Thread: Former Immigration Official Says Fraud, Corruption Rife at A

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=1813823&page=1

Former Immigration Official Says Fraud, Corruption Rife at Agency
System 'Incapable' of Ensuring Security, Official Tells Congress
By TOM GIUSTO
April 6, 2006 — - The agency that's supposed to protect our borders and keep out terrorists is riddled with fraud and corruption, according to testimony before Congress today.

A House subcommittee heard from Michael J. Maxwell, former director of the office of security and investigations of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. He portrayed a dysfunctional agency crippled by corruption both inside and outside that's trying to handle too many cases with too few employees.

"The integrity of the United States immigration system has been corrupted, and the system is incapable of ensuring the security of our homeland," Maxwell told the committee.

He told of overworked immigration officials pressured into approving requests to enter the United States even if proper security checks had not been done.

"Employees are tempted to grant benefits in order to receive cash, promotions, time off rather than deny the benefit," he said. He accused supervisors of putting pressure on workers to handle 12 to 16 applications an hour, which he called a dangerously high caseload.

In one example, Maxwell said, the agency employed an Iraqi-born U.S. citizen suspected of being a foreign intelligence agent to review asylum applications.

The USCIS said the agency's inspector general is investigating Maxwell's allegations. USCIS spokeswoman Angelica Alfonso-Royals told The Associated Press today that the agency's top priority "continues to be preserving and enhancing the integrity of the immigration system." She said the agency has confidence in the system but continually strives for improvement and "it takes allegations seriously."

Subcommittee chairman Rep. Edward Royce, R-Calif., feared terrorists could enter our borders. "There are dozens of terrorists who have defrauded our immigration system, including many since 9/11, to remain in this country," he said.



Maxwell related the story of one manager who told him of "benefits parties" at the end of the month where the immigration employees who cleared the most cases were given cash prizes. "We also have documentation where performance appraisals, promotions, if you will, are based upon the number of affirmative adjudications," he said.

He warned that terrorists could exploit the weaknesses in the immigration agency and enter the United States. "It is clear that the system that exists now, the process that exists now cannot suitably protect the homeland based on the workload we have now," Maxwell said.

Royce said immigration officials aren't taking seriously their responsibility to counter terrorism. "The system, it's clear, is rigged to approve immigration applications and the system is rigged to shortchange security," he concluded.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01152.html

Former Immigration Official Alleges Fraud

By LIZ SIDOTI
The Associated Press
Thursday, April 6, 2006; 7:31 PM

WASHINGTON -- Corruption plagues the agency that determines the legal status of immigrants, and its employees often don't conduct proper background checks of immigration applicants, a former agency official told lawmakers Thursday.

As a result, "the integrity of the United States immigration system has also been corrupted and the system is incapable of ensuring the security of our homeland," Michael Maxwell said.

"Ours is a system that rewards criminals, facilitates the movement of terrorists, (and) supports foreign agents," said Maxwell, who had been in charge of the Office of Security and Investigations at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services until resigning in February.

The agency's director, Emilio Gonzalez, has said that the Homeland Security Department's inspector general will investigate reports of fraud and sloppy procedures. Gonzalez also has insisted that security concerns come first even though the agency is under pressure to get through a backlog of immigration applications.

Angelica Alfonso-Royals, a spokeswoman, said Thursday the agency's top priority "continues to be preserving and enhancing the integrity of the immigration system." She said the agency has confidence in the system but continually strives for improvement and "it takes allegations seriously."

Maxwell testified before the House International Relations Committee's terrorism and nonproliferation panel. He alleged that the agency has awarded immigrant benefits, including citizenship, without complete background checks.

As Maxwell spoke before the House panel, senators on the other side of the Capitol worked on compromise legislation that, if approved, would open the way to legal status and eventual citizenship for many of the 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally.

Maxwell said the immigration agency has failed to investigate more than 500 criminal complaints against its own employees for allegations that include bribery, harboring illegal immigrants, money laundering and aiding known terrorists or being influenced by foreign intelligence services.

In one example, Maxwell said, the agency employed an Iraqi-born U.S. citizen suspected of being a foreign intelligence agent to review asylum applications.

"These breaches compromise virtually every part of the immigration system itself, leaving vulnerabilities that have been and likely are being exploited by criminals and adversaries of the United States," Maxwell said.

He said the agency's senior officials repeatedly ignored major national security vulnerabilities, covered them up or dismissed them.