The Washington Post reported that the decision was announced by USCIS Director L. Francis Cissna in an email to agency staffers on Tuesday, which stated that the services provided by the 21 offices would be consolidated into U.S. embassies and stateside offices.
"I believe by doing so, we will better leverage our funds to address backlogs in the United States while also leveraging existing Department of State resources at post," Cissna wrote, according to the Post.
"Change can be difficult and can cause consternation. I want to assure you we will work to make this as smooth a transition as possible for each of our USCIS staff while also ensuring that those utilizing our services may continue to do so and our agency operations continue undisrupted," he added.
A senior official at the Department of Homeland Security told the Post that the move was being implemented as a cost-cutting measure that would shift the offices' responsibilities to existing agency staffers. About 70 staffers in the offices would be reassigned as part of the decision, according to the Post.