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  1. #1
    Super Moderator Newmexican's Avatar
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    Audit finds asylum system rife with fraud; approval laws broken with surge of immigra

    Audit finds asylum system rife with fraud; approval laws broken with surge of immigrants

    By Stephen Dinan-
    The Washington Times
    Wednesday, February 5, 2014


    ** FILE ** This Jan. 25, 2006, file photo shows a Mexican federal police officer reaches down to assist aMexican army soldier after climbing up a ladder from a sophisticated clandestine tunnel that passes under the U.S.-Mexico border in Tijuana, Mexico. (AP Photo/David Maung,File)


    EXCLUSIVE:At least 70 percent of asylum applications showed signs of fraud, according to a secret 2009 internal government audit that found many of those cases had been approved anyway.

    The 2009 fraud assessment, obtained by the House Judiciary Committee and reviewed by The Washington Times, suggests a system open to abuse and exploitation at a time when the number of people applying for asylum in the U.S. has skyrocketed, particularly along the southwestern border.

    Another report obtained by the committee suggests that the government isn’t detaining most of those who apply for asylum, including those awaiting a final judgment.

    Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte said the documents taint the credibility of the asylum system, which is designed to provide an outlet for foreigners who face real risks of being harmed if they remain in their home countries.

    “Asylum fraud undermines the integrity of our immigration system and hurts U.S. taxpayers. Once individuals are granted asylum, they receive immediate access to all major federal welfare programs. Our immigration system should be generous to those persecuted around the globe, but we must also ensure our compassion isn’t being abused by those seeking to game the system,” Mr. Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican, said in a statement to The Times.

    “Because our immigration laws are so loosely enforced by the Obama administration, we should not be surprised to see so much fraud in the system,” he said. “President Obama’s continued refusal to enforce our laws on the books encourages more illegal immigration and invites fraud.”
    The Homeland Security Department said its processes are dictated by law and that adjudicators at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that reviews the applications, have to follow set standards.

    “A USCIS officer must find that a ‘significant possibility’ exists that the individual may be found eligible for asylum or withholding of removal. During the credible fear review, USCIS initiates a background check using immigration, national security and criminal databases,” said Peter Boogaard, a spokesman for Homeland Security.

    Final judgments are made by immigration judges, but those cases can take years to wind through the system — leaving the initial USCIS judgment in place.

    The department says it continually updates its fraud prevention techniques.

    The asylum system has long been a point of pride for the U.S., but also has sparked a feverish debate over just how generous the system should be and what sorts of checks the U.S. government should go through when trying to determine who qualifies.

    Applicants are required to prove they face persecution back home — using what is known as a “credible fear” claim — and that they don’t pose a danger to the U.S. They are held during that initial assessment but often are released after that.

    On Wednesday, the Obama administration announced changes that would make it easier for those who had tangential involvement with terrorism to win asylum or refugee status.

    Under existing law, those who provided “material support” to terrorists are to be denied their claims, but State Department and Homeland Security officials announced a new policy that said the support has to have been significant, and must have occurred outside of normal commercial transactions or family interactions.
    Democrats on Capitol Hill hailed the changes, saying they will help particularly with Syrian refugees who are caught in a web of competing groups, some of whom have been designated terrorist agents by the U.S.
    Sen. Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, said the old rules would block a Syrian who gave a sandwich to a Free Syrian Army soldier from getting refugee status, even though the U.S. is actively aiding the Free Syrian Army in its fight against the Syrian regime.

    Refugees are those who make claims from their home countries, while asylum claims are made by those who arrive at or are already in the U.S.The 2009 internal report, which looked at claims made in 2005, found extensive evidence of fraud.Investigators said 12 percent of the cases they reviewed showed clear evidence of fraud. In some cases, adjudicators missed the evidence, and in other instances, the adjudicators weren’t using tools available to the fraud investigators so they couldn’t have known.In 58 percent of cases, there were signals of fraud but not enough evidence to make a final determination. Some of those cases had been approved, and others were sent to a judge for final review.

    The investigators said even the 70 percent combined fraud number may be low because some of the other 30 percent of cases had problems that weren’t detected.

    The report was labeled “Draft” and apparently was never released.

    In another document obtained by the Judiciary Committee, the Homeland Security Department said it doesn’t regularly detain those who make asylum claims. Mr. Goodlatte said that appears to contradict the law.

    “All aliens who are determined to possess a credible fear of persecution and granted parole are released from ICE custody. If parole is subject to conditions, the conditions must be satisfied before parole will be granted,” the department said in an official response to questions from Congress in December.

    Mr. Goodlatte said the department must follow the law, which he said requires many of those to be detained while they are awaiting a ruling.

    “These laws are in place to allow immigration authorities to expeditiously determine whether the individual in question is truly facing persecution or trying to game the system, and to prevent bad actors from being released into our communities,” he said.

    Last year, his committee obtained a document that indicated some drug cartel family members were using the asylum process on the southwestern border to gain a foothold in the U.S., then continued their trafficking activities.

    But Mr. Boogaard, the Homeland Security spokesman, said it’s been long-standing policy for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — the agency that handles detention — to make determinations on a case-by-case basis.

    “If an individual claiming asylum at the border is deemed to be a threat to public safety or national security, ICE has the authority to keep the individual in detention until their case is heard by an immigration judge. Only a judge can determine asylum eligibility,” he said.


    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...=all#pagebreak

  2. #2
    Administrator Jean's Avatar
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    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  3. #3
    Super Moderator Newmexican's Avatar
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    Lawmaker: Asylum fraud could be costing taxpayers billions

    11:33 AM 02/11/2014
    Caroline May
    Political Reporter

    A recent report revealing possible rampant fraud in asylum applications has House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte wondering just how much it might be costing taxpayers.

    “In 2012, 29,484 aliens were granted asylum,” Goodlatte said during a House panel hearing on asylum fraud Tuesday. “I am sending a letter to the Government Accountability Office to determine what the cost of these benefits are to the American taxpayer.”

    An internal report from 2009 released last week found that in a sample of applications in 2005, 70 percent contained proven or possible fraud.

    “If 70% of these grants were made based on fraudulent applications, American taxpayers are being defrauded out of hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars each year,” Goodlatte said.

    The Virginia Republican is interested in the question because those who attain asylum status are immediately eligible for major federal welfare programs.

    “An overwhelming amount of fraud exists in the process and little is done to address it,” he said. “Individuals are showing up in droves at the border to make out asylum claims. Adjudicators have the general mindset that they must “get to yes” in order to have successful careers. It is apparent that the rule of law is being ignored and there is an endemic problem within the system that the Administration is ignoring.”

    Goodlatte further noted that a failure to address the “problems undermines the goodwill and trust necessary to develop a common sense step by step approach to improving our immigration laws.”

    Michigan Democratic Rep. John Conyers stressed that despite Republican concerns about immigration enforcement, President Obama is “enforcing our immigration laws vigorously, a lot more than some of us would like.”

    He went on to attack Republicans for failing to go along with immigration reform due to their distrust that President Obama will follow the law, pointing out that the data in the 2009 report are not Obama’s fault and detailing how the system has been improved since 2005.

    “I guess it is just easier to blame President Obama,” he said.

    http://dailycaller.com/2014/02/11/la...yers-billions/


  4. #4
    Senior Member vistalad's Avatar
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    People who can barely speak English are coming in with scripts that they've memorized. The problem is not the fraud, it's the 'Bamacrats who are completely willing to sell out the American people. Ironically, it's the Eric? Holders of this world who are messing over the poorest Americans by letting this rampant fraud continue.
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