Thread: Case Closed

March 6, 2006
Case Closed: Immigration Agency Would Be Incapable of Managing a New Guest Worker/Amnesty Program, Finds GAO

Washington, DC—A devastating new report soon to be released by the Government Accountability Office finds that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency that would be tasked with administering a new guest worker and illegal alien amnesty program, is plagued by fraud and corruption. The draft GAO report coincides with consideration by the U.S. Senate of several bills that would admit vast numbers of new guest workers and allow millions of people in the country illegally to acquire guest worker status. These bills also have the strong backing of the Bush Administration.

The forthcoming GAO report finds that USCIS cannot cope with its current workload, and that effective screening of people applying for immigration benefits is routinely compromised in the name of efficiency. More devastating, the GAO reports significant amounts of outright corruption within USCIS, including bribery and sale of green cards. Systems needed to combat fraud and corruption will not be in place until 2011, GAO investigators concluded.

"Case closed," said Dan Stein, president of FAIR. "Not only is there no justification for a massive guest worker program and illegal alien amnesty, but the government's own watchdog agency asserts, flat out, that the immigration service couldn't manage such a program in any event. Given the level of corruption and mismanagement that the GAO has uncovered, we need to significantly reduce immigration levels, not pile massive new programs on a completely dysfunctional agency."

Among the GAO's most alarming findings were that 30 percent of religious worker visas were issued fraudulently. There is documented evidence that radical Islamists, with ties to terrorist organizations, have used the religious worker visa category to gain admission to the U.S.

"It is not just the future of the American worker that is at stake in the upcoming debate about immigration, but the homeland security of the United States. The system of safeguards to protect against massive fraud and even terrorism simply does not exist and will not exist for at least five more years, if ever," charged Stein.

"This administration ignored warnings that we were not prepared to deal with the aftermath of the war in Iraq. They ignored warnings that we were not prepared to deal with the aftermath of a serious hurricane along the Gulf coast. And, just to maintain foolish consistency, they seem determined to move ahead with the most massive expansion of immigration in the history of mankind, in spite of warnings that we are not prepared to manage such a program," said Stein.

In light of the GAO's findings, FAIR is calling upon the Senate to scrap consideration of legislation that would include new guest worker programs and amnesty for illegal aliens. "There can be only one option at this point: Follow the lead of the House and pass an enforcement-only bill that allows us to regain control of our nation's immigration policies," said Stein