behalf of thousands of green-card and citizenship applicants who have been stuck in “immigration purgatory” due to a secretive U.S. Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) policy known as the Controlled Application Review and Resolution Program (CARRP). We will be asking the court to end this unlawful policy, which harms people who’ve done nothing wrong and are simply seeking the safety and opportunity that our country promises. Since 2008, the government has placed some otherwise eligible applicants — disproportionately from Muslim-majority countries — in CARRP based on vague “national security concerns,” which include things like religious practices, languages spoken, and advanced education. USCIS can spend years, and sometimes decades, searching for a reason to deny immigration applications in CARRP, even for minor paperwork errors. All the while, applicants are left in the dark. Even if “cleared” of a purported national security concern, applicants who have been subjected to CARRP are more likely to be denied benefits. The plaintiffs in Wagafe v. Biden are represented by the ACLU, the ACLU of Southern California, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, the Law Offices of Stacy Tolchin, and the law firm Perkins Coie. The legal team will be available for questions after the argument. The ACLU and NWIRP’s new report on CARRP and its consequences can be found here. WHO: Matt Adams, legal director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project Charlie Hogle, staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project Mohammad Tajsar, senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Southern California WHEN: Friday, July 19 at 10 am PT WHERE: The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, Seattle Division 700 Stewart Street, Courtroom 15106 (15A) Seattle, WA 98101

NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP) today released a white paper on the U.S. Customs and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) secretive vetting policy, which places thousands of green-card and citizenship applicants in “immigration purgatory” without due process. Delay and Deny: How the U.S. Government Condemns Aspiring Americans to Immigration Purgatory, is the first comprehensive account of the Controlled Application Review and Resolution Program (CARRP) and its harms in almost a decade. The paper includes information from newly unsealed records from a class action lawsuit the ACLU, NWIRP, and partners have been litigating since 2017. These records, which the ACLU has also made public, confirm that USCIS puts people in CARRP processing even if they’ve done nothing wrong. CARRP — which was never approved by Congress — is designed to create delays and facilitate denials. Since 2008, USCIS has used CARRP to brand otherwise eligible applicants as “national security concerns” based on vague suspicion. It then quietly removes their applications from normal review and subjects them to a long, onerous process of extreme vetting. When an application for citizenship or a green card is placed in CARRP, USCIS can spend years searching for a reason to deny it — for any reason, even an applicant’s paperwork error. All the while, the agency never provides notice that applicants have been subject to CARRP or explains its “concerns,” leaving them in the dark about their futures. As the new report details, USCIS’s definition of a “national security concern” does not require illegal activity; on the contrary, the agency teaches immigration officers that people may be deemed national security concerns based on innocuous characteristics like where they come from, who they know or are related to, their religious activity, the languages they speak, and their professions. Newly released records in the report also reveal: Long Delays: On average, between October 2012 and September 2019, green-card and citizenship applicants subject to CARRP waited more than 20 months for USCIS to decide their applications, compared to eight months for those not subject to CARRP. In many instances, applications ready for a decision have remained dormant for no known reason. CARRP is Discriminatory: Immigration officers place green-card applicants from Muslim-majority countries in CARRP at over 10 times the rate of other applicants, while citizenship applicants from Muslim-majority countries are routed into CARRP at 12 times the rate. Vastly Higher Denial Rates: While USCIS’s denial rate for green-card and citizenship applications is generally 7.5 percent, applications placed in CARRP but eventually cleared of USCIS’s “national security concern” were denied at nearly double the rate of applicants never placed in CARRP. “USCIS unilaterally created a discriminatory program that is both unlawful and unnecessary,” said Charlie Hogle, staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project. “USCIS should rescind CARRP instead of continuing to defend it and harming people who are simply seeking the welcome, safety, and opportunity that our country promises. Unless and until the government reverses course, we will keep fighting this due process nightmare.” On July 19, the ACLU and its partners will appear before the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington to argue on behalf of individuals who have been subjected to and harmed by CARRP.