WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- The NumbersUSA advocacy group Tuesday criticized U.S. government efforts to reduce the backlog of people seeking immigration benefits.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, or USCIS, last week announced it was going to meet the October deadline promised by President George W. Bush to catch up on a major backlog of applications for immigration benefits, including green cards, work permits, and U.S. citizenship.

However, in a statement Tuesday, Numbers USA said the USCIS "has redefined 'backlog' at least twice to exclude applications that have been filed within the past six months; applications pending action from another agency, including security checks by the FBI; and applications for green cards for which the annual limits have been reached." The advocacy group claimed that the USCIS had "compromised" its own immigrant-screening process in order to meet "production goals."

"USCIS is not meant to be a factory producing goods for sale. It needs to be focused on meeting national security goals, not production goals," said NumbersUSA Executive Director Roy Beck. "Immigration benefits are a privilege, not a right. The needs of America and her citizens must come first."

Numbers USA claimed that a USCIS memo had revealed that up to $5 million had been "allocated for bonuses for employees who met production goals and for parties costing up to $7,500 per office."

"According to the latest USCIS press release, only 140,000 applications were backlogged and under USCIS control in July. However, according to the latest USCIS data posted on its Web site, there are 3,415,491 pending applications for naturalization, asylum, and all other immigration benefits...," NumbersUSA said.

NumbersUSA is an advocacy organization for immigration reduction based in Arlington, Va., that seeks to cut back annual immigration into the United States to its pre-1965 levels.

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