USCIS Slapped with Class Action Lawsuit, Accused of Taking Fees and Skipping Background Checks
March 20, 2024
Last November, a class action lawsuit was filed against U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency within Homeland Security responsible for legal immigration, for unlawfully charging aliens millions of dollars for biometric fees but never conducting the biometric screenings. The plaintiffs, naturalized citizens who paid the fees, claimed that the agency charged them $85 each for biometrics and background checks, in many instances more than once, in contravention of its statutory and regulatory mandates. Now, the agency is ready to settle.
USCIS typically charges an $85 biometric fee to applicants and petitioners to “pay for background checks and have biometric information captured” (8 CFR 103.7(b)(1)(i)(C). The information is collected during scheduled biometrics appointments at a USCIS contractor operated facility across the country where the aliens submit digital fingerprints, photos and signatures. According to the complaint, this information is submitted to the FBI for a full criminal background check. According to the complaint, USCIS says the $85 biometric fee covers four services: (1) FBI Name Checks; (2) FBI fingerprints; (3) Application Support Center (ASC) contractual support; and (4) Biometric service management overall, including federal employees at the ASC locations.
“Because the naturalization process generally requires applicants to submit at least a few different types of applications requiring the biometrics fee (e.g. for permanent residence, for renewal of permanent residence, and for naturalization), most applicants pay $85 fee multiple times,” say the plaintiffs.
https://www.fairus.org/blog/2024/03/20/uscis-slapped-class-action-lawsuit-accused-taking-fees-and-skipping-background
