For Immediate Release
August 3, 2006

            WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley today said that unauthorized aliens who get temporary work authorizations are a serious threat to the integrity of our immigration system and may pose a risk to our national security.

 

            Earlier this week, Grassley sent a letter to Emilio Gonzalez, Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, expressing concern about the issuance of interim benefits to immigration applicants.  Law requires the Agency to issue work authorizations to an alien in the United States if their application for permanent residency is not acted on within 90 days.  Work authorization allows an alien to have access to a Social Security card or a driver’s license. 

 

In the letter Grassley cited several reports from the Government Accountability Office and the Ombudsman from Citizenship and Immigration Services that reiterated the same concerns.  He also cited a program in Dallas that appears to be successful.  The program screens applicants at the same time they apply for a green card, thus reducing the issuance of interim benefits.

 

            “Once an unauthorized alien gets an interim benefit, what will ensure that we ever see them again?  These interim benefits give aliens a free pass to get a drivers license or even a Social Security number.  This loophole could easily be exploited so we need to be certain that people getting these types of documents have been properly screened,” Grassley said.

 

Here is a copy of Grassley’s letter.

 

August 1, 2006

 

The Honorable Emilio T. Gonzalez

Director

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service

Department of Homeland Security

Washington, D.C.

 

Dear Director Gonzalez:

 

I write to express concern about the Citizenship and Immigration Service’s processing and issuance of interim benefits to individuals with pending applications for green cards.  Unauthorized aliens who get temporary work authorizations are a serious threat to the integrity of our immigration system and may pose a risk to our national security.

 

The issuance of interim benefits, specifically employment authorization documents, has been identified by the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman as a “pervasive and serious problem.”  Obtaining an interim benefit, such as a work authorization, is just as valuable as receiving the green card.  An interim work authorization is a ticket to a Social Security card or a driver’s license.  With the interim benefit, illegal aliens have similar rights that others in this country do, all while lacking initial screening or the actual adjudication.

 

In the latest annual report by the Ombudsman, dated June 29, 2006, the issuance of interim benefits could be greatly reduced and improved.  The Ombudsman points to the pilot program in Dallas, known as DORA, that has been successful in screening applicants on the front end of the process.  The report says, “as a result [of DORA], many ineligible applicants are rejected before their cases are even filed.”  This front-end processing could reduce fraud, increase efficiency, enhance backlog reduction efforts, and ensure that unauthorized aliens are not working in the United States.  

 

Issuing employment authorization documents to applicants pending approval is a problem not only mentioned in the last two Ombudsman reports, but was also specifically mentioned in two recent Government Accountability Office reports. 

 

In November 2005, the GAO stated that “benefits may be issued to applicants whose eligibility and potential risk to national security have not been fully determined.”  The GAO also analyzed the “up-front processing model” implemented by CIS in New York and Dallas that allowed applicants to be interviewed on the same day the application was filed. 

 

In March 2006, the GAO stated that, “Even when adjudicators rejected applications based on fraud, some of these applicants had already received interim benefits while their applications were pending final adjudication allowing them to live and work in the United States, and in some cases obtain other official documents, such as a driver’s license.” 

 

According to the CIS Ombudsman, nearly 85% of applicants for permanent residency also apply for temporary work authorization.  Immigrants may be catching on to this practice, and the inability of CIS to process their applications within 90 days.  In fact, the Ombudsman points to a problem in New York where 47.6% of all greencard applicants denied had already received interim benefits.  Does the agency know if these individuals have left the country or are remaining on U.S. soil with work permits? 

 

With a work authorization document, the alien has no need to wait for final adjudication of their application.  I’m sure you’d agree that we wouldn’t want to give work authorizations to terrorists, criminals, and illegal aliens who simply submit paperwork knowing that adjudication would take months. 

 

Since the Ombudsman pointed out this problem in the 2005 annual report, and reiterated the concern again in the 2006 report, I want to make sure that the problems and recommendations for curing them are not ignored. 

 

I would like to know what action the agency plans to take to improve the processing of initial green card applications in order to reduce the issuance of interim benefits.  What concerns, if any, does the pilot program in Dallas raise for the agency?  Will you consider additional sites for a rapid adjustment program? Would you recommend any changes to the Immigration and Nationality Act that would ease the pressures on CIS officials to give interim benefits to applicants?

 

Finally, are there other administrative options that could be implemented nationwide to reduce the issuance of interim benefits?  If so, I hope that such policy decisions made by headquarters would be transmitted clearly to field offices so that adjudicators across the country are following the same rules and guidelines.  A consistent policy on interim benefits is crucial to a seamless and secure immigration system.

 

I look forward to hearing from you and continuing the dialogue on how we can improve the process so that applicants are not undermining our immigration system.  Thanks for your attention to this matter.

 

 

                                                            Sincerely,

 

 

 

                                                            Charles E. Grassley

                                                            United States Senate