Immigration office in Kendall reopens after employee tests positive for COVID-19
A U.S. citizenship office in Kendall reopened its doors Wednesday after government officials briefly closed it down for COVID-19 sanitation on Tuesday.
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services— the federal office that administers the country’s naturalization and immigration system — a government-contracted employee at the West Kendall location on Southwest 146th Avenue and 120th Street tested positive for COVID-19.
That’s when the office abruptly shut down on Tuesday without notice, leaving in limbo immigrants who had appointments. They were greeted with a sign on the door that said the office was closed due to a “facility issue.”
It’s unclear when the employee tested positive and if any employees who had contact with that person were sent home to quarantine.
“To protect our workforce and to help mitigate the spread of coronavirus and out of an abundance of caution, USCIS suspended face-to-face services with applicants at our Kendall Field Office until appropriate cleaning and sanitation could be accomplished,” a USCIS spokesperson told the Herald in an email Wednesday. USCIS “has re-scheduled appointments that were canceled on Tuesday.”
Immigrants navigating the immigration system in the United States have appointments at some point at their local USCIS office, whether it be applying for a green card or coming in for their naturalization ceremony.
In early June, the agency held the nation’s first socially distanced citizenship ceremonies after about two and a half months of closure during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the temporary office closures, more than 100,000 people had their naturalization ceremony postponed to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
What used to be a ceremony of 100 people or more has now been reduced to 10 socially distanced people to a room, all assigned to a metal chair. Each person has to wear a mask and bring their own pen. They take their oath of allegiance, sign their certificate and they are out the door.
Families aren’t allowed in, unlike before. The shortened ceremonies are now limited to just naturalization candidates and staffers to minimize the spread of the coronavirus.
