The mission statement of the USCIS has been amended to include the phrase “welcome immigrants”. The new goal statement replaces one from the Trump period, which controversially deleted the phrase “country of immigrants”. The United States describes as a “country of welcome and promise” in the most recent version.
Firstly, USCIS Director Ur Jaddou said that the revised goal statement “better represents the Biden administration’s commitment to an accessible and humane US immigration system”.
Jaddou wrote to USCIS staff saying: “We strive to provide a timely decision, be it yes or no, and with the utmost respect, to every petitioner or person who seeks a benefit from USCIS, be it a US citizen seeking to reunite with a family member, a US business attempting to hire a skilled foreign national, a lawful permanent resident seeking naturalization, or a person who hopes to find a place of refuge from persecution.”
Secondly, the change to the USCIS mission statement is ‘symbolic’. However, government officials say it is part of a larger Biden administration effort. The goal is to eliminate all traces of Trump’s immigration policies. The anterior policies focused more on restricting legal US immigration routes and spewing controversial rhetoric toward immigrants.
Moreover, in 2021, the Biden administration asked all US immigration officials to stop using derogatory words.
The removed phrase “country of immigrants” in 2018 prompted outrage. US immigration advocates and other civil rights organizations expressed their dissatisfaction.
Lastly, the USCIS mission statement during Trump’s presidency read: “US Citizenship and Immigration Services administers the nation’s lawful immigration system, safeguarding its integrity and promise by efficiently and fairly adjudicating requests for immigration benefits while protecting Americans, securing the homeland, and honoring our values.”
Source: workpermit.com
