FRAUDULENT PAPER TO ENTER U.S.A...? Remember what the SAUDIS did to us Sept 11???

U.S. Immigration Agents Fell Short of Probe Goal
By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 15, 2007; A02
U.S. immigration agents investigated only 139 suspected fraud cases referred by the main anti-fraud unit of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services last year, or less than 1 percent of 1 percent of about 6 million applications for citizenship, green cards and other benefits, federal investigators reported yesterday.
The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general, Richard L. Skinner, blamed a DHS policy set in February 2006 requiring that 100 percent of suspect applications be investigated, saying it overwhelmed claims officers and immigration investigators with work, rendering the policy all but useless.
"The current USCIS strategy for addressing immigration benefit fraud yields little measurable return," Skinner's office reported. Instead, agents diverted resources to higher priority national security and criminal background checks. DHS officials want to change the blanket policy but have not decided how, Skinner said.
Agency spokesman Christopher Bentley said that "USCIS remains committed" to improving anti-fraud efforts along with its sister investigative agency, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "Neither ICE nor USCIS can help the fact the volume of potential fraud cases significantly exceeds the capability of both agencies," USCIS Director Emilio T. Gonzalez wrote Skinner in a formal response.
The inspector general's report, dated Oct. 29 and released yesterday, underscores problems dating to the March 2003 launch of DHS, which reorganized U.S. immigration agencies and expanded their duties. The report also highlights one of myriad hurdles to tougher U.S. immigration enforcement, a subject of heated national debate since Congress failed to pass a comprehensive overhaul of immigration laws this summer.
USCIS's 315-member Fraud Detection and National Security office was created in May 2004 with the goal of tracking all applications with any sign of fraud. But in practice, not all 3,500 USCIS claim adjudicators turn in such forms, because doing so counts against their productivity.
FDNS referred less than 1 percent of applications to ICE for investigation in fiscal 2006, about 2,425 cases. ICE investigated less than 1 percent of them, or 139 cases, the inspector general reported. By comparison, in 2004 ICE conducted 53,376 investigations -- of which 5,351 were benefit fraud-related -- leading to 533 convictions.
Immigration officials say without massive new resources, they have to set priorities. ICE mostly targets conspiracies, fraud rings, security and safety risks, the report said. USCIS wants to target cases involving lawyers, third-party preparers and individuals from countries designated as posing terrorism risks.
The report noted other complaints with FDNS systems, which early this year had a backlog of more than 15,000 fraud referrals and security-related checks.