DELAWARE- More than a million visa applications for immigrants have been delayed or suspended and more than 4,000 of those are from the state of Delaware, according to local officials.
This includes those who have been living in the U.S. for months or even years and are applying to renew their permit, as well as those who wish to come to the country for the first time.
Executive Director of ACLU Delaware Mike Brickner said the COVID-19 pandemic caused a lot of visa processing centers to either shut down completely or have very limited hours.
"The Trump administration had chosen to slow down a lot of the visa processing and with a lot of centers at low staffing levels, it led to this tremendous backlog across the country," Brickner explained.
Since last November, the facility in Dover has only been operating for eight hours a week, Delaware U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) said that's the only facility in the country operating on such limited hours--The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Application Support Center is set to return to the normal 40-hour work week on May 3.
Brickner said this backlog issue has had real implications on people's everyday lives.
"So if you're here on a work visa and your work visa expires you would lose your job and so you would not be able to work because that visa has expired so your employer would let you go," he said. "There may not be any kind of guarantee that you would be able to get that job back once you get your visa reapproved, and also if you have other things like perhaps your health insurance is through your employer, you would not have that health insurance as well."
For others affected, waiting could mean their driver's license has also expired; if they drive anyway, they risk getting pulled over by law enforcement and the consequences could range up to deportation.
"Charito" Calvachi-Mateyko, co-chair of the Delaware Hispanic Commission, said she sees the frustration from friends impacted by the visa backlogs. Especially from people who have done everything "by the book," following all proper protocol and procedures, and are now forced to turn to some illegal methods to stay in the country.
"My friends have said that of course they are in limbo, many of them, because you know without that permit, you don't have it, and you have to provide for your family, (so) then you go to that Black Market to buy one of the social security numbers, that's the reality," she said.
Officials said the backlogs keep getting worse. As visa expiration dates keep closing in, experts recommend getting a head start in the renewal process and contacting local representatives to let them know you need their help.
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