Washington, September 20 (RHC)-- The U.S. government has mistakenly granted citizenship to at least 858 immigrants from countries "of concern" to national security or with high rates of immigration fraud who had pending deportation orders, according to an internal Homeland Security audit released Monday.
The Homeland Security Department’s inspector general found that the immigrants used different names or birthdates to apply for citizenship with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and such discrepancies weren’t caught because their fingerprints were missing from government databases.
U.S. Homeland Security said in an e-mailed statement that an initial review of these cases suggest that some of the individuals may have ultimately qualified for citizenship, and that the lack of digital fingerprint records does not necessarily mean they committed fraud.
Mistakenly awarding U.S. citizenship to someone ordered deported can have serious consequences because U.S. citizens can typically apply for and receive security clearances or take security-sensitive jobs.
More than 800 Immigrants Mistakenly Granted U.S. Citizenship
Related Articles
Commentaries
MAKE A COMMENT
All fields requiredMore Views
- UN special rapporteur warns Israel's crimes in Gaza could keep International Court of Justice busy at The Hague for 50 years
- Arab countries at United Nations declare full support for new UN Security Council resolution that calls for permanent ceasefire in Gaza
- Israeli forces raped, tortured and executed Palestinian women at Al-Shifa Hospital
- International Labor Organization says profits from forced labor at nearly one-quarter of a trillion dollars
- Cuba condemns terrorist act in the Moscow region