A lack of integrity in the citizenship review process

Michael Cutler:

This article published by "Government Executive" is of great significance because of one simple fact: the immigration system has no integrity! As you read the article (about the processing of up to 30,000 citizenship applications in 2005 without reviewing critical background files), you will notice that a link has been provided to a GAO report that documents the ineptitude and incompetence of USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) in carrying out what is arguably its most serious mission, the adjudication of applications for United States citizenship. I would urge you to read that report.

Think about the implications of a statement made by Senator Charles Grassley, a senator from Iowa, that I will repeat here. "It only takes one missing file of somebody with links to a terrorist organization to become an American citizen," Grassley said in a statement. "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."

Clearly Senator Grassley's statement makes it clear that he understands the grave risks posed by the ineptitude of the USCIS. In fact, on September 1 of this year, he testified at a field hearing conducted by the House Judiciary Committee in Dubuque, Iowa on the amnesty bill that was passed by the Senate (S. 2611). He spoke eloquently at that hearing. In fact, I testified at that very same hearing and so I heard Senator Grassley deliver his prepared testimony and provide other testimony about the failings of S.2611. His statement is worth reviewing, and you can read the hearing transcript here. The point is that USCIS is running an obviously fatally flawed program to naturalize aliens, where the emphasis is on the elimination of the backlog and not on making an effort to perform a cursory review of the relevant immigration files of as many as 30,000 cases this year alone!

That review could not possibly have taken place, because the adjudications officers had no access to those critical files....

...

A lack of seriousness continues to haunt the immigration process. It seems to be deeply embedded in parts of the bureaucracy. It is this bipartisan lack of seriousness that has led to the extraordinary growth in people being in this country illegally.