http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_4270967

Panel urges investigation
Report shows immigration documents unchecked
By Sara A. Carter Staff Writer
San Gabriel Valley Tribune

A congressional panel is calling for an investigation and hearing into reports that applicants for green cards, work visas and other immigration documents were not properly screened against the U.S. terrorist watch list.

Employees at the National Benefits Center in Lee's Summit, Mo., said they did not know that a simple key stroke would have allowed them to fully check the background of applicants against the terrorist database, according to the report published recently in the Daily Bulletin, a sister publication of this newspaper. That report was based on federal documents and interviews with employees at the Missouri center.

Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism and Nonproliferation, called for the hearing Tuesday. Royce, R-Fullerton, has held several hearings on problems within the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service and said the recent report is evidence of a threat to national security.

"These shortcomings at USCIS are very problematic as we confront resourceful terrorists who will do whatever they can to harm this nation," Royce said.

Jose Montero, acting director for communications for the Citizenship and Immigration Service, said that a national security background check is completed for every application that USCIS receives for an immigration benefit.

"Last year, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services conducted more than 35 million national security background checks," Montero said.

Roughly 75 percent of applications at the center that resulted in a "hit" during background checks were not properly vetted or checked during the past four years, according to interviews with National Benefits Center employees. Those hits came from criminal and terrorist databases compiled by various U.S. government agencies. Adjudicators, the Citizenship and Immigration Service employees who evaluate and decide which applications to approve, said they were not properly trained on what to do if an application triggered a hit.

Montero said, however, that all hits regarding national security threats get passed on to a specialized unit in Washington, D.C.

"At the National Benefits Center, as at every other U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service office, once a background check identifies a national security hit, the adjudication of that case is immediately stopped and the case is sent directly to the Office of Fraud Detection and National Security where a team of specially trained USCIS employees investigate and resolve that hit," Montero said. But those working at the center said they didn't usually know when they had a database hit.

According to official e-mails, supervisors at the center were first notified May 8 of their failure to have the adjudicators appropriately screen the applications.

On Aug. 7, the adjudicators were finally notified that they were not properly screening for terrorist ties and criminals.

They were reminded of the failure Aug. 11 - a day after British authorities uncovered a major terror plot to take liquid explosives on commercial airliners headed to the United States. At that time, the employees were told they were not accessing the requisite information "at all."

Other documents recommended granting benefits to applicants on the terrorist watch list. One document, dated July 27, recommends granting an immigration benefit to an applicant whose name was confirmed as being on the terrorist watch list. The documents were provided to at least one senator last week.

Robert Cowan, director of the National Benefits Center, said "USCIS opted at the national level to not always require the F14 or F15 keys," which trigger the database searches.

Cowan said employees were misinformed by supervisors in the Aug. 11 e-mail that said the failure to check the F14 or F15 keys was the reason the center noted a 75 percent failure rate in resolving hits on background checks. Cowan said the 75 percent figure was attributable to employees not properly marking enforcement documents, misspelling names or leaving out names altogether.

Cowan further stated allegations of security being compromised to reduce the backlog are unfounded.

While statements by staff members refute Cowan's explanation of the error rate, both current and former USCIS employees, speaking on condition of anonymity, stated that a 75 percent error rate in misspelling or missing names would lead to even larger numbers of applications being improperly screened. They said it also would lead to benefits being granted to an untold number of individuals with terrorist ties and others who would be major threats to public safety.

"In light of the reported government documentation provided to Congress, it would appear only today's announcement of congressional hearings, accompanied by subpoenas, and an independent investigation will shed light on the truth, one way or another," said Michael Maxwell, former director of internal affairs at USCIS, who has testified numerous times before Congress.

sara.carter@dailybulletin.com

(909) 483-8552