That, in turn, could have forced the government to start processing the boat people on the mainland.
On Tuesday, Representative Mark Udall, Democrat of Colorado, wrote a letter to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, urging the government to continue processing new applications.
And the wait for green cards is so long now that many workers lose their right to stay legally in the country before the government gets around to processing their applications.
RALEIGH, N.C., Oct 15 (Reuters) - North Carolina has become the first state to cut off welfare benefits to poor residents in the wake of the partial federal government shutdown, ordering a halt to processing November applications until a deal is reached to end the federal standstill.
Labor's immigration spokesman, Richard Marles, accused Dutton and his predecessor, Scott Morrison, of failing to engage with the PNG government to ensure processing of refugee claims was progressing on time.
Refugee advocates in Australia, meanwhile, have called on the government to accelerate processing of detainees' asylum claims.
But many financial-aid administrators also say private lenders do a better job than the government at processing loan applications and handling collections.
Not only are orders now delivered three times as fast and much more cheaply, but this "privatisation" has halved the cost to government of processing small shipments.
Over the weekend, Prime Minister Julia Gillard also sealed a deal with Papua New Guinea's government to conduct offshore processing on Manus Island.
Although taxpayers can send their payments to the government processing center for their region, Mr. Siegel said those who had a history of owing the I.R.S. money were routinely asked to send their payments to one of the private institutions.
