Summary

Aliens who apply to become naturalized citizens must meet certain requirements, such as being of good moral character. To determine whether an alien has been convicted of a crime that would preclude citizenship, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) submits the alien's fingerprints to the FBI, which researches whether that person has a criminal history on file. Between September 1995 and September 1996, some aliens with disqualifying felony convictions were improperly naturalized, probably because INS adjudicators were unaware of the results of an FBI check. In addition, both the Justice Department's Inspector General and GAO have found problems with the fingerprinting part of the process. For example, persons intent on hiding their criminal backgrounds could have someone else complete the INS fingerprint card and submit the prints as their own. In November 1996, the INS Commissioner announced changes intended to strengthen the naturalization process. However, an April 1997 report by Peat Marwick showed that INS has not ensured that its field units were carrying out the Commissioner's instructions.

GAO noted that: (1) aliens who apply to the INS to become naturalized citizens have to meet certain requirements, such as being of good moral character (e.g., not being convicted of certain felonies); (2) to determine whether aliens applying for citizenship have been convicted of a crime that would preclude them from being naturalized, INS submits the aliens' fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which is to determine if the person with those fingerprints has a criminal history record on file; (3) between September 1995 and September 1996, some aliens with certain disqualifying criminal felony convictions were improperly naturalized probably because INS adjudicators were not made aware of the results of the FBI check of the aliens' criminal history records; (4) in addition, both the Department of Justice's Inspector General and GAO have identified problems with the fingerprinting component of the process; (5) in November 1996 the INS Commissioner announced changes designed to enhance the naturalization process in several key areas; (6) to try to deal with the problem of adjudicators making decisions without having a definitive response from the FBI on the completed criminal history checks, the Commissioner ordered that no aliens were to be approved for naturalization until INS positively knew that they had no disqualifying felony convictions; (7) in addition, the Commissioner ordered that no naturalization cases were to be scheduled for hearings or oath ceremonies until all changes were "in place and working"; (8) previously, INS had issued regulations establishing internal controls to help ensure that people applying for naturalization were using their own fingerprints; (9) however, an April 17, 1997, report by Peat Marwick showed that INS has not ensured that its field units were carrying out the Commissioner's instructions; and (10) GAO believes that its work on the fingerprinting process and other aspects of INS management, and the Peat Marwick report, raise questions about the extent to which INS can today assure itself and the Congress that it is granting citizenship to only those applicants who deserve it.