Homeland Security’s border agency says it has cleaned up a problem from the Biden era that let illegal immigrants enter the U.S. and claim asylum despite using bogus identity documents.
The department’s inspector general flagged the issue in a report last month, saying agents were nabbing migrants at the border who tried to use fraudulent paperwork for their identities. But agents never noted the usage in their official immigration record, or A-file.
In cases where the migrants were released into the U.S. and went on to claim asylum, authorities downstream had no idea of the attempted fraud, which should have been used against them in their immigration court cases, the inspector general said.
The result, the audit said, is people who “pose a threat to national security” may have been waived into the U.S.
“Asylum may be granted to individuals suspected by CBP of committing fraud, and/or people whose credibility is undermined by failure to disclose prior use of a fraudulent document(s) during adjudication of their asylum application,” the inspector general said.
Even more shocking was the revelation that in some cases Customs and Border Protection personnel — usually port officers — handed the fraudulent documents right back to the migrants.
“We found that officers and agents did not always send confiscated fraudulent documents to the [Fraud Document Analysis Unit], as required by CBP policy, and in some cases returned them to aliens who were likely released into the United States,” investigators said.
CBP told The Washington Times it’s taken steps to fix the situation.
For one thing, with the number of illegal immigrants down substantially, agents have more time to complete the processing paperwork, and that includes noting the use of fraudulent documents.
Plus, the Border Patrol hasn’t done a catch-and-release at the southern border in months.
“With record-low encounters this year, they are identifying fraudulent documents and imposters, verifying identities using advanced tools like facial comparison and fingerprint technology, and updating alien files to strengthen prosecutions and removals,” the agency said in a statement.
Investigators from the inspector general’s office reviewed 60 cases of suspected fraudulent documents.
Half of them were illegal immigrants who tried to enter through border crossings.
The other half were migrants snared by Border Patrol agents as they sneaked across the boundary between the official crossings. In 47 of the cases, they were caught and released despite lacking a legal visa, and apparently despite concerns about the bogus documents.
Using a fraudulent document can be against the law, but none of the 60 were charged with that offense, the audit found.
For the 30 Border Patrol cases, agents didn’t record fraudulent documents in 28 of them. The standard form that agents used to document the encounter didn’t include a section for reporting that issue, investigators said.
The form used by CBP officers at ports of entry did have a “Claimed Documents” section that allowed for notes of fraud.
But the CBP officers were far likelier to hand fraudulent documents back to the migrants, even as they released them.
Investigators said in 22 of the 30 port-of-entry cases they reviewed, the officers didn’t follow policy and confiscate and send the documents on to the fraud unit. One Border Patrol case also failed to forward the documents.
When investigators visited border sites, they found piles of documents “abandoned in the field.”
“Fraudulent documents returned to travelers may be used for illicit travel and other criminal activity such as insurance fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion,” the audit said.
Andrew “Art” Arthur, a former immigration judge now at the Center for Immigration Studies, said he would have wanted to know if a migrant who ended up in his courtroom had used bogus documents.
“If an alien presented a fraudulent document, it would have gone directly toward the alien’s overall credibility, which is often the most important factor in immigration court,” he said.
He added: “The office of inspector general has shined light on an important issue, but one that never should have been an issue. The question remains what other corners were being cut by the Biden administration.”
The inspector general said things have likely improved under President Trump, thanks to new executive orders that shut down catch-and-release and prodded the government to pursue more charges against illegal border crossers.
The audit made five recommendations for better training and compliance. CBP accepted all of the recommendations.
CBP said it has already updated its system to flag fraudulent documents in A-files.
But the agency said it will be difficult to fix past cases. CBP said as of May 20 there were 5,417,433 “active immigration cases” of migrants it arrested and who were still awaiting a final immigration court ruling.
