San Diego • T The head of the U.S. agency that grants citizenship and visas says it’s getting a grip on finances that threatened massive furloughs last year and is preparing to propose fees for its services that won’t limit legal immigration to the “very wealthy,” a jab at a Trump administration principle that newcomers should be financially self-sufficient.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services was on the brink of furloughing nearly 70% of its 20,000 employees in the summer of 2020 when, almost overnight, it declared it would end the year with a large surplus.

USCIS, the acronym by which the agency is known, relies almost entirely on fee collections for a nearly $5 billion annual operation. Reserves at the end of the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 were $1.5 billion, “which is where we want to be,” agency Director Ur Jaddou said in an interview.

A temporary hiring freeze, spending controls and no longer requiring new biometric data for renewal of benefits, introduced in March 2020, helped put the agency on stronger footing, she said.

“I do understand what the problems were and how they’ve been ‘resolved’ — I want to say that in quotes because we have an unsteady situation, but we’re pretty, we’re strong,” Jaddou said.

Trump administration officials have credited last year’s return from the financial precipice to higher-than-expected fees collected during the coronavirus pandemic’s early months and ending some contracts.

“Number one, we believe the immigration system should not be reserved to the wealthy,” Jaddou said, striking a contrast with the Trump-era mantra of self-sufficiency.

FILE PHOTO: Workers are seen on the production line at a cotton textile factory in Korla, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China April 1, 2021. Picture taken April 1, 2021. cnsphoto via REUTERS/File Photo

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