Thread: U.S. report critical of immigration application handling

http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/104945

COX NEWS SERVICE
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 12.01.2005

WASHINGTON - In a week in which President Bush renewed his push for a temporary foreign worker program, a federal report raised questions Wednesday about whether the government is capable of conducting the millions of background checks required for such a program.

In the report, the inspector general for the Homeland Security Department panned the government's handling of immigration applications as vulnerable to fraud, prone to errors and overwhelmed by backlogs.

The inspector general, Richard L. Skinner, concluded that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a branch of the Homeland Security Department, has been "overly reliant" on easily faked documents submitted by immigration applicants. The study found that only 2 percent of applications were verified using the most reliable method - a computerized check of government fingerprint databanks.

The inspector general also reported a high rate of errors for security checks in a sampling of applications approved by the immigration agency in fiscal year 2004.

Among applications for non-immigrants to enter the country, the error rate was 96 percent. In cases involving a relative of a refugee or someone who received asylum, the error rate was nearly 64 percent. Other categories were found to have fewer defects. Applications for naturalization had a 2.7 percent error rate in security checks.

Failures of background checks have been blamed for allowing some of the Sept. 11 hijackers to remain undetected in the United States to plot their 2001 attack.

The continued security deficiencies cited in the inspector general report provided new ammunition for opponents of the president's temporary worker plan.

"There is no way they can handle the current workload, let alone processing millions of guest worker applications," said Steve Camarota, research director for the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that favors tighter immigration controls.

Well, they got one thing right. There is NO WAY that Bush's guestworker program can possibly work. I would suggest that, when Bush's next request to Congress for another more than THREE BILLION DOLLARS for IRAQ, comes to them, they deny it and divert that money to the agencies responsible for protecting the borders of OUR COUNTRY. It's time that the people realize what ENORMOUS AMOUNTS of money are being poured into Iraq at the EXPENSE of our own country's safety and fiscal health. And, it's time that Congress stood up to this President and demand to know why that Iraqi oil is not paying for this fiasco of a war like this administration promised it would.

Originally Posted by Bootsie

Well, they got one thing right. There is NO WAY that Bush's guestworker program can possibly work. I would suggest that, when Bush's next request to Congress for another more than THREE BILLION DOLLARS for IRAQ, comes to them, they deny it and divert that money to the agencies responsible for protecting the borders of OUR COUNTRY. It's time that the people realize what ENORMOUS AMOUNTS of money are being poured into Iraq at the EXPENSE of our own country's safety and fiscal health. And, it's time that Congress stood up to this President and demand to know why that Iraqi oil is not paying for this fiasco of a war like this administration promised it would.

I have to make a little correction on this Bootsie. It is not Enormous amounts of Money being poured into Iraq. It is Enormous amounts of Money being poured into these contractors pockets. Not going to mention any Contractors names here.

That too, Scub!