On the heels of Obama’s promise to greatly increase the number of Syrian refugees allowed to settle in the states, the U.S. government on Monday admitted to granting citizenship to at least 858 immigrants with pending deportation orders who come from countries of concern to national security. Although the situation is unacceptable, the authorities can not take actions because their fingerprints are actually missing from the Immigration Service’s database. The report did not identify those countries.
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According to the report, at least three of the individuals granted citizenship work in security-sensitive work but have since had their credentials revoked.
Homeland Security said immigration officials are in the process of uploading fingerprint files and that officials will review “every file” identified as a case of possible fraud.
Next, they use IDENT, a DHS depository system used to digitize old fingerprint records.
“The fact that fingerprint records in these cases may have been incomplete at the time of the naturalization interview does not necessarily mean that the applicant was in fact granted naturalization, or that the applicant obtained naturalization fraudulently”, the spokesman noted.
The report recommends that DHS complete the review of the 148,000 immigrant files for fingerprint records for those with final deportation orders or criminal histories or who are fugitives, and digitize and upload them into the repository.
“This failure represents a significant risk to America’s national security as these naturalized individuals have access to serve in positions of public trust and the ability to obtain security clearances and sponsor other aliens’ entry into the United States”, Johnson, chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, wrote in the letter.
The alleged immigration fraud the report reveals has anxious immigration and intelligence officials and members of Congress because naturalized citizens are able to receive security clearance, become law enforcement, or sponsor foreigners to visit the country.
“This situation created opportunities for individuals to gain the rights and privileges of US citizenship through fraud”, said Inspector General John Roth.
The report stated that the immigrants used different names and fabricated birthdates to apply for citizenship.
While all new fingerprints are digitized and stored (and no longer taken on paper cards), any naturalization process should involve checking fingerprints of applicants against the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation existing databases. One even became a law enforcement officer.
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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”. DHS officials agreed with the recommendations and said the agency is working to implement the changes.
