Counterterrorism Blog

Two stories have just surfaced in the media that once again demonstrate the direct linkage of immigration issues and national security.

First, we learn the FBI and DHS are concerned about the possibility of Americans or Europeans trained by al-Qaeda in terror camps in the badlands of Pakistan making their way into the United States to conduct attacks against our homeland. US citizens would be able to enter the US on their US passports. European citizens would be able to enter under the Visa Waiver Program wherein citizens of some 27 countries, mostly western and northern European countries, are not required to obtain a US visa to enter the United States as a “temporary” visitor. Combined with this threat, there is a concern that such terrorists will include women suicide bombers more easily able to access their targets, especially women posing as being pregnant to hide their explosive devices.

Next, we have learned the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency will begin to adjudicate (read “approve”) a huge backlog of pending immigration benefit applications and petitions, mostly for permanent residency (“green card” status), before full FBI and other security checks are completed. The given rationale is the vast majority of such applicants pass such checks anyway and those who ultimately do not will have their status revoked and, in the words of a USCIS spokesperson, “will be deported.”

Six plus years from the 9/11 attacks we now have senior counter-terrorism officials of the US Government finally recognizing, albeit somewhat indirectly, the Visa Waiver Program that was originally devised many years ago as a process to expedite international tourism for the travel industry is a genuine national security concern. Some others have been making this warning for quite a while, to include right here in this Blog.

The action, or better perhaps lack thereof, by USCIS in their adjudication process comes as no major surprise. What had been the Examinations Division of the old INS (the immigration benefits side of the INS) sometimes operated the same way when backlogs became overwhelming. During what was called “Citizenship USA,” a Clinton-era effort to naturalize as many new citizens as quickly as possible, thousands of naturalization petitions were approved without proper completion of criminal and security checks. That led to thousands of ineligible persons becoming naturalized US citizens. Virtually none were prosecuted nor had their citizenship revoked.

What is disappointing is the modus operandi of the supposedly “new” immigration benefits agency under the Department of Homeland Security has apparently changed little from the poorly managed agency it replaced. And when it comes to that claim of approved applicants later found to be ineligible “being deported”...well, there’s this bridge in Brooklyn that still needs to be sold. Even the very few that actually might find their way into some kind of revocation proceeding and ultimately into Immigration Court proceedings will likely spend years in immigration litigation and find themselves eligible for some form of discretionary relief from deportation in the end. Very, very few of those “ineligibles” will ever be deported with even fewer criminally prosecuted for fraud.

Make no mistake, this bureaucratic cave-in is nothing short of a sugar-coated admission of the agency being incapable of doing its mission. Immigrant advocates will be very pleased. Some politicians will be pleased. There are probably some sleeper cell alien terrorists out there anxiously awaiting their green cards who will be even more pleased.