At least 858 people who were previously ordered deported managed to become United States citizens because they used different identities – and old fingerprint records hadn’t been digitized – according to a report released Monday by the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General.
Advertisement
While USCIS protocol requires the adjudicator to check applicants’ fingerprints, in both DHS’ and the FBI’s digital repositories, neither of those databases had all the old fingerprint records for those candidates, the OIG report said.
“This situation created opportunities for individuals to gain the rights and privileges of USA citizenship through fraud”, Roth said.
The paper records of immigrants from “special interest countries” – countries that pose a national security risk to the USA – or neighboring countries with high rates of immigration fraud were not added to fingerprint databases created by both the now-defunct Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the 1990s.
“Revelations that the Obama Administration wrongly granted citizenship to over 800 immigrants awaiting deportation from countries of concern to national security or high rates of immigration fraud puts this weekend’s attacks in a broader perspective”, Trump said in a statement Monday.
Investigators found that in more than 200 cases, none of the individuals disclosed they had another identity or final deportation orders on their naturalization application. “858 immigrants from unsafe countires have slipped into our country and have been granted full citizenship despite pending deportation orders”, he said.
It’s apparently because Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is supposed to find and deport illegal aliens, didn’t add the fingerprint records in a timely way. “To prevent fraud and ensure thorough review of naturalization applications, USCIS needs access to these fingerprint records”.
The report found that, overall, federal databases lack fingerprints for as many as 315,000 immigrants with final deportation orders or who are fugitive criminals. The department will then review the eligibility of the almost 900 naturalised citizens whose fingerprint records reveal they were under a deportation order under another identity.
ICE officials told auditors the agency hadn’t pursued many of these cases in the past because federal prosecutors “generally did not accept immigration benefits fraud cases”.
ICE has closed a further 90 investigations and is looking into another 32 cases. ICE said the Justice Department has now agreed to focus on cases involving people who have acquired security clearances, jobs of public trust or other security credentials.
The shocking revelations were unearthed in the Department for Homeland Security (DHS) audit, which also showed numerous immigrants came from countries with many outstanding deportation orders.
The three individuals have since had their credentials revoked, the report said.
Advertisement
In a fourth case, an individual is working law enforcement. About half of those have not been reviewed, digitized, and added to federal records by ICE, the audit said, recommending ICE complete this process.
