ACLU Practice Advisory: USCIS's Controlled Application Review and Resolution Program (CARRP)

Katie Traverso and Jennie Pasquarella, ACLU of Southern California - "This advisory discusses United States Citizenship and Immigration Service’s (“USCIS”) Controlled Application Review and Resolution Program, or “CARRP.” In 2008, USCIS created CARRP as its policy for identifying, screening, and adjudicating applications for immigrant benefits, including naturalization, adjustment of status, and asylum, from individuals it considers a “national security concern.”

CARRP relies upon overbroad and discriminatory criteria to flag applicants for immigration benefits as national security concerns, particularly those who are Muslim or from Muslim-majority countries. It then directs USCIS officers to delay and ultimately deny their applications—all without informing applicants they are subject to the policy, let alone giving them an opportunity to respond to the agency’s classification of them as a “national security concern.”

This advisory: (I) provides an overview of CARRP; (II) describes the possible impact of CARRP on a client’s immigration application; (III) provides a checklist to help determine if a client is likely subject to CARRP; (IV) provides advice and considerations for litigating cases subject to CARRP; (V) discusses administrative appeals and federal court actions; and (VI) offers guidance on filing requests under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”)."