Letter to The Hon. Joseph Edlow, Deputy Director for Policy, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services - Rep. Cleaver Seeks Answers on Uscis Contractor Furloughs in Kansas City

Letter

Dear Deputy Director Edlow:

We write to you today to address recent constituent inquiries regarding the reduction of a
contract with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in the Kansas City metro
area. We understand that the reduction of this contract has resulted in a significant reduction in
contract personnel at the National Benefit Center (NBC) offices in Missouri and Kansas.

As you know, the National Benefit Center (NBC) has approximately1,300 contract employees
between the Missouri and Kansas facilities, and overall USCIS has 3,100 contract and federal
employees in the bi-state region. Employees at the NBC conduct pre-processing steps, run
background checks, and prepare applications for interviews at field offices around the country.

Were it not for the hard work of these dedicated individuals, the Kansas City Metropolitan region
would not have grown into the diverse community it is today and the economic impact of such a
reduction will be felt for years to come.

In order to have a better understanding of how USCIS reached this decision, we request a
briefing to detail how the determination was made to descope the contract in the Kansas City
region, any changes that will be made to the responsibilities of remaining personnel, the potential
impacts this change will have on application case backlogs in various application categories, as
well as the metrics that will be used to potentially restore the full contract level in the future.

Given the time-sensitive nature of this issue, we request a briefing before Friday September 4th, 2020.