More than 800 Immigrants Mistakenly Awarded Citizenship
The U.S. government has mistakenly awarded citizenship to over 800 immigrants who had pending deportation orders from countries of concern to national security.
According to the Department of Homeland Security these immigrants used false names and birth dates to apply for citizenship with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). These discrepancies were not discovered earlier because their fingerprints were missing from government databases.
According to an audit released on September 20, all these cases originate from “special interest countries”, presenting concern for the United States, or countries with high rates of immigration fraud. The report states that there are as many as 315,000 immigrants’ fingerprints missing from federal databases, which had final deportation orders or are fugitive criminals.
The gap was caused by using older, paper records which were never added to fingerprint databases, created by both the now-defunct Immigration and Naturalization Service and the FBI in the 19 60+ s. ICE, the DHS agency responsible for finding and deporting immigrants living in the country illegally, did not consistently add digital fingerprint records of immigrants.
The inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security has recommended that all outstanding cases be reviewed and fingerprints be added to the government’s database. DHS says immigration officials are in the process of uploading these files and that officials will review all the files identified as a case of possible fraud.
Speaking with an experienced and skilled immigration attorney is the first step when dealing with any immigration issue, one who is authorized to practice immigration law in Dallas and throughout Texas.