USCIS also referred more than 14,400 immigrants to ICE due to fraud, national security, and public safety concerns.
Since Jan. 20, officers with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have issued roughly 196,600 Notices to Appear (NTAs), a charging document that initiates deportation proceedings for noncitizens, the agency said in a statement on Dec. 22.
“Under an updated policy confirming USCIS’ role as an immigration enforcement agency, the agency’s officers are once again empowered to enforce immigration law by issuing Notices to Appear,” it said.
The NTA, issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), under which USCIS operates, explained why the individual is subject to deportation.
The 196,600 NTAs issued under the Trump administration this year represent “historic levels of enforcement,” according to an official infographic.
USCIS also referred more than 14,400 immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) due to fraud, national security, and public safety concerns. This includes 182 aliens who are “confirmed or suspected to be national security risks,” according to the statement.
Under DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, USCIS has been “actively collaborating with other agencies on immigration enforcement and public safety efforts, resulting in over 2,400 arrests at USCIS field offices since Jan. 20,” USCIS said.
USCIS noted that there have been more fraud referrals to law enforcement during the current administration than in the entirety of the prior Biden administration.
Since Jan. 20, USCIS officers have made more than 29,000 fraud referrals to the agency’s Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS) Directorate. Of these, FDNS has completed investigations into more than 19,300 cases, identifying fraud in 65 percent of them.
In addition, FDNS has completed more than 6,500 site visits and conducted more than 19,500 social media checks on immigrants’ online posts to assess potential security and fraud issues, USCIS said.
In addition to deportation and referrals to law enforcement, USCIS’s immigration actions include voter verification and the disbursement of federal benefits.
The agency completed more than 48 million voter verifications this year under agreements with 24 states as part of “protecting elections and combating voter fraud,” according to the infographic.
The DHS also conducted more than 206 million eligibility checks for federal agencies overseeing public benefits, helping in “preserving public benefits” for Americans.
