Thread: Clearing immigration backlog> skip background checks

Nuts I tell ya! No scratch that insane I tell ya!

How to clear an immigration backlog: Skip the background checks!

By Michelle Malkin • February 11, 2008 10:49 AM

McClatchy reporter James Asher has a new piece out detailing how DHS is clearing massive application backlogs by skipping the background checks. Before we get into the meat of that story, let me refresh your memories about a few things.

During the shamnesty debacle, we were told to shut up about our national security concerns because McCain and company were going to guarantee that all illegal alien guest-workers would get thorough background checks. We were told to calm down about the proposal because there was nothing to worry about. But the background check process was a fraud.

And anyone with more than a passing knowledge of the adjudication process at DHS and the former INS agency has long known that security is routinely short-circuited. In 2006, I published memos exposing the incentive structure rewarding adjudication officers for rubber-stamping as many applications as possible. Immigration agents across the country receive bonuses when they meet quotas for approving applications. Those national security-undermining incentives and bonuses remain in place. Flashback (click for full-size memos):

Here’s a memo from the Houston USCIS office from May 2004. According to sources, adjudicators are still being rewarded for high “average completions per day.â€

A letter to my Senators.

Dear Senator Warner,

It has come to my attention that the Department of Homeland Security had decided to clear its backlog of green card applications by issuing them before FBI background check are completed.

I am astounded that the DHS would make such a decision. Why would the government issue a card that basically makes a person legal and able to move about the country unimpeded without making sure this person is not a criminal, or worse a terrorist.

Senator Warner, I am concerned about what is happening in our country. I thought the purpose of the Iraq war was to make the citizens of the United States safe from terrorists. We have spent trillions of dollars and thousands of young men have given their lives for that cause. Now our own government is going to make aliens legitimate without knowing their background. It is preposterous.

When the immigration bill was being considered this summer, one of the selling points was that illegal persons in the U.S. would HAVE to pass a background check before given citizenship. The American people did not agree and let our feelings known. Now, DHS is preparing to give away green cards without a background check. I don’t understand.

I feel that Homeland Security is being pressured by special interest groups to get the green cards issued so that the applicants will be able to vote in the upcoming election.
I understand that these people are frustrated. And, there shouldn’t be an extended wait to receive a green card. But, I also remember September 11th. Is it worth risking American lives to appease certain segments of our society?

If you can, please help stop this travesty before it begins. It is wrong to put American lives at risk.

This is what they did in "86.