NumbersUSA has always supported the United Stated taking "our fair share of the world's internationally recognized special needs refugees, but we are concerned about fraud that occurs in two major ways in our refugee programs.
The White House and Department of Homeland Security are working together to craft legislation that would attempt to purge “loopholes” from the immigration system that entice foreign nationals to illegally immigrate to the U.S. and incentivise employers to illegally hire them. The legislative package includes reforms that will lessen legal limitations imposed on law enforcement that restrict who they can detain and the duration of time they can detain them.
The House Judiciary Committee approved yesterday the Asylum Reform and Border Protection Act (H.R. 391), which would narrow the “credible fear” standards that illegal aliens must meet in order to make an asylum claim. The bill, which passed by a 19-11 vote, is sponsored by Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) after being first introduced by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah).
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) introduced his Asylum Reform and Border Protection Act (H.R. 391) yesterday, which would narrow the “credible fear” standards that illegal aliens must meet in order to make an asylum claim. Rep. Chaffetz first introduced this bill in 2015 as a response to the surge of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) at the southern border.
Senate and House Judiciary Committee Chairmen Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., slammed the Obama Administration’s management of the U visa program following findings of fraud and a new parole policy that exceeds its authority. The U visa program allows foreign nationals who are victims or witnesses of crime in the United States to remain here while assisting in the crime’s investigation and prosecution. But the Administration allowed fraudulent applications to be processed and exceeded the numerical program limits Congress set.
Breitbart reports Carnival Cruise Line workers in Florida, California and Washington State were told they will be terminated on February 3rd and must train their foreign replacements. Carnival denies the workers’ claims but the company admitted it is shifting technology operations to Capgemini, a French firm that has helped U.S. companies import thousands of guest workers to fill middle-class jobs.
The Washington Post reports Ghanaian and Turkish organized crime rings ran a fake U.S. embassy in Accra, Ghana that issued an unknown number of U.S. visas before it was shut down. The criminals somehow obtained and issued real visa documents to people from at least ten different countries.
A federal judge dismissed two lawsuits brought by technology workers who alleged that Walt Disney Company conspired with outsourcing companies when they forced the workers to train their H-1B replacements before termination. The suits alleged the defendants violated federal racketeering statutes but Florida Judge Gregory Presnell found the plaintiffs’ evidence was insufficient to sustain their claims.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, released an internal DHS memo they obtained saying the agency relaxed its requirements for refugees to prove who they are, which makes fraud “easy to commit” and hard to detect. In joint-panel testimony, ICE Director Sarah Saldana denied ever seeing the memo but the news could undermine the Administration’s push for more refugees from terror-producing countries.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ranking Member Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., told Senate leadership they oppose a straight reauthorization of the fraud-ridden EB-5 visa program in a FY17 continuing resolution (CR) or appropriations bill. The program must be reformed or allowed to expire on September 30th, they said.
The Associated Press reports the Mexican immigration agency issued transit visas to 424 aliens from African countries that will enable them to reach the U.S. border. Officials from the National Immigration Institute said those from the Congo, Somalia and Ghana had traveled from Brazil or Ecuador to the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. Most voluntarily turned themselves in over just two days last week.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is proposing a rule that relies on the agency’s parole authority to give foreign nationals temporary permission to be in the United States to “start or scale their businesses.” Current law allows USCIS to use parole authority in dire, individual humanitarian cases, not to benefit broad categories of beneficiaries. As such the proposal, like the court-blocked DAPA/extended DACA amnesty, directly challenges the limits of agency discretion under immigration law.
House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., slammed the Department of Justice (DOJ) for refusing to investigate over 3,700 asylum cases in which the grantee was represented by attorneys convicted of perpetrating asylum fraud. He called the agency’s refusal “outrageous” and suggested it would embolden “aliens who already have an incentive to lie to obtain an immigration benefit.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., announced a House Republican national security strategy that highlights border security, overhauling the nation’s immigration system, interior immigration enforcement, and improved screening of admissions. Among other things the plan calls for developing the means to track illegal aliens within the U.S., detaining and removing criminal aliens and restoring overall immigration enforcement. The plan also slams President Obama for “utterly false claims that security is improving.”
The Justice Department announced a settlement agreement with Barrios Street Realty Inc. concerning claims that the Lockport, Louisiana-based company discriminated against Americans by hiring foreign H-2B workers. Of the settlement, a department spokesperson Gupta said, “Federal law prohibits employers from discriminating against U.S. workers in hiring.
The Obama Administration proposed a rule that would amnesty the illegal-alien spouses, children and parents of Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs) in a manner similar to the congressionally-authorized 245(i) amnesty. The provisional unlawful presence waiver under the rule would allow an estimated 272,000 illegal aliens in these categories to obtain a green card without facing the current statutory penalty - a 3-year or 10-year bar on re-entry to the U.S.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., introduced the Immigration Slush Fund Elimination Act, which would ban DHS from using the fees collected for legal immigration benefits to fund President Obama’s executive amnesties. In a press release, Sen. Cruz said, “The federal government should not be in the business of looting the wallets of those who followed the law and came here legally to fund the President’s illegal and unconstitutional amnesty. This bill will cut off DHS’s credit card.”
Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, asked DHS to reconsider regulations that would allow foreign students with degrees in STEM fields up to six years of post-graduation employment under the Optimal Practical Training Program. Sen. Grassley said the proposal is “irresponsible and dangerous considering the Government Accountability Office report issued in March 2014 finding that the program was full of inefficiencies, susceptible to fraud, and that the Department was not adequately overseeing it.”
President Obama has proposed unilateral changes in the L-1B visa program that would bring in hundreds of thousands of new foreign guest workers that would compete with or displace American tech workers. Obama claims his proposal will “benefit our entire economy and spur additional investment,” but it could add to the unemployment lines while doing little to increase foreign investment.
The House Committee on the Judiciary yesterday approved a bill that would recognize a state’s inherent authority to enforce federal immigration laws and negate the president’s unconstitutional executive amnesties. The committee also endorsed a bill that would strengthen asylum standards in a manner that prevents the “rubberstamping” of fraudulent claims and effectively ends the process of “catch and release.”
The Center for Immigration Studies published online for the first time an evaluation of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act amnesty. The publication contains a new foreword by one of the original authors that suggests IRCA’s extensive fraud will repeat under Obama’s amnesties, especially since they do not incorporate fraud protections.
Kenneth Palinkas, President of the National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council, issued a press release today stating that the lack of scrutiny given to applicants for entry to the U.S. invites “an even more catastrophic event then what occurred on 09/11/2001,” and increases the likelihood that such an attack could be orchestrated by terrorists already on U.S. soil.
Three House committees held separate hearings yesterday on the curtailment in interior immigration enforcement, legislation to crack down on asylum fraud, and the potential for amnestied illegal aliens to access the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), even if they never paid income taxes. The hearings took place as Senate Democrats continued to filibuster legislation that would block implementation of the president’s executive amnesties.
Indian tech firm Infosys is to pay a $34 million fine to settle visa fraud charges with the Justice Department.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued guidance under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that indicates illegal aliens can obtain a form of ID fraud amnesty in addition to deportation amnesty. A DACA applicant who has used a fraudulent or stolen Social Security Number to obtain employment does not have to reveal the felonious act on his/her work authorization form.
In WTHR’s latest report on Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) abuse and fraud, the Indianapolis NBC affiliate discussed revelations brought forward by an IRS whistleblower - "We were being told by upper management to ignore fraud, to assign ITIN numbers and...pay out refunds to people who are lying…It's a license to steal when you allow that."
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents issued a Notice of Intent to Withdraw (NOIW) the school's authorization to admit foreign students. ICE didn't arrest anyone or take anyone into custody, but they did confiscate boxes of documents and has instructed the school not to admit foreign students until further notice.
The Matricula Consular card is an identification document issued by the Mexican government. Despite its high susceptibility to fraud, many U.S. institutions (particularly banks) accept the matricula consular as a valid form of ID. Since illegal aliens are the only people who would need this card, these institutions make it easier for illegal aliens to settle in the U.S.
The law states:
Arkansas-based poultry processor George's, Inc. recently broke up a scam within its human resources department at one of its plants in Columbia Furnace, Va. Plant employees were using documents submitted by legal applicants to help illegal aliens get jobs at the plant.
An immigration attorney and restaurateur from Hartford, Conn. was sentenced this week to one year in Federal prison for knowingly falsifying and filing paperwork for a woman in Poland to begin the citizenship process without her knowledge or consent, the Hartford Courant reports. Jose del Castillo had pled guilty earlier this year to one count of federal document fraud after having been indicted in late 2006 on 23 counts of falsely filing immigration forms with state and Federal officials.
