Hundreds of Immigrants May Have Been Wrongly Granted Citizenship

The United States government may have wrongly granted citizenship to hundreds of immigrants who had been ordered deported or removed from the country under other names, according to a report released Monday by the Homeland Security Department's inspector general.

According to the report, 858 immigrants who were granted citizenship were from "special interest countries," which means they were from countries that are of concern to the national security of the United States. The report states that the immigrants were granted citizenship because neither the DHS or the FBI contains all fingerprints of individuals who had been previously deported. The names of these individuals were identified in July 2014.

Fingerprint records are missing because paper-based fingerprint cards used before 2008 were not consistently digitized, the report says. The FBI repository is also missing records, because in the past, fingerprints collected by immigration officials were not always forwarded to the agency. Around 148,000 fingerprint records of immigrants from special interest countries or those who are criminals or fugitives have yet to be digitized.

In a statement to The Associated Press, DHS said that some of the individuals may have qualified for citizenship, and the lack of digital fingerprint records does not necessarily mean they committed fraud.

A footnote published in the report says that as of Nov. 2015, 953 more individuals who had final deportation orders under another identity and had been naturalized were identified. Some of these individuals were from special interest countries or neighboring countries with high rates of fraud. Officials do not currently have information on the dates that the fingerprints records of these individuals were digitized, so whether their records were available in the digital fingerprint repository has not been determined.

The naturalization process to become a citizen, explained in the report, requires immigrants to reveal any other identities they may have used and whether they have been in deportation proceedings. Applicants must also provide fingerprint records. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services office checks the fingerprint records of applicants to gather information about any other identities they may have used, criminal arrests and convictions, immigration violations, deportations and links to terrorism.

"When there is a matching record, USCIS researches the circumstances underlying the record to determine whether the applicant is still eligible for naturalized citizenship," the report says. "If USCIS confirms that an applicant received a final deportation order under a different identity, and there are no other circumstances to provide eligibility, USCIS policy requires denial of naturalization."

The agency might also refer the case to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

According to the report, at least three of the individuals granted citizenship work in security-sensitive work but have since had their credentials revoked. A fourth naturalized citizen identified through the report is a law enforcement officer. So far, very few of the individuals have been investigated to determine whether they should be denaturalized or criminally prosecuted.

Additionally, ICE has identified missing fingerprint records for as many as 315,000 immigrants with final deportation orders or who were criminals or fugitives. The agency has not yet reviewed about 148,000 aliens’ files to try to retrieve and digitize the old fingerprint cards.

Naturalization can be revoked through a civil or criminal proceeding if the citizenship was obtained through fraud or misrepresentation. The Office of the United States Attorney has accepted two cases for criminal prosecution, which could lead to denaturalization. An additional 26 cases have been declined. ICE has closed 90 investigations and has an additional 32 investigations open. The report stresses that simply having used multiple identities or having a previous final deportation order does not automatically make someone ineligible for naturalization.

The report recommends that DHS complete the review of the 148,000 immigrant files for fingerprint records for those with final deportation orders or criminal histories or who are fugitives, and digitize and upload them into the repository. A second recommendation calls for evaluating the eligibility of each naturalized citizen whose fingerprint records reveal deportation orders under a different identity. After a review of the facts in each case, if the individual is determined to be ineligible, a recommendation should be made to seek denaturalization. DHS has started to implement corrective measures.

Image Credit: Donald Lee Pardue via Flickr Creative Commons

Correction: An earlier version of this story neglected a footnote that stated 953 additional individuals with final deportation orders had been identified. The report has since been updated.