The White House, State Department and Department of Homeland Security have worked with internal and external stakeholders to establish recommended actions that would drive the government’s efforts to transform the U.S. immigration system.In a report released this month, the White House highlights three focus areas for reform: the visa application and adjudication process, the legal immigration system and the humanitarian system.
Based on themes identified through stakeholder feedback and interagency cooperation, the government needs to modernize technology systems to boost efficiency, accessibility and data transparency in the immigration application process, the report said.
Streamlining the legal immigration system will also work to reduce backlogs and ease the process for agencies and U.S. employers that petition for or sponsor visa applicants.
The White House also included humanitarian considerations for immigration relief to Filipino veterans and their families, domestic violence survivors, victims of crime and trafficking and other vulnerable populations.
According to the report, these recommendations work to support President Barack Obama’s 2014 executive actions on immigration.
“President Obama is acting within his legal authority to fix what he can, but only Congress can finish the job by passing comprehensive, commonsense immigration reform that fully brings our legal immigration system into the 21st century,” the White House stated in the report.
