USCIS Approved Amnesty for At Least Six Illegal Aliens Initially Flagged as Security Risks

The Obama Administration says it has identified 16 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival requests that implicated “possible national security concerns,” but of those identified just seven have been denied amnesty to date.

In written responses to Senate Judiciary Immigration and the National Interest Subcommittee Republicans following the committee’s earlier oversight hearing, obtained by Breitbart News, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reveal that six of the DACA requests USCIS flagged as security concerns were approved for the program.

“Each case was individually vetted and deconflicted with the appropriate law enforcement agency, and each request was considered on its individual merits,” USCIS responded in its written response.

Another seven of those 16 were denied and three remain pending.

The same document that revealed six DACA beneficiaries initially flagged as security concerns were approved for the program also showed that out of nearly a million applicants as of April 30, USCIS has only interviewed 283 DACA applicants in person.

According to USCIS since DACA started in 2012 through March 2015, USCIS has processed 748,789 initial requests and 355,805 renewals. Of those 664,607 initial requests and 243,872 renewals have been approved and 43,375 initial requests and 414 renewals have been denied.

This means that the Obama administration has conducted in person interviews with about .03 percent of initial DACA applicants and about .02 percent of all DACA applications.

USCIS further revealed that in does not track gang, money laundering or drug cartel affiliations among DACA applicants.

It noted that a recent database search for suspected gang affiliations through TECS showed there have been known and suspected gang members granted DACA.

“USCIS recently conducted a unique batch TECS query of all approved DACA requests in order to identify records that contained information indicating known or suspected gang association,” the agency wrote. “Based on the information obtained from the recent batch TECS query, there were records pertaining to 49 DACA requestors whose requests had been granted. Of these 49, a total of 13 individuals had TECS records entered after DACA review. These cases are being reviewed for possible termination.”

The agency did have numbers on fraud, finding that as of May 4, “15,541 filings have been referred to the Center Fraud Detection Office (CFDO) with an indication of possible fraud” of those applications 3,959 were approved and 9,870 were denied with 1,712 still pending.

Additionally USCIS elaborated on the 15 DACA recipients who were arrested in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement criminal dragnet in March known as Operation Cross Check.

“Of those 15 individuals, 14 were convicted of disqualifying criminal offenses after being accorded deferred action and one had a pending criminal charge with no disposition at the time the request was considered. DHS automatically terminated the deferred action of all 15 individuals and has initiated removal proceedings in those cases,” USCIS explained. “Additionally, eight individuals encountered during Operation Cross Check had previously been granted DACA, but their DACA had been revoked.”

In terms of the future of the program USCIS said it expected that FY 2015 will find the DACA caseload requiring 331 full time employes.

“USCIS forecasts that in FY15, the DACA caseload will require the full time equivalent of 331 federal employees, including adjudicators, clerical and mission support personnel, as well as supervisors and managers. All costs associated with consideration of DACA requests, including USCIS personnel responsible for processing DACA requests, will be paid for through DACA-related fees,” USCIS wrote, noting that such speculation is difficult.