Slowdown in Workload at the Nebraska Service Center 10/28/09

The Lincoln Journal Star is reporting that there has been a significant decline in the number of cases being processed by Lincoln’s regional Immigration and Citizenship Services Center (also known as the Nebraska Service Center). Director Jerry Heinauer comments that he isn’t sure how much of a decline in receipts is attributable to the economy and how much is attributable to a corresponding decline in the number of people who want to move to the United States. The total volume for the 19 different types of cases processed by the Nebraska Service Center has fallen drastically from the 750,000 range to the 600,000 range, consequently putting doubt on the job security of the 650 federal employees and 300 contract workers currently employed by the Center. The average monthly flow is approximatly 50,000, down 30,000 from the typical average of 80,000 from previous years. Although it is difficult through these numbers to draw conclusions from one year’s immigration traffic pattern, as is stated by the Lincoln Journal Star, “there are other clues to the connection between the service center’s results and the extent to which the image of the United States may be fading as an immigration destination for the time being.” For full article see: http://journalstar.com/news/local/article_df5c958e-c27f-11de-89da-001cc4c03286.html