Tell Congress to Stop the Department of Homeland Security from Giving Away American Citizenship by bypassing background checks for immigrants.
Alert: In a major policy shift aimed at reducing a ballooning immigration backlog, the Homeland Security Department is preparing to grant permanent residency to tens of thousands of applicants before the FBI completes a required background check.
Those eligible are immigrants whose fingerprints have cleared the FBI database of criminal convictions and arrests, but whose names have not yet cleared the FBI's criminal or intelligence files after six months of waiting.
The immigrants who are granted permanent status, more commonly known as getting their green cards, will be expected eventually to clear the FBI's name check. If they don't, their legal status will be revoked and they'll be deported.
The decision demonstrates how federal agencies are struggling to keep up with surging immigration applications while applying stringent post-9-11 background checks.
About 150,000 green card and naturalization applicants have been delayed by the FBI name check, with 30,000 held up more than three years.
Some critics said the agency would be cutting security corners and bending federal law.
"They are knowingly granting a benefit to a person who may be a national security threat or a serious criminal," said Rosemary Jenks, director of government relations for NumbersUSA, an organization that favors reduced immigration.
"These are people who are asking permission to stay in this country permanently," Mrs. Jenks said, "and we have a right to make sure we know who they are. If it takes a few extra months, so be it."
The new policy was outlined in an internal memo obtained by McClatchy Newspapers. Officials said the policy will be posted this week on the department's Web site.
Critics call it loophole
Attorneys representing immigrants applaud the move and say that green cards will be issued faster.
But advocates of stricter immigration enforcement accused DHS of creating security loopholes, rather than solving the backlog.
"It's a decision driven by the bureaucratic imperative to move the line along rather than addressing national security concerns," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies. "It defies the imagination that you can require a security check only to decide that you're going to ignore it."
DHS officials said the new process does not pose any new security risks because green card applicants have been allowed to remain in the country while they wait to be screened.
"We will do nothing that cuts corners or compromises national security," said Chris Bentley, a spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Services, the DHS agency that processes green cards and citizenship. "This is something that we're doing to get benefits to people who deserve them as quickly as possible."
Immigrants seeking U.S. citizenship will continue to be required to clear the name checks before being naturalized. Officials said the requirements remain in effect for naturalization because U.S. citizenship is more difficult to revoke than a green card.
The backlog of background checks for naturalization and green cards swelled in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks after immigration officials resubmitted 2.7 million names to the FBI. (Source: Star Telegram)
DO NOT BE SILENCED BY ANYONE STAND UP! MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!
Cross-Posted from our friends at FAXDC.com
Until Next Time,
Recoil
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Posted by Recoil on February 13, 2008
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