From http://levin.senate.gov/newsroom/release.cfm?id=285400
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 16, 2007 Contact: Press Office
Phone: 202.228.3685
Senate Approves Levin Amendment to Improve Oversight of FBI Background Checks
WASHINGTON – The Senate has approved an amendment by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., to improve oversight of the FBI National Name Check Program, which faces a substantial backlog. The program is used to run background checks on people applying for immigration benefits or seeking employment with the U.S. government, among many other purposes. Levin’s provision, which was included as an amendment to the Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) Fiscal Year 2008 Appropriations Bill, would require the FBI to report to Congress every year regarding progress made in improving the FBI’s system of processing background checks and automating investigative files.
“The background check program’s enormous backlog poses an unacceptable burden on people whose lives are on hold, and it also leads to a national security risk,” Levin said. “Approximately 31,000 cases have been pending for at least 33 months. If these individuals are a security threat, we must know that sooner rather than later.”
According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Ombudsman’s 2007 Annual Report, there were 329,160 name check cases pending in May 2007, which is and increase of 93,358 over the previous year. Many immigrants who are applying for adjustment of status to legal permanent resident, naturalization, asylum, or a waiver end up waiting for months or years for the completion of the name check process.
In 2003, Robert J. Garrity, Jr., then Acting Assistant Director of the Records Management Division of the FBI stated before the House Committee on Government Reform that, “[t]he name check delays have significant consequences to FBI customers and stakeholders. The delays impede hiring or clearing skilled workers; completing government contracts; student enrollment, and…clearing requested visas for business visits to the United States. More importantly than all of the foregoing, these processing delays can also diminish counterterrorism effectiveness.”