Immigration Expert: U.S. Refugee Vetting ‘Criminally Irresponsible’

A recent report from the Department of Homeland Security found that United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) erroneously naturalized almost 900 ineligible illegal aliens due to database errors. All of these individuals were ordered deported but subsequently applied for citizenship using a fake identity. Nearly all are from countries associated with terrorism and high levels of immigration fraud. Several of these fraudulent citizens have already obtained aviation or transportation credentials.

This information is disturbing but it simply confirms what those in immigration enforcement have known for years — our immigration vetting system is badly broken. But the availability and reliability of vetting information is only one of many systemic problems that plague USCIS: an assembly line mentality, over-politicization, and ineptitude...

One of the reasons I resigned from USCIS was dissatisfaction with the agency’s continual focus on approving as many immigration applications as possible, as quickly as possible — often at the expense of national security and public safety...

Most district directors prefer USCIS to be seen as a social services agency, rather than an agency charged with administrative law enforcement. Meanwhile, the real constituents, American taxpayers, are not protected from crime and terrorism...
The situation is further complicated by the highly politicized cadre of pro-illegal alien attorneys in the USCIS Office of Chief Counsel (OCC), most of whom were previously employed by open-borders organizations like the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, the National Council of La Raza [The Race], and the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers’ Guild.

As a result, our national security team spent more time battling USCIS district directors and attorneys than investigating dangerous aliens...