Thread: U.S. Immigration Agents Fell Short of Probe Goal

U.S. Immigration Agents Fell Short of Probe Goal

By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 15, 2007; A02



U.S. immigration agents investigated only 139 suspected fraud cases referred by the main anti-fraud unit of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services last year, or less than 1 percent of 1 percent of about 6 million applications for citizenship, green cards and other benefits, federal investigators reported yesterday.

The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general, Richard L. Skinner, blamed a DHS policy set in February 2006 requiring that 100 percent of suspect applications be investigated, saying it overwhelmed claims officers and immigration investigators with work, rendering the policy all but useless.

"The current USCIS strategy for addressing immigration benefit fraud yields little measurable return," Skinner's office reported. Instead, agents diverted resources to higher priority national security and criminal background checks. DHS officials want to change the blanket policy but have not decided how, Skinner said.

Agency spokesman Christopher Bentley said that "USCIS remains committed" to improving anti-fraud efforts along with its sister investigative agency, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "Neither ICE nor USCIS can help the fact the volume of potential fraud cases significantly exceeds the capability of both agencies," USCIS Director Emilio T. Gonzalez wrote Skinner in a formal response.

The inspector general's report, dated Oct. 29 and released yesterday, underscores problems dating to the March 2003 launch of DHS, which reorganized U.S. immigration agencies and expanded their duties. The report also highlights one of myriad hurdles to tougher U.S. immigration enforcement, a subject of heated national debate since Congress failed to pass a comprehensive overhaul of immigration laws this summer.

USCIS's 315-member Fraud Detection and National Security office was created in May 2004 with the goal of tracking all applications with any sign of fraud. But in practice, not all 3,500 USCIS claim adjudicators turn in such forms, because doing so counts against their productivity.

FDNS referred less than 1 percent of applications to ICE for investigation in fiscal 2006, about 2,425 cases. ICE investigated less than 1 percent of them, or 139 cases, the inspector general reported. By comparison, in 2004 ICE conducted 53,376 investigations -- of which 5,351 were benefit fraud-related -- leading to 533 convictions.

Immigration officials say without massive new resources, they have to set priorities. ICE mostly targets conspiracies, fraud rings, security and safety risks, the report said. USCIS wants to target cases involving lawyers, third-party preparers and individuals from countries designated as posing terrorism risks.

The report noted other complaints with FDNS systems, which early this year had a backlog of more than 15,000 fraud referrals and security-related checks.

www.washingtonpost.com

Ever hear of time out? This is evidence in support of instituting a hold on all immigration until we can get our immigration system in order. Todd Hartley had a great podcast with the head of INS during the amnesty of 1986. He has it in his menu of podcasts. Glue your hair down before listening and take your blood pressure medicine.

http://www.phxnews.com/fullstory.php?article=49403

U.S. Immigration Agents Fell Short of Probe Goal

U.S. immigration agents investigated only 139 suspected fraud cases referred by the main anti-fraud unit of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services last year, or less than 1 percent of 1 percent of about 6 million applications for citizenship, green cards and other benefits, federal investigators reported yesterday.

The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general, Richard L. Skinner, blamed a DHS policy set in February 2006 requiring that 100 percent of suspect applications be investigated, saying it overwhelmed claims officers and immigration investigators with work, rendering the policy all but useless.

This makes me sick. U.S. Immigration Agents didn't fall short of probe goal--they fell flat on their faces. 139 cases in a year--about one every three days. This is totally unacceptable. Claims officers and immigration investigators are required to investigate 100% of suspect applications and are so over-whelmed they process a mere 139 fraud cases annually????? If guilty of fraud, these individuals have 139 out of 6,000,000 chances to be charged--about the same chance a person has to win the Powerball Lottery. How much is this incompetence costing tax-payers--multi-millions/billions?

Six million applicants for citizenship, green cards, and other benefit a year is sheer insanity. The diversity visa lottery should be halted period. Today I spoke with a woman whose husband immigrated from Finland. It took him 10 years to enter the U.S.A. because Finland's quota was 600 immigrants a year. What happened to quotas?

http://travel.state.gov/pdf/FY06AnnualReportTableI.pdf

In 2006 449,065 immigrant visas and 5,836,718 non-immigrant visas were issued at Foreign Service Posts. I agree with Faye-- "time-out" on immigration and visas for several years. After the cessation, if Claims officers and immigration investigators can only handle 139 suspected fraud cases annually, then only issue 139 visas a year until they improve their efficiency.

What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?
- Thomas Jefferson

Question; So the U.S. Government allowed it's Citizenship Aplication Service to be totally overwhelmed in mass citizenship applications. Instead of halting the process to ensure prospective "citizens" were properly vetted, it processed the applications and did allmost no fraud investigations. So how many became citizens with serious deficiencies...such as no ability to take care of themselves without government programs support, have serious criminal histories, have links to terrorist groups, to name a few concerns? Hundrfeds of thousands? Millions?

Yeah, Zeezil. They fixed it right up to fail. There was something I read where Bush has been moving his people in and changing reporting channels... I'll be back. I'm going to go try to find that again.

Here it is. This is a 7 page Boston Globe newspaper article. Here's the link. I'll come back and print it out here if you like.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/artic ... ws/?page=4

Here's another I found interesting from Capitol Hill Blue.


'I'm the President!'
June 1, 2007 - 6:15am.
Bush's growing madness shocks even his friends

By DOUG THOMPSON

President George W. Bush's paranoid megalomania is so rampant that close friends and supporters worry about the man's sanity and fear he has lost his tenuous grip on reality.

Bush, whose arrogant stubbornness knows no bounds, is so wrapped up in his obsession with being President and "commander-in-chief" that his behavior shocks his most ardent supporters.

Writes syndicated columnist Georgie Anne Geyer:


Friends of his from Texas were shocked recently to find him nearly wild-eyed, thumping himself on the chest three times while he repeated "I am the president!" He also made it clear he was setting Iraq up so his successor could not get out of "our country's destiny."

Arnaud de Borchgrave, the rabid Bush supporter who edits the right-wing Washington Times and runs what is left of United Press International, also reports on the meeting:


The self-described "Decider" is the antithesis of self-doubt. Like an old seadog, he relishes the idea of plowing into rough seas.

When a recent visitor asked him what assurance he could give about his successor in 2009, President Bush replied, "we'll fix it so he'll be locked in." The visitor left perplexed and wondered whether that might mean the U.S. would be in a wider war in the region by then. In any event, it didn't sound like twilight time for Mr. Bush.

A Texan friend of longstanding called on him recently and confided to his Washington hosts that Mr. Bush had said three times, bringing a clenched fist to his chest, "I'm the president." Reminding visiting political opponents of this would be normal, but the close friend said he was a taken aback a bit as he had never before seen Mr. Bush in this mode.

What these close friends see is a madman on the edge, a delusional paranoid whose brain is fried by too many years of hard drinking and probably too much cocaine up his nose.

Compared to Bush, Richard M. Nixon appears sane and stone cold sober. Hell, history will probably cast legendary drunk Ulysses S. Grant as a President more in control of himself.

Not only is he wrapped up in the aura of "I'm the President," but he is now determined that anyone who follows him will have to live with his legacy of lies, deceit and despair - his failed war in Iraq, his cancer on "our country's destiny."

The fate of this nation - and indeed the fate of the world - may well depend on the deranged mind of a truly insane President of the United States.

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cont/node/2618

Here's another.

Bush's plan to destroy America
January 31, 2007 - 3:25pm.
By DOUG THOMPSON

The absolute and unrelenting takeover of the government of the United States by George W. Bush continues - right under the noses of the new Democratic leadership of Congress and in outright defiance of the wishes of the American voters who sent a clear mandate for change in last year's elections.

(Reuters)
Bush recently made more moves to consolidate power in the executive branch, signing an order that requires key government agencies to place his political appointees in positions to control policy on health, environmental issues, civil rights and privacy.

These political hacks, appointed without review or approval of Congress, can now "interpret" the laws as they - or their President - see fit without regulatory oversight or a requirement to report to anyone.

Even worse, my White House sources tell me that Bush is putting into place a carefully-crafted plan to extend his power and influence over government policy long after he leaves office on January 20, 2009.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, at Bush's direction, is advising cabinet secretaries to convert these political appointees to Senior Executive Service (SES) positions before Bush's second term ends, giving hand-picked policy makers absolute authority even after the President leaves office.

SES positions are protected by federal civil service, so the policy makers could not be replaced by an incoming President - Democrat or Republican -- who follows Bush.

Bush plans to place his loyalists throughout federal agencies, give them authority to control policy for as long as they hold their jobs, and then convert those appointees to civil service positions that will continue to enforce his wishes for years to come.

Far-fetched? Not at all. Cabinet secretaries have long had the power to convert some key appointees to SES positions although - until Bush signed his executive order granting broad policy making powers to such appointees - they did not have the ability to continue a President's programs long after he leaves office.

Bush is still hoping for at least one more vacancy on the Supreme Court before his second term ends, giving him a chance to control judicial rulings well into the next decade.

Such is the pattern of a man determined to control all phases of government without any checks and balances.

"The White House has been gaming the system for six years," says Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University and an acknowledged national expert on Constitutional law. "He has shut down Congress and slowed down the courts."

Some hoped the Democratic takeover of Congress would stop Bush's power grabs but he continues and the overly-cautious and gun shy leadership on Capitol Hill appears powerless to stop him.

While they consider "non-binding" resolutions on withdrawing troops from Iraq, Democratic leaders of Congress have asked for a "legal interpretation" on what power, if any, it has to stop Bush.

And who did it ask for this "interpretation?" The Attorney General of the United States, Alberto Gonzales, a Bush appointee who believes the President's power is absolute and the one crafting the program to extend that power and influence far beyond his Constitutionally-limited two terms in office.

"If you listen to the president and some Democratic leaders, Congress can do little to stop the hemorrhaging of lives in Iraq," Turley says.

In a recent op-ed for USA Today, Turley wrote:

The truth is that there is a lot that Congress could do. Among other things, it could stop the war. But neither the president nor many Democrats want to publicly entertain such a possibility. Indeed, the president has insisted, again, that he alone makes such decisions. When asked about what Congress can do if it opposes his build-up, Bush was dismissive and said, "Frankly, that's not their responsibility." Of course, the president acknowledged, "They could try to stop me from doing it...but I made my decision, and we're going forward."

Democratic leaders seem to be encouraging the same view of an unchecked executive. The new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., and other members suggested last week that it may be unconstitutional for Congress to cut funds for an escalation.

All of this would have come as a great surprise to the framers. Far from being some type of constitutional eunuchs, legislators hold the very power that determines whether a war will continue, expand or end: the power of the purse. The framers specifically justified this congressional power as a check on the president's ability to entangle the nation in disastrous foreign adventures.

But the Democrats, to date, seem too politically timid to make the hard decisions to curb the reign of terror by Bush and his legions. They tiptoe around problems that demand quick and firm actions.

While they keep talking and debating and holding hearings and considering "non-binding" resolutions, Bush consolidates his power base and expands his unchecked authority.

The Democrats may have fiddled too long already. It may be too late. For six years, George W. Bush has worked diligently to dismantle the Constitution, rip away the freedoms that provided the foundation for this country and destroy a once-great nation called the United States of America.

And, unlike his war in Iraq or his many other failed programs, this may be the one mission he might actually accomplish.

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cont/node/1826

Here's a couple more podcasts that are pertinent.

http://www.phxnews.com/fullstory.php?article=49889

http://www.phxnews.com/fullstory.php?article=49322