In 2018, President Donald Trump’s director of USCIS, L. Francis Cissna, changed the USCIS mission statement from “USCIS secures America’s promise as a nation of immigrants by providing accurate and useful information to our customers, granting immigration and citizenship benefits, promoting an awareness and understanding of citizenship, and ensuring the integrity of our immigration system” to “USCIS 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.”
The major differences between the two statements are, first, that Trump removed “nation of immigrants” and “customers” from the old statement, and second, that he inserted “protecting Americans” and “securing the homeland.” Defending the removal of the word “customers,” Cissna told reporters at the time, “Use of the term leads to the erroneous belief that applicants and petitioners, rather than the American people, are whom we ultimately serve.”
He is correct. But the idea that an immigration agency serves Americans, not non-Americans seeking to enter their country, simply couldn’t stand in the Biden administration. The new Biden administration USCIS mission statement reads: “USCIS upholds America’s promise as a nation of welcome and possibility with fairness, integrity, and respect for all we serve.”
“The United States is and will remain a welcoming nation that embraces people from across the world who seek family reunification, employment or professional opportunities, and humanitarian protection,” USCIS Director Ur Jaddou said last week. “At USCIS, we know that every time we grant an immigration or naturalization benefit, we are fostering the opportunity to help us build a stronger America.”
The focus at USCIS is again only on serving immigrants as customers — making sure they get “benefits” that Biden and his Democratic allies want to give them. No concern is ever voiced about protecting citizens or the border.
It is true that USCIS is not specifically charged with securing the border or removing those migrants without lawful presence in the country. Those responsibilities fall to the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
That said, USCIS still plays an important role in upholding the legitimacy of the immigration system. When USCIS adjudicates applications for green cards, work permits, asylum status, refugee status, and other immigration benefits, whom should USCIS personnel have in mind as their ultimate client?
Whose interests are they ultimately serving? American citizens? Or the literally billions of foreigners who want to come here?
Now, we know where Biden stands.