US house passes bill to provide emergency funds for Immigration Services

United States House of Representatives has unanimously passed a bill to provide emergency funding to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is the primary agency running the nation’s immigration system that is set to furlough roughly two-thirds of its employees at the end of this month.

According to the details, The bill passed moments after the House voted on legislation to prevent cutbacks at the U.S. Postal Service, which brought members of Congress back to Washington for a rare weekend session.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D., Md.) brought up the bill using a procedure known as unanimous consent.

The consent allows bills to bypass roll-call votes so long as no lawmakers object.

Pressure has been mounting through the week to shore up U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that handles citizenship, green card, visa, and other immigration applications.

The agency plans to furlough about 70% of its staff on Aug. 31, and should the furlough move ahead, most of the agency’s work is expected to come to a halt.

This means that by furloughing the staff, it could result in preventing more than 100,000 people waiting to take their citizenship oaths from becoming citizens ahead of November’s elections.

In a written statement, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D., Calif.), the bill’s sponsor, said the legislation should spur the Trump administration to delay its planned furloughs, which would affect about 13,400 employees.