Exclusive: Invasion of the Identity Snatchers: Immigration Benefit Fraud and the USCIS
Michael Cutler


Author: Mike Cutler

Date Published: 2007-08-26


One would think that after 9/11, the agency entrusted with admitting aliens to the U.S. would process their applications with a fine tooth comb. FSM Contributing Editor Michael Cutler has the unfortunate and outrageous news that this is not necessarily the case. 

 

Invasion of the Identity Snatchers:

Immigration Benefit Fraud and the USCIS

 


By Michael Cutler

 

For a long time, I’ve hammered on the issues that relate to the processes by which aliens are able to acquire resident alien status and United States citizenship. I’ve contended that no matter what we do on our nation's borders, if there is no integrity to the immigration benefits program, them we are doing little more than spinning our wheels by focusing on the borders. 

 

Securing our nation's borders is the equivalent of a homeowner purchasing and installing secure locks and doors to prevent burglars from breaking into his house, then hiding his key to the front door under the mat! You would probably question the homeowner’s intelligence, not to mention his sanity!  Once a burglar has the key, he has unfettered access to the house regardless how strong the doors and locks are.

 

With all of the talk about the situation on the Mexican border, few politicians discuss interior enforcement of the immigration laws. Even those who do fail to address a major issue: immigration benefit fraud.   

 

Former chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., issued a press release on March 10, 2006 about the findings of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in investigating this critical vulnerability at Chairman Sensenbrenner's behest.

  

Among the many disturbing findings noted in the press release is that of the terrorists identified as operating in our country before the attacks of 9/11, two-thirds of them used immigration benefit fraud. They did this to either enter the United States or to embed themselves in our country after they arrived. 

 

Additionally, Senators Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) requested an investigation into the loss of immigration files at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). This is the division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that adjudicates applications filed by aliens to accord them a wide variety of immigration benefits – including the conferring of resident alien status and United States citizenship. The senators had received information that UCIS lost some 111,000 files, including 30,000 files of aliens seeking to naturalize. As unbelievable as it may seem, USCIS went ahead and adjudicated those 111,000 applications. This includes those for the "keys to the kingdom": United States citizenship and, undoubtedly other applications for resident alien status…all without providing the crucial immigration alien files to the adjudicators! 

 

USCIS has been fixated on keeping up with the backlog of applications for various immigration benefits, and there have been published reports about USCIS employees who have been given all sorts of awards for moving applications quickly – including spending significant amounts of money on parties to encourage them to work even faster! I’ve previously compared this climate to the “I Love Lucy” episode where Lucy and Ethel get jobs at a candy factory. Their job is to wrap candies hurtling toward them on a conveyor belt. At first they have no problem, but as the conveyor belt picks up speed, they have to work faster and faster. The candy eventually flies at them at warp speed, so Lucy and Ethel eat them, stuff them down their clothes, and otherwise try to cope with an obviously impossible situation. This is one of the more classic episodes of a classic show.

 

When adjudicators find themselves in Lucy and Ethel's hopeless situation, there is nothing humorous to be found. The faster the adjudicators work, the less quality control there is. This means that more aliens succeed in committing fraud and gaming the system. This in turn encourages still more aliens to file more fraud applications, further eroding any semblance of integrity. In this vicious cycle, there is no way for the employees to keep up and do their jobs effectively. 

 

If managers simply decided that the review of the files would represent an unacceptable impediment to moving them as quickly as they wanted, then I wonder if the files were actually lost at all. (The GAO report about the loss of these files can be found online, as can other articles about this disastrous situation.)

 

A recent article in the Washington Times by Sara Carter highlights the issue of corruption at USCIS, where employees may well have intentionally provided terrorists with immigration benefits. There are, as you may know, three ways an employee can fail to do his job properly: nonfeasance, in which the employee simply does not do the job he was paid to do; misfeasance, in which the employee does his job improperly because of incompetence; and finally malfeasance, where the employee intentionally fails to do his job properly because he has an ulterior motive – usually because of a bribe or an ideological orientation.  Malfeasance involves a violation of criminal laws.

 

So now when you read the articles for which I have provided links above, you need to ask yourself: was it nonfeasance, misfeasance or malfeasance that was the root cause of these screw-ups? 

 

I am compelled to remind you that USCIS would be called upon to administer any Guestworker Amnesty Program that has been advocated various politicians on Capitol Hill, including President George W. Bush, Senators Kennedy, Reid, McCain and Specter, and a slew of other such "leaders" on the Capitol Hill.

 

I believe that the below information about a previous and the current director of USCIS is helpful in understanding what is wrong with USCIS. As the old Yiddish expression states, "When a fish goes bad, it smells from the head!"

 

Eduardo Aguirre, Jr., is currently serving as the U.S. Ambassador to Spain. Here is part of his official online bio:

Previously, Ambassador Aguirre served, for 2 1/2 years, as the first Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), an Under Secretary rank position in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He led a team of 15,000 employees serving over 6 million annual applicants seeking immigration benefits. Under his leadership, USCIS made significant and measurable progress towards eliminating the application backlog, improving customer service, and enhancing national security.

and

Prior to his 5 years in President Bush's administration, Ambassador Aguirre was President of Bank of America's International Private Bank. Over the course of his 24-years with Bank of America, his team was consistently acknowledged for excellence in customer service, as well as high employee satisfaction. His banking career spans over three decades.

These portions stand out because (as he himself testified before the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims) as the director of USCIS he listed his priorities as 1) eliminating backlogs, 2) improving customer service, and 3) enhancing national security. You simply cannot make this stuff up! Next, it is worth noting that he had previously been the President of Bank of America's International Private Bank. Yes that bank, the one that issues credit cards to illegal aliens! I love what former President Harry S. Truman's said about banks – that they were no one's friend, and they will only lend you money after you proved you didn't need it!

 

As for the current director of USCIS, Emilio T. Gonzalez, note this section of his bio that appears on a White House website:

 

Prior to joining the Miami based international law firm of Tew Cardenas, Gonzalez was Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council, Washington, D.C. In this capacity he served as a key National Security and Foreign Policy advisor to President George W. Bush and Dr. Condoleezza Rice.

Tew Cardenas offers many services to its clients – including its services as a lobbying firm. It is, in fact, registered as lobbying for the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Panama. While both the previous director of USCIS and the current director have had distinguished careers, I find it interesting that these two leaders did not come from a background of law enforcement, notwithstanding Mr. Gonzalez's background as a military officer. Frankly, I am concerned that a former banker and a former attorney with a lobbying firm would wind up in charge of an agency that has such a strong national security component to the work that is conducted by its employees. Certainly the scathing reports that have been issued by the GAO and Office of Inspector General (OIG) have done nothing to dispel my apprehensions.   

I refer to the legislation that Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and the other "usual suspects" attempted to force-feed their colleagues in the Senate as being the "Terrorist Assistance and Facilitation Act of 2007."  Considering the Washington Times article linked above, my concerns were not only justified, but all too well grounded in outrageous reality. Apparently there are some employees at USCIS who should be given the MVP award by al Qaeda and permanent room and board in a federal penitentiary by our government for their treasonous duplicity!

 

If our nation cannot (or will not) gain control over its borders and create an immigration system including, importantly, an immigration benefits program that possesses real integrity, then I fear that the nonfeasance, misfeasance and malfeasance of employees of USCIS and the lack integrity and leadership by politicians would provide millions of illegal and undocumented aliens with official identity documents – even though there is no way of confirming their identities or nationalities. I also fear that terrorists would easily game such a fatally flawed program. The duplicity of some employees at USCIS would only serve to exacerbate the threats facing our nation's security as we confront terrorists who are determined to attack our nation and kill our citizens.

 

Therefore, any politician who favors providing illegal and undocumented aliens with official identity documents under the aegis of a Guest Worker Amnesty Program is favoring a program that represents a serious threat to our nation's security. “We the People” have to decide to make our voices clearly heard about these critical issues. This requires that we vote and that we get intimately involved in the political process. When an employee fails to follow the instructions of his employer, he is said to be insubordinate and is generally fired. When surveys are conducted about the desires of the American people about border security, at least 70% of those interviewed say that they want our borders secured. We the people can help to "fire" insubordinate politicians who refuse to accede to the demands of their constituents. This is how our government works.

 

The Founding Fathers of this great nation conceived of a form of government in which the title of the person who was most significant was that of citizen – an important fact to remember.  Our government needs to make certain that the process by which aliens acquire citizenship is respected for its seriousness and its implications. It is also important to remember that “We the People” can and must make our government respond to our demands.

 

Democracy is not a spectator sport!

 

Lead, follow or get out of the way!

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FamilySecurityMatters.org contributing editor Michael Cutler is a Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies and a well-respected authority on immigration and border security issues.

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