U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has said it needs $1.2 billion in emergency money from Congress. If lawmakers don’t agree, a local union representative said most workers could be furloughed as soon as August.
Citizenship and Immigration Services gets the vast majority of funding through fees. But revenue has plunged due to the coronavirus and restrictions on migration.
Without emergency funding, management has said that staff will have to go on unpaid leave, said Steven Sahr, union steward with the American Federation of Government Employees.
“The furlough rate — they’re anticipating furloughing about 75 to 80% of the agency,” said Sahr, who works at the Phoenix field office.
If furloughs happen, Sahr said emergency services would continue. But the normal processing of applications would stop.
