Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I would like to thank you for your attendance here this morning. It is unfortunate, because you have given us a lot of information this morning which we would have preferred receiving in advance, but I have a few questions for you all the same.
The last time that the chair of the IRB, the Immigration and Refugee Board, appeared before our committee, he indicated that the department was responsible for the pre-removal risk assessment process. You had provided us with statistics in that regard. I would like to know what progress has been achieved since 2004 with regard to eliminating the pre-removal risk assessment backlog. How long does it take to study a PRRA application? What kind of financial efforts were made by the department?