For decades, the United States Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) has been using a secret vetting program that greatly affects Muslim immigrants, known as the Controlled Application Review and Resolution Program, or CARRP. Now, after nearly a decade of litigation, a proposed settlement will likely end the program and show that it violates the Administrative Procedure Act.
CARRP is a program in place since 2008 that subjects Muslim immigrants to suspicion and scrutiny on the basis of their religion or country of origin. It is an unlawful program that was never approved by Congress. It is designed to create delays and facilitate denials for no justifiable reason.
In 2017, the ACLU and its affiliates in Southern California and Washington, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, the Law Offices of Stacy Tolchin, and Perkins Coie LLP filed a class action lawsuit challenging this policy.
Read more about CARRP and the lawsuit here: https://www.aclu.org/cases/wagafe-v-uscis-lawsuit-challenging-secret-program-blocking-immigrant-applications
Now, after more than another year of settlement negotiations, on March 4, 2026, the attorneys for both sides of the lawsuit signed a proposal to settle the case.
Read the proposed settlement agreement here. The notice of proposed settlement can be found here.
Class members have sixty days to submit any objections to the proposed settlement to class counsel—that means any objection needs to be filed by May 24, 2026. The Court will then set up a fairness hearing.
Under the proposed settlement, the federal government will not appeal the court’s ruling that CARRP violates the Administrative Procedure Act. The federal government will also rescind the CARRP policy, meaning the government will cancel the policy. Additionally, the federal government will agree not to pursue any more litigation on the claims that remain in the lawsuit after the court’s ruling.
For decades, immigration applications have been needlessly delayed through the CARRP program, which labels Muslims and people from Muslim majority countries as terrorists or suspected terrorists and subjects them to years of enhanced scrutiny by law enforcement. Individuals impacted by CARRP are subject to years of application delays and deprived of answers to their inquiries, or even chances to respond to issues raised by USCIS. Their lives are put on hold as they as they face enhanced scrutiny by the U.S. government for no justifiable reason while USCIS searches for a basis to deny their applications.
If the proposed settlement goes through, it will be a huge win for immigrant justice.
FAQs
What is CARRP?
- CARRP is a program in place since 2008 that subjects Muslim immigrants to suspicion and scrutiny on the basis of their religion or country of origin. It is an unlawful program that was never approved by Congress. It is designed to create delays and facilitate denials for NO JUSTIFIABLE REASON.
- Through CARRP, Muslims and people from Muslim-majority countries are labeled as terrorists or suspected terrorists and subjected to years of enhanced scrutiny by law enforcement.
- Individuals impacted by CARRP are subject to years of application delays and deprived of answers to their inquiries, or even chances to respond to issues raised by USCIS.
Have CAIR-WA’s clients been impacted by CARRP?
- The Muslim immigrant community in Washington state has faced bans, bias and discrimination in all aspects of the immigration process
- Because of the secretive and opaque nature of this program, it is difficult to know for sure who is affected by CARRP, however, it seems likely that some of CAIR-WA’s Muslim clients have had delays and denials due to CARRP.
What is the impact of CARRP on people’s lives?
- Folks whose citizenship applications are delayed are not able to vote or participate in our political process.
- These community members are not able to move forward with their lives in the United States
- They are prevented from reuniting with family members
- Instead of being welcomed into the United States, they continue to receive the message from the U.S. government that they do not belong.
How is a program like this possible?
- Islamophobia is a very mainstream and still-accepted form of bigotry in the United States, fueled by policies such as these which happen without transparency and create the illusion that disparate treatment is not only normal but acceptable
- Politicians and public figures using Muslims (and other marginalized identities) as scapegoats and anti-Muslim rhetoric for political gain.