DHS Reports that Citizenship Approvals Increased in 2018

WASHINGTON – Employees of the Department of Homeland Security based in the National Capital Region honor 14 years of dedication and hard work with a celebration at DHS Headquarters in Washington, D.C., March 29, 2017. Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly addressed more than 200 employees thanking them for their service, participated in a cake-cutting ceremony and kicked off of a 1.4 mile fun/run walk for the employees. Official DHS photo by Matthew Harmon.

In 2018, Homeland Security reached a five-year high in citizenship application approvals.

It also swore in more immigrants as naturalized citizens according to a new statistical report released on the night of July 26, 2019.

These numbers contradict criticism from Democratic officials who claim that there are backlogs at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The Homeland Security branch handles all legal immigration matters.

Additionally, the new report indicates that the government is processing more asylum-seeker petitions than any of the past four years despite talks about a supposed “crackdown” on asylum seekers. This included a 61 percent increase from 2017 to 2018 in asylum applications.

When all categories of humanitarian programs are considered — asylum, refugees, crime victim visas, Temporary Protected Status and screening for credible fear or reasonable fear of persecution — these numbers were 32 percent higher than in 2017.

USCIS has come under fire in recent years, with immigrants’ rights groups accusing the Trump administration of building a bureaucratic “wall” to deny people easy paths to citizenship.

Hispanic Congressional Democrats claim that things are so bad that they’ve requested and have actually been granted an investigation, which is being carried out by the Government Accountability Office.

The chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Congressman Joaquin Castro, said that this supposed backlog is part of “President Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda.”

According to The Washington Times, the backlog in citizenship applications began during the end of the Obama administration. Yet, nobody complained about this when Obama was in office.

However, Democrats might be complaining now after new evidence has shown that migrants bloc vote for their party.

Beto O’Rourke’s surprising performance in Texas demonstrates how demographic shift has made states like Texas more competitive for Democrats.

For that reason, Democrats are clamoring for all sorts of schemes from amnesty to getting rid of the citizenship exam to get as many migrants into their voter pipeline as possible.

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