Homeland Security Gearing Up to Process Amnesty Applications
While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has no plans to expand control of America’s borders in the new fiscal year, the department has big plans to expand its ability to process the millions of applications that would result from an illegal alien amnesty. Although no amnesty legislation has yet been introduced in Congress, the director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Alejandro Mayorkas, told The New York Times that his agency is “underway to prepare” for the possibility of giving legal status to millions of illegal aliens.
Mayorkas said that USCIS’s goal “is to be ready to expand rapidly to handle the gigantic increase in visa applications it would face” if an amnesty bill is signed into law. USCIS’s preparation — even before an amnesty bill has been introduced — appears to be an effort to head-off criticism raised during the 2007 push for amnesty that the agency was ill-equipped to manage the process.
Mayorkas did not discuss how his agency would sort through millions of applications, weed out the fraudulent ones, or conduct meaningful background checks on the millions of likely applicants. The potential threat to homeland security was noted by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) the ranking member of the House Immigration Subcommittee. “There is a risk to national security that they will take their eyes off background checks of immigrants while they are busy setting up for legislation that has not been introduced in any way, shape or form.”
The announcement of USCIS’s preparations for a massive illegal alien amnesty coincided with the release of the September unemployment figures that revealed that 9.8 percent of the labor force — more than 15 million workers — is officially unemployed. That figure, the highest in 26 years, becomes significantly higher if discouraged job-seekers and part-time workers are included in the equation. Thus, while the administration is failing to address the crisis faced by American workers, it is getting a jump-start on a program that would enable millions of illegal aliens to compete for every available job in the United States.
The administration’s determination to press ahead with amnesty at all costs must be taken seriously. While USCIS is getting an early start on its preparation for amnesty, neither is FAIR waiting for the introduction of legislation to build the case against amnesty. On a daily basis, FAIR is working to inform the American people about the impact that amnesty would have on struggling U.S. workers and on the nation’s security, and will continue to do so until the issue is put to rest.
