Reps. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), and Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) have sent letters to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson to investigate and revoke the over 1,800 illegal aliens who were mistakenly given U.S. citizenship due to the lack of information sharing and system failures in DHS. These actions are in response to the inspector general report that showed that over 800 illegal aliens who had orders of deportation were granted citizenship because their fingerprints had not been uploaded to the digital database.
"Last week's disturbing report from the Office of the Inspector General shined light on the failure of this Administration to effectively enforce our immigration laws. It is completely unacceptable to fraudulently grant the rights and liberties that come with a U.S. citizenship to 1,800 virtually unknown individuals. We don't know what countries they are from, we don't have any of their biometric data, and we simply don't know anything about these individuals. This Administration's glaring lack of judgment has made a mockery of our immigration system and jeopardized our national security. I will continue to push for answers and hold this Administration accountable for their irresponsible actions," Rep. Sessions said in his press release.
In their letter to Secretary Johnson, Rep. Goodlatte and Rep. Gowdy demanded that DHS initiate an investigation and start denaturalization proceedings on every illegal alien who was granted citizenship by using fraudulent information.
“As you also know, federal law allows USCIS to refer an individual to the Department of Justice for denaturalization proceedings in the case of an individual who USCIS believes to have “illegally procured or procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation,” naturalization. Federal law also allows such referrals for criminal prosecution.
Thus, we request that you initiate a plan to investigate and refer for criminal prosecution and denaturalization proceedings, each individual in the group described by the IG to have been naturalized based on a fraudulent identity and despite having fingerprints that were not previously entered into the system,” their letter said.
Read Rep. Sessions letter here.
Read Reps. Goodlatte and Gowdy’s letter here.
