I-821D REV Fee Rule NPRM Supporting Statement

SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

OMB Control No.: 1615-0124

COLLECTION INSTRUMENT(S): Form I-821D

A. Justification

1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary. Identify any legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection. Attach a copy of the appropriate section of each statute and regulation mandating or authorizing the collection of information.

Section 103 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C 1103 (a) (1), gives the Secretary of Homeland Security (the Secretary) general authority to enforce and administer the immigration laws. Pursuant to that authority, the Secretary on June 15, 2012 issued a memorandum (the Secretary’s Memorandum) that outlines guidelines that should be used when considering whether to defer pursuing removal of an individual. This is a case-by-case exercise of prosecutorial discretion relating to individuals who were brought to the United States as children and meet certain threshold guidelines. As with other exercises of prosecutorial discretion, the goal is to ensure that immigration enforcement resources are appropriately focused on individuals who meet the Department’s enforcement priorities, rather than on the lowest priority cases. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is collecting the information in this form in accordance with the Secretary’s direction, issued under the authority provided by INA § 103(a)(3), 8 U.S.C. 1103(a)(3), to prescribe forms and instructions necessary to carry out the authority provided in 8 U.S.C. 1103(a)(1).

2. Indicate how, by whom, and for what purpose the information is to be used. Except for a new collection, indicate the actual use the agency has made of the information received from the current collection.

The information collected on this form is used by USCIS to determine eligibility of certain individuals who were brought to the United States as children and meet the following guidelines to be considered for deferred action for childhood arrivals:

1. Was under the age of 31 as of June 15, 2012;

2. Came to the United States before reaching his or her 16th birthday;

3. Has continuously resided in the United States since June 15, 2007, up to the

present time;

4. Was present in the United States on June 15, 2012 and at the time of making his or her request for consideration of deferred action with USCIS;

5. Had no lawful status on June 15, 2012; NOTE: No lawful status on June 15, 2012 means that:

a) You never had a lawful immigration status on or before June 15, 2012; or

b) Any lawful immigration status or parole that you obtained prior to June 15, 2012 had expired as of June 15, 2012.

6. Is currently in school, has graduated or obtained a certificate of completion from high school, has obtained a general education development (GED) certificate, or is an honorably discharged veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces or U.S. Coast Guard; and

7. Has not been convicted of a felony, a significant misdemeanor, or three or more misdemeanors, and does not otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety.

An individual may be considered for Renewal of DACA if he or she met the guidelines for consideration of Initial DACA up to the present time; and

1. Did not depart the United States on or after August 15, 2012 without advance parole;

2. Has continuously resided in the United States since he or she submitted his or her request for Initial DACA up to the present time; and

3. Has not been convicted of a felony, a significant misdemeanor, or three or more misdemeanors, and does not otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety.

These individuals will be considered for relief from removal from the United States or from being placed into removal proceedings as part of the deferred action for childhood arrivals process. Those who submit requests with USCIS and demonstrate that they meet the threshold guidelines may have removal action in their case deferred for a period of two years, subject to renewal (if not terminated), based on an individualized, case by case assessment of the individual’s equities. Only those individuals who can demonstrate, through verifiable documentation, that they meet the threshold guidelines will be considered for deferred action for childhood arrivals, except in exceptional circumstances.

3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses, and the basis for the decision for adopting this means of collection. Also describe any consideration of using information technology to reduce burden.

Form I-821D is available for filing via paper and online. The burden for setting up a USCIS online account is covered under the USCIS Identity, Credential, and Access Management (ICAM) information collection (OMB control number 1615-0122).

4. Describe efforts to identify duplication. Show specifically why any similar information already available cannot be used or modified for use for the purposes described in Item 2 above.

USCIS has investigated its internal processes, files and data as well as those of other Federal agencies that may service the same population. USCIS was not able to find any other means by which the information necessary for this process could be obtained except for the use of this form. USCIS has minimized the information required to request renewals and avoid duplication of information already in the file to the extent possible. Renewal requestors are able to skip many portions of the form and supporting evidence that is required for initial requests. USCIS will continue to examine ways in which information may be obtained from other sources and any identified duplications can be minimized or removed.

5. If the collection of information impacts small businesses or other small entities (Item 5 of OMB Form 83-I), describe any methods used to minimize burden.

This collection of information will not affect small businesses or other small entities. It solely is directed at certain individuals who were brought to the United States as children.

6. Describe the consequence to Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently, as well as any technical or legal obstacles to reducing burden.

If the information is not collected, USCIS will not be able to fulfill its core mission of ensuring the integrity of the immigration system. USCIS will be considering whether to exercise prosecutorial discretion with respect to low priority cases involving individuals who do not meet the Department’s enforcement priorities so that resources can be focused on cases that are enforcement priorities. Accordingly, USCIS must determine whether the requestor merits the exercise of discretion to have his or her case deferred.

7. Explain any special circumstances that would cause an information collection to be conducted in a manner:

• Requiring respondents to report information to the agency more often than quarterly;

• Requiring respondents to prepare a written response to a collection of information in fewer than 30 days after receipt of it;

• Requiring respondents to submit more than an original and two copies of any document;

• Requiring respondents to retain records, other than health, medical, government contract, grant-in-aid, or tax records for more than three years;

• In connection with a statistical survey, that is not designed to produce valid and reliable results that can be generalized to the universe of study;

• Requiring the use of a statistical data classification that has not been reviewed and approved by OMB;

• That includes a pledge of confidentiality that is not supported by authority established in statute or regulation, that is not supported by disclosure and data security policies that are consistent with the pledge, or which unnecessarily impedes sharing of data with other agencies for compatible confidential use; or

• Requiring respondents to submit proprietary trade secret, or other confidential information unless the agency can demonstrate that it has instituted procedures to protect the information's confidentiality to the extent permitted by law.

This information collection is conducted in a manner consistent with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).

8. If applicable, provide a copy and identify the data and page number of publication in the Federal Register of the agency’s notice, required by 5 CFR 1320.8(d), soliciting comments on the information collection prior to submission to OMB. Summarize public comments received in response to that notice and describe actions taken by the agency in response to these comments. Specifically address comments received on cost and hour burden.

Describe efforts to consult with persons outside the agency to obtain their views on the availability of data, frequency of collection, the clarity of instructions and recordkeeping, disclosure, or reporting format (if any), and on the data elements to be recorded, disclosed, or reported.

Consultation with representatives of those from whom information is to be obtained or those who must compile records should occur at least once every 3 years - even if the collection of information activity is the same as in prior periods. There may be circumstances that may preclude consultation in a specific situation. These circumstances should be explained.

USCIS published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for RIN 1615-AC68 in the Federal Register, which can be found at https://www.federalregister.gov/.

9. Explain any decision to provide any payment or gift to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors or grantees.

USCIS does not provide any payment for benefit sought.

10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for the assurance in statute, regulation or agency policy.

There is no assurance of confidentiality. The system of records notices associated with this information collection are:

• DHS/USCIS/ICE/CBP-001 - Alien File, Index, and National File Tracking System of Records, which covers the physical and electronic immigration files, including A-Files and Receipt Files.

• DHS/USCIS-007 Benefits Information System, which covers the collection, use, and storage of data elements USCIS collects about benefit requestors, beneficiaries, legal representatives, interpreters, and preparers.

• DHS/USCIS-018 Immigration Biometric and Background Check (IBBC) System of Records, which covers the collection, use, and maintenance of biometric information.

The associated privacy impact assessments are:

• Integrated Digitization Document Management Program (IDDMP), September 24, 3013;

• Computer Linked Application Information Management System CLAIMS 3) and Associated Systems, March 25, 2016; and

• DHS/USCIS/PIA-056 USCIS Electronic Immigration System USCIS ELIS), May 17, 2018.

Information provided in this request is protected from disclosure to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for the purpose of immigration enforcement proceedings unless the requestor meets the criteria for the issuance of a Notice To Appear or a referral to ICE under the criteria set forth in USCIS’s Notice to Appear guidance (www.uscis.gov/NTA). The information may be shared with national security and law enforcement agencies, including ICE and CBP, for purposes other than removal, including for assistance in the consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals request, to identify or prevent fraudulent claims, for national security purposes, or for the investigation or prosecution of a criminal offense. The above information sharing clause covers family members and guardians, in addition to the requestor. This policy, which may be modified, superseded, or rescinded at any time without notice, is not intended to, does not, and may not be relied upon to create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law by any party in any administrative, civil, or criminal matter.

11. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private. This justification should include the reasons why the agency considers the questions necessary, the specific uses to be made of the information, the explanation to be given to persons from whom the information is requested, and any steps to be taken to obtain their consent.

Deferred action is an exercise of agency discretion to defer the removal action against certain individuals who are unlawfully in the United States. One basis for deferred action is the need to devote finite enforcement resources to the highest priority removal cases, including individuals who have been convicted of specific crimes or otherwise pose a danger to national security or public safety. In order to examine whether individuals should be considered for deferred action, USCIS needs to ask questions and obtain evidence that is considered sensitive. Below are the questions that USCIS will ask requestors to answer. In addition the requestor must provide records to document their answer.

Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of a felony or misdemeanor in the United States? Do not include minor traffic violations that only resulted in a fine, unless it was alcohol- or drug-related.

This question regards the petitioner’s criminal history. USCIS generally will not defer removal from the United States under DACA of individuals convicted of certain crimes except in exceptional circumstances.

If you answered “Yes” you must also include copies of all arrest records, charging documents, dispositions (outcomes), sentencing records, etc.

USCIS needs the arrest records to determine if the crime rises to a level that will result in USCIS choosing not to defer removal in the case. Certain misdemeanors will typically not preclude USCIS deferring action of an individual’s case.

Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of a crime in any country other than the United States? If you answered “Yes” you must also include copies of all arrest records, charging documents, dispositions (outcomes), sentencing records, etc.

This question regards the requestor’s criminal history. USCIS generally will not defer removal of certain criminals from the United States under DACA except in exceptional circumstances.

Have you ever engaged in or do you continue to engage in or plan to engage in terrorist activities?

This question regards the requestor’s support for terrorism. USCIS will not defer removal of individuals from the United States under DACA who pose a threat to national security, including those who have supported terrorism.

Are you now or have you ever been a member of a gang?

This question regards whether the individual poses a threat to public safety. USCIS will not consider deferring removal of gang members from the United States under the DACA process.

Have you ever engaged in, ordered, incited, assisted or otherwise participated in any of the following:

• Acts involving torture, genocide, or human trafficking?

• Killing any person?

• Severely injuring any person?

• Any kind of sexual contact or relations with any person who was being forced or threatened?

A background check may not always reveal derogatory information regarding a person who may have engaged in activities related to the questions above. An individual who has engaged in one of the above activities may be a national security or public safety threat, and USCIS will deny their request for deferred action.

In addition, initial requestors are required to provide education and military records. This information is necessary to determine whether the requestor meets the guidelines of the Secretary’s June 15, 2012 memorandum. DHS will consider exercising prosecutorial discretion with respect to low priority cases under the DACA process if the individual is currently in school, has graduated or obtained a certificate of completion from high school, has obtained a general education development certificate, or is an honorably discharged veteran of the Coast Guard or Armed Forces of the United States.

For DACA, USCIS will allow the requestor to submit certain records to document that they came to the United States before their 16th birthday, and were in unlawful status as of June 15, 2012, including hospital records, medical records or official records from a religious entity in the United States. These records are optional evidence, and USCIS will not deny people consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals based on their medical history or religious affiliation.

12. Provide estimates of the hour burden of the collection of information. The statement should:

• Indicate the number of respondents, frequency of response, annual hour burden, and an explanation of how the burden was estimated. Unless directed to do so, agencies should not conduct special surveys to obtain information on which to base hour burden estimates. Consultation with a sample (fewer than 10) of potential respondents is desirable. If the hour burden on respondents is expected to vary widely because of differences in activity, size, or complexity, show the range of estimated hour burden, and explain the reasons for the variance. Generally, estimates should not include burden hours for customary and usual business practices.

• If this request for approval covers more than one form, provide separate hour burden estimates for each form and aggregate the hour burdens in Item 13 of OMB Form 83-I.

• Provide estimates of annualized cost to respondents for the hour burdens for collections of information, identifying and using appropriate wage rate categories. The cost of contracting out or paying outside parties for information collection activities should not be included here. Instead, this cost should be included in Item 14.

		A	B	C (=AxB)	D	E (=CxD)	F	(=ExF)
Type of Respondent	Form Name / Form Number	#. of Respondents	#. of Responses per Respondent	# of Responses	Avg. Burden per Response (in hours)	Total Annual Burden (in hours)	Avg. Hourly Wage Rate*	Total Annual Respondent Cost
Individuals or households	Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals/ I-821D initial requests	32,655	1	32,655	2.817	91,989	$40.89	$3,761,430
Individuals or households	Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals/ I-821D renewal requests	335,020	1	335,020	2.817	943,751	$40.89	$38,578,529
Individuals or households	Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals / I-821D renewal requests (online filed)	91,919	1	91,919	2.482	228,143	$40.89	$9.328,767
Total				459,594		1,263,883		$51,668,726

* The above Average Hourly Wage Rate is the May 2021 Bureau of Labor Statistics average wage for All Occupations of $28.01 times the wage rate benefit multiplier of 1.46 (to account for benefits provided) equaling $40.89. The selection of “All Occupations” was chosen because respondents to this collection could be expected from any occupation.

13. Provide an estimate of the total annual cost burden to respondents or record keepers resulting from the collection of information. (Do not include the cost of any hour burden shown in Items 12 and 14).

• The cost estimate should be split into two components: (a) a total capital and start-up cost component (annualized over its expected useful life); and (b) a total operation and maintenance and purchase of services component. The estimates should take into account costs associated with generating, maintaining, and disclosing or providing the information. Include descriptions of methods used to estimate major cost factors including system and technology acquisition, expected useful life of capital equipment, the discount rate(s), and the time period over which costs will be incurred. Capital and start-up costs include, among other items, preparations for collecting information such as purchasing computers and software; monitoring, sampling, drilling and testing equipment; and record storage facilities.

• If cost estimates are expected to vary widely, agencies should present ranges of cost burdens and explain the reasons for the variance. The cost of purchasing or contracting out information collection services should be a part of this cost burden estimate. In developing cost burden estimates, agencies may consult with a sample of respondents (fewer than 10), utilize the 60-day pre-OMB submission public comment process and use existing economic or regulatory impact analysis associated with the rulemaking containing the information collection, as appropriate.

• Generally, estimates should not include purchases of equipment or services, or portions thereof, made: (1) prior to October 1, 1995; (2) to achieve regulatory compliance with requirements not associated with the information collection; (3) for reasons other than to provide information or keep records for the government; or, (4) as part of customary and usual business or private practices.

This information collection may impose some out-of-pocket costs on respondents in addition to the time burden for the form’s preparation. Many DACA respondents may incur expenses to obtain, medical, military, education, or religious records. For form preparation, legal services, translators, and document search and generation, USCIS estimates the average cost of this information collection may vary widely, from as little as $20 to $1000 per respondent. USCIS estimates that the average cost for these activities is $110. The total cost is estimated at $50,555,340 (Calculated: 459,594 respondents x $110 average cost per response = $50,555,340).

14. Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government. Also, provide a description of the method used to estimate cost, which should include quantification of hours, operational expenses (such as equipment, overhead, printing, and support staff), and any other expense that would not have been incurred without this collection of information. Agencies also may aggregate cost estimates from Items 12, 13, and 14 in a single table.

USCIS establishes its fees using an activity-based costing model to assign costs to an adjudication based on its relative adjudication burden and use of USCIS resources. Fees are established at an amount that is necessary to recover these assigned costs, plus an amount to recover unassigned overhead (which includes the suggested average hourly rate for clerical, officer, and managerial time with benefits) and immigration benefits provided for free. USCIS uses the fee associated with an information collection as a reasonable measure of the collection’s costs to USCIS, since these fees are based on resource expenditures related to the benefit in question. In addition, this figure includes the estimated overhead cost for printing, stocking, distributing, and processing of this form.

The estimated cost of the program to the Government is calculated by multiplying the estimated number of respondents (459,694) by the filing fee ($85). The total cost to the Federal government is $39,065490.

15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments reporting in Items 13 or 14 of the OMB Form 83-I.

This information collection has been revised to reflect changes proposed by the Fee Rule. USCIS has consolidated filing fee information from individual form instructions into the Form G-1055, Fee Schedule. These changes include removing instructional information about: filing fees, biometric services fees, processing information, payment methods, electronic funds transfers, fee waivers, and premium processing.

Data collection Activity/Instru-ment (in hours)	Program Change (hours currently on OMB Inventory)	Program Change (New)	Difference	Adjustment (hours currently on OMB Inventory)	Adjustment (New) [new minus current]	Difference
Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals/ I-821D Initial Request	97,966	91,989	-5,977
Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals/ I-821D renewal requests	1,005,060	943,751	-61,309
Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals / I-821D renewal requests (online filed)	229,797	228,143	-1,654
Total(s)	1,332,823	1,263,883	68,940

There is a decrease in the annual estimated hour burden to respondents, due to the removal of fee related content in instructions and consolidation and reformatting of fee related language in the Form G-1055, Fee Schedule.

Data collection Activity/Instru-ment	Program Change (cost currently on OMB Inventory)	Program Change (New)	Difference	Adjustment (cost currently on OMB Inventory)	Adjustment (New) [new minus current]	Difference
I-821D (Initial and renewal Requests – paper and online)				$40,444,250	$50,555,340	$10,111,090
Total(s)				$40,444,250	$50,555,340	$10,111,090

The total estimated annual cost burden for this collection of information has increased as a result of a reevaluation of the estimated cost burden to respondents.

16. For collections of information whose results will be published, outline plans for tabulation, and publication. Address any complex analytical techniques that will be used. Provide the time schedule for the entire project, including beginning and ending dates of the collection of information, completion of report, publication dates, and other actions.

This information collection will not be published for statistical purposes.

17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons that display would be inappropriate.

USCIS will display the expiration date for OMB approval of this information collection.

18. Explain each exception to the certification statement identified in Item 19, “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submission,” of OMB 83-I.

USCIS does not request an exception to the certification of this information collection.

B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods.

There is no statistical methodology involved with this collection.

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