3/13/2007

The GAO submitted its study on the immigration frauds to the House Judiciary Subcommittee. This report includes recommendation to reinforce the USCIS control mechanisms to cope with the ongoing immigration frauds. According to the report, in FY 2005, the USCIS detected frauds and denied 20,000 cases. 

The investigation learned approximately over 35% of religious worker petitions in 2004 were potentially fraudulent. The next immigration benefits which were highly fraudulent were EAD (Employment Authorization Documents) which were required to be issued within 90 days of I-765 application filings. The report indicates that frauds include filing of frivolous applications to obtain the EAD which also gave the benefits of driver license applications.

The new Director of USCIS, Dr. Emilio Gonzalez, expressed his disagreement with the GAO study in the news releases and its March 2006 monthly newsletter "Today." He defended that the USCIS had developed sufficient system to expand its services to upcoming Temporary Guest Worker program without being loaded with fraudulent applications. 

Currently, there is a small "see-saw" contest between the GAO and the USCIS. This GAO report of approximately 50 pages may be a good reading material for some of our readers who are curious about how the agency handles the fraud investigations and how the current system operates.