USCIS Staff Cite Pressure to Rubber-Stamp Immigration Benefits, Ignore Fraud
The Center for Immigration Studies reports on a letter Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) sent DHS Secretary Napolitano that cites incidents in which U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officials bullied career staff into rubber-stamping benefit approvals (e.g., for green cards) and ignoring fraud. Interviews by Sen. Grassley’s office suggest that USCIS is “fostering an environment that pressures employees to approve as many applications as possible and condones retaliation against those who dissent.”
USCIS career staff cited the following incidents:
- During a recent visit to the CSC [California Service Center], Director Mayorkas became "visibly agitated" when advised that the employees were interested in learning more about fraud detection efforts. Mayorkas asked, "Why would you be focusing on that instead of approvals." One witness stated that "his message was offensive to a lot of officers who are trained to detect fraud."
- USCIS leadership expressed a goal of "zero complaints" from "customers," implying that approvals were the means to such an end.
- Following a presentation by Director Mayorkas at a management conference in February, Deputy Chief Counsel Doug Craig said that Mayorkas had directed him to "get to yes." At the same event, Chief Counsel Roxana Bacon said that Mayorkas says that all the time and that he had said it recently at a town hall meeting.
- At a conference in Landsdowne, Virginia, Director Mayorkas said that there are some "managers with black spots on their hearts" who can't see their way to grant benefits. He said, "I am dealing with some of these managers."
- New CSC leadership was "shocked" upon learning that denials were given extra weight in employee performance evaluations because a denial takes longer to process. The senior official said that policy would "have to change."
Sen. Grassley’s letter to Napolitano requested information that will help him evaluate the accusations by USCIS staff. He also asked the DHS Inspector General to investigate. If USCIS is using such “get-to-yes” policies, it could have profound implications for national security.