The U.S. government accidentally granted citizenship to hundreds of people from “special interest countries” who had previously received deportation orders or had been removed under different names.
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“Incomplete digital fingerprint records hinder adjudicators’ full review of naturalization applications and may lead to USCIS granting the rights and privileges of US citizenship to those who may be ineligible or may be trying to obtain citizenship fraudulently”, the DHS inspector general’s office said in a statement.
“The FBI repository is also missing records because, in the past, not all records taken during immigration encounters were forwarded to the FBI”, the report read.
Immigrants become American citizens at a naturalization ceremony on Ellis Island on September 16, 2016 in New York City. A fourth naturalized citizen identified through the report is a law enforcement officer. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services office checks the fingerprint records of applicants to gather information about any other identities they may have used, criminal arrests and convictions, immigration violations, deportations and links to terrorism. The 28-year-old is a naturalized US citizen from Afghanistan. “Since being identified, all have had their credentials revoked”.
“This situation created opportunities for individuals to gain the rights and privileges of USA citizenship through fraud”, said DHS Inspector General John Roth in statement. But because the naturalization process checks only digitized fingerprint records, some applications for citizenship were approved when they should not have been.
Neither the digital fingerprint repository at DHS or at the Federal Bureau of Investigation contained all old fingerprint records of individuals previously deported. The remaining records will be reviewed and digitized as well, he said.
Immigration fraud has long plagued officials. Currently, about 148,000 fingerprint records of aliens from special interest countries who had final deportation orders or who are criminals or fugitives have yet to be digitized.
DHS said in an emailed statement that an initial review of these cases suggest that some of the individuals may have ultimately qualified for citizenship, and that the lack of digital fingerprint records does not necessarily mean they committed fraud.
Homeland Security investigations resulted in two immigrants being stripped of citizenship, but “very few” of the 858 cases of citizenship have been investigated to determine if the citizen should be denaturalized or criminally prosecuted, the report added. “Where the DHS review process finds that naturalization was obtained fraudulently, DHS will appropriately refer the case to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for civil or criminal proceedings, including for denaturalization”.
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The apprehension of Ahmad Khan Rahami, the suspected perpetrator of the recent bombings in NY and New Jersey, is similarly likely to draw attention to the screening process as Rahami immigrated to the U.S. from Afghanistan and subsequently was granted United States citizenship.
