http://www.dailybulletin.com/beyondborders/ci_4745198

Tens of thousands of foreign applicants were granted naturalized status in the United States in 2005 despite their background files being missing during the citizenship screening process, according to a Government Accountability Office report released this week.
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Citing concerns about terrorist access to the U.S., politicians and immigration watchers seized on the report to renew their call for improved screening and oversight of the immigration benefits process.

"It only takes one missing file for somebody with links to a terrorist organization to become an American citizen," said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. "A terrorist can be unsuccessful thousands of times, but we have to be perfect all the time. We can't afford to be handing out citizenship with blinders on."

According to the GAO report, 111,000 naturalization alien files (A-files) were missing at 14 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) offices. Nevertheless, about 30,000 of those foreign applicants were given citizenship.

After noting that the approved applications and missing files represent a relatively small fraction of all immigration applications, a USCIS spokesman said the agency is doing its best to thoroughly screen applicants.

"Anything we can do to improve the system, we base on the information provided by the GAO report," said Chris Bentley, a USCIS spokesman. "We're continuing to evolve as an agency because we realize our position within the (Department of Homeland Security) in providing national security."

A-files are a necessary part of determining the eligibility of applicants because they include full immigration histories, according to USCIS.

The Fraud Detection and National Security Office, created in 2004, was designed to help handle all of USCIS' intelligence work, fraud detection and national security cases. The office also is charged with storing completed A-files nationwide and ensuring that immigration screeners have access to them.

But the Fraud Detection office is not a law enforcement agency, and none of its employees have any law enforcement authority, said Rosemary Jenks of Numbers USA, a conservative immigration organization.

USCIS employees interviewed by the Daily Bulletin during the past four months said many national security-related hits on applications were never referred to Fraud Detection because adjudicators didn't know what they were looking at and missed the alerts.

Sultan Farakhan, an immigration benefits application adjudicator, was terminated from employment in October for speaking openly about failures at the National Benefits Center in Lee's Summit, Mo., one USCIS' largest immigration application processing centers.

Farakhan told the newspaper and congressional leaders that inadequate training, a rush to clear millions of backlogged applications and internal corruption have left the nation at risk.

"What has happened to me and other whistle-blowers is incomprehensible," Farakhan said. "USCIS has failed this country and left our nation vulnerable to terrorists."

The GAO report also indicated naturalization was granted in 2002 to a foreign applicant with terrorist ties whose A-file was missing.

According to other documents obtained by the Daily Bulletin, even if Fraud Detection received an application with a terrorist-related hit, it might not be able to access information about the applicant because of a lack of information sharing among agencies including the CIA, Customs and Border Protection, FBI, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

FBI spokesman Paul Bresson would not elaborate on whether the bureau shares sensitive information with the fraud detection unit, but said the FBI does millions of immigration background checks each year.

"It's in everyone's interest to see that those seeking permanent residency within the U.S. are law-abiding citizens," said Bresson from the bureau's headquarters in Washington, D.C. "To the extent the FBI is involved in ensuring that happens, we screen millions of applicants each year and share information with immigration and other requesting authorities."

Without the extended information, the Fraud Detection Unit either sends the application back to the adjudicators, indicating that the check is resolved, or the application is held until further information is provided.

According to a 2005 policy memorandum from William Yates, associate director of operations at USCIS, resolving a national security hit does not require obtaining all the background information about an applicant.

"Resolution is accomplished when all available information from the agency that posted the lookout is obtained," the memo states. "A resolution is not always a finite product."

The Yates memo also says many agencies refuse to make information available.

Staff writer Sara A. Carter can be reached by e-mail at sara.carter@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909)483-8552.

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