U.S. Immigration is shutting down all of its international offices

(Image credit: Rhona Wise/Stringer/Getty Images)

published 12 March 2019

The Trump administration is making another major edit to the immigration system.

From ending protected statuses to restricting asylum processes, President Trump has time and time again made it harder for foreign nationals to legally stay in America. Now, he's making it harder for them to come the the U.S. in the first place, with U.S. Customs and Immigration Services telling its staff Tuesday that it'll shut down its foreign offices by the end of this year, The Washington Post reports.

America has more than 20 USCIS offices around the globe, which all handle overseas refugee and citizenship applications, per Reuters. They also help U.S. citizens looking to adopt foreign children and crack down on fraudulent visa applications. But all of the employees who provide those services will likely be transferred to the State Department as their offices are shuttered, USCIS Director Lee Francis Cissna said in an email to staff obtained by the Post.

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The move comes in response to the continually growing backlog of asylum cases dominating the immigration system, the email said. Relocating international employees to U.S. offices and foreign embassies would help "address backlogs in the United States," Cissna wrote. That backlog, within the immigration court system, has skyrocketed throughout Trump's presidency, and only got worse during the recent government shutdown.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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