Green Card Backlog Fix Dropped From Lawmakers’ Budget Deal (1)

Immigrants stuck in chronic green card backlogs lost out on a policy solution in a government funding deal lawmakers unveiled earlier Wednesday.

The Department of Homeland Security spending bill (H.R. 2471)omits previously drafted provisions that would have salvaged unused immigrant visas from recent fiscal years beset by processing delays. House and Senate appropriators in bills proposed last year had included measures to recapture family- and employment-based immigrant visa numbers from fiscal 2020 and 2021.

Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), the Senate’s top homeland security appropriator, previewed the move Tuesday, noting that many policy provisions had to be dropped during negotiations ...