Higher-ups within U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services are pressuring rank-and-file officers to rubber-stamp immigrants’ visa applications, sometimes against the officers’ will, according to a Homeland Security report and internal documents exclusively obtained by The Daily.
A 40-page report, drafted by the Office of Inspector General in September but not publicly released, details the immense pressure immigration service officers are under to approve visa applications quickly, sometimes while overlooking concerns about fraud, eligibility or security.
One-quarter of the 254 officers surveyed said they have been pressured to approve questionable cases, sometimes “against their will.”
The report does not call out any particular officials and indicates that the agency has had a problem with valuing quantity over quality since at least the 1980s.
But high-ranking USCIS officials said the pressure has heightened after the Obama administration appointed Alejandro Mayorkas as director in August 2009 during an effort to pass comprehensive immigration reform, bringing with him a mantra of “get to yes.”
Internal communications provided to The Daily indicate that the new leadership seemed to fundamentally clash with career agency employees over when to afford the benefit of the doubt, culminating in a whistle-blower investigation into a senior appointee and, ultimately, the agency-wide inspector general inquiry that produced the report.
“We recognize their right to interpret things as liberally as possible, but you still have to follow the law,” said one high-ranking official who was unhappy with the current push.
At least five agency veterans seen as being too tough on applicants were either demoted, or given the choice between a demotion or a relocation from Southern California — where their families were — to San Francisco and Nebraska, according to sources and letters of reassignment provided to The Daily.
The Obama Regime is so desperate to win the election this year they are forcing immigration officers to allow immigrants into the country even if they are criminals.
Obama Immigration Abuses To Face Congressional Scrutiny
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How does a 14-year-old African-American girl who speaks not one word of Spanish end up being deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to Colombia? That’s what they would like to know.
ICE Director of Public Affairs Brian Hale said the department has opened an investigation into the circumstances leading to the deportation of a Texas teen named Jakadrien, who was arrested and sent to Colombia last year despite never having been there in her life.
According to Jakadrien’s grandmother, who managed to track down her granddaughter with the help of Dallas Police and Facebook, the then-14-year-old ran away from home in 2010 after her grandfather died and her parents divorced.
News 8 says Jakadrien ended up on the streets of Houston, where she was arrested by police for theft. Alone and scared, the young girl gave officers a fake name, which, by sheer misfortune, happened to belong to a 22-year-old illegal immigrant from Colombia.
Without verification, ICE collected Jakadrien’s fingerprints and deported her to the South American republic, where she was given a work card and released. In Facebook posts, Jakadrien reportedly complained of being tired from having to work all day cleaning a big house.
Though the U.S. Embassy has been notified of her whereabouts, this sad story isn’t over yet: The Colombian government has since seized Jakadrien, and is holding her in a detention facility for reasons unknown.
Her grandmother, however, is far from giving up: “I feel like she will come home,” she says. “I just need help and prayer.”
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The perfect gift for those tight-ass liberal friends of yours:
10 Photos Of Justin Timberlake Channeling His Inner Elton John.
White House officially denies President Obama was a chrononaut teleported by the CIA to Mars.
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A suburban Chicago police officer used a $132 speeding ticket he issued to track down a woman and ask her for a date, saying the least he could do for costing her so much money was to buy her dinner, a lawsuit filed by the woman alleges.
Evangelina Paredes accuses Stickney cop Chris Collins of violating her privacy by searching motor-vehicle records for her address, then leaving a handwritten note on her car windshield outside her apartment two days after she was ticketed.
A copy of the alleged note was attached to the lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Chicago. It starts with an attempt at self-deprecating humor, saying, “It’s Chris … that ugly bald Stickney cop who gave you that ticket.”
“I know this may seem crazy and you’re probably right, but truth is I have not stopped thinking about you since,” it continues. “I don’t expect a girl as attractive as you to … even go for a guy like me, but I’m taking a shot anyways.”
The note goes on to say he would understand if Paredes did not get in touch.
“But hey,” it continues apologetically, “I did cost you $132 — least I can do is buy you dinner.”
Collins, 27, told The Associated Press by phone on Tuesday that he hadn’t yet hired an attorney and couldn’t comment.
According to the lawsuit, Collins pulled Paredes over on Oct. 22 in Stickney, a village just southwest of Chicago. The note allegedly appeared on her car in a parking lot next to her apartment.
“The letter caused plaintiff to suffer great fear and anxiety,” the lawsuit says. “Plaintiff could not believe that a police officer would use his access to her personal information to find her home and stalk her.”
Read more:
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Montana hits 1 million residents
It’s official: one million people now call Montana home, according to Governor Brian Schweitzer.
Governor Schweitzer issued a press release on Tuesday marking the milestone.
In the release, he noted, “Montana is starting the new year off with a bang. People from all over the world recognize that Montana is the best place to start and grow a small business, raise a family and build a community.”
Officials at the Census and Economic Information Center (CEIC) at the Montana Department of Commerce estimate that Montana officially hit the one million resident mark sometime in November or December of 2011.
The milestone was met based on analysis of growth trends between the 2000 and 2010 U.S. Census counts, recent population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, and estimates from two other independent projection firms.
Montana’s most recent Census “snapshot” taken on April 1, 2010, placed the number of Montana residents at 989,415.
In comparison, the 2000 Census counted the number of Montana residents at 903,773, an increase of 85,642 residents.
The following are the only remaining states with fewer than one million residents: Delaware; South Dakota; North Dakota; Alaska; Vermont; Wyoming.
(from KRTV)
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MSNBC Analyst: “Rick Santorum Is a Homophobe and a Bigot” Typical liberal attack on conservative that are not based on fact, just the liberal view of what they think.
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OUR MUSLIM CHIEF IN THE WHITE HOUSE NAKEDLY ABUSES POWER SO WHY HAVEN’T IMPEACHMENT CHARGES BEEN FILED?
This is incredible:
President Obama will announce today that he will appoint Richard Cordray as head of the controversial Consumer Financial Protection Bureau during the Senate’s recess, the White House said.
The appointment comes to the dismay of Senate Republicans, who blocked Cordray’s nomination in order to weaken the bureau. …
Obama is scheduled to make his first public appearance of 2012 on Wednesday at 1:15 p.m. in the suburbs of Cleveland — Cordray’s home state.
There’s just one thing wrong. Congress is still in session and not in recess….which is when Obama can do stuff like this.
Ed Morrissey opines:
Of all the controversial appointments that the Senate GOP has managed to bottle up, this one had the weakest argument. The objections of Republicans to Cordray rested mainly on the CFPB itself, not Cordray. They had already forced Obama to withdraw his first nominee, Elizabeth Warren, who proved inartful at Congressional relations anyway. The CFPB itself was a battle Republicans lost over a year ago. Congress passed it into law, and Obama should be able to get a nominee to run it confirmed. Republicans can win the next election and make the changes they wish in the next session, but it’s unreasonable to simply block the agency from operating with its chosen leadership.
Don’t be surprised if Obama turns to the NLRB next. The board can’t operate without a quorum, which it now lacks, and the GOP won’t budge after the activism of the NLRB under the influence of his previous recess appointment, Craig Becker. Cordray won’t cost him much political damage, but Obama will come under fire regardless of which way he goes on this. Business leaders will erupt in outrage if he forces more activists onto the NLRB, and unions will be just as outraged if he doesn’t. Obama needs the former for funding and the latter for organization in the coming election, but setting this precedent will make it almost impossible for Obama to resist more recess appointments.
Update: As an aside, the timing on this is rather interesting, too. Maybe Obama hoped to get this under the radar with all of the attention on Iowa the morning after the caucuses — or maybe steal some of the thunder from the Republicans. Either works.
However, the lasting impact of this recess appointment will be (a) Republicans blocking even more Obama appointments, and (b) a Republican President ignoring a Democratic block on appointments regardless of the time that the Senate has been out of the chamber. Expect the GOP to press a charge of Obama as an imperial President in the fall, too.
However, having objected to such actions when Presdient Bush tried it, Dingy Harry Reed sees nothing wrong now.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who previously held pro forma sessions to block recess appointments by President George W. Bush, said Wednesday he supported President Obama’s decision to ignore those sessions to push through one of his key nominees.
“I support President Obama’s decision,” he said in a statement.
The White House announced Wednesday that Obama planned to recess appoint Richard Cordray to be director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). However, Republicans immediately cried foul about the move. They argue that because the holiday break has been broken up by brief pro forma sessions, the Senate is not in recess and the appointment is illegitimate.
Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the novel move “arrogantly circumvented the American people.”
Via Speaker Of The House Blog:
President Obama today made an unprecedented “recess” appointment even though the Senate is not in recess — “a sharp departure from a long-standing precedent that has limited the President to recess appointments only when the Senate is in a recess of 10 days or longer,” according to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
It turns out that the action not only contradicts long-standing practice, but also the view of the administration itself. In 2010, Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal explained to the Supreme Court the Obama administration’s view that recess appointments are only permissible when Congress is in recess for more than three days. Here’s the exchange with Chief Justice John Roberts:
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: And the recess appointment power doesn’t work why?
MR. KATYAL: The — the recess appointment power can work in — in a recess. I think our office has opined the recess has to be longer than 3 days. And — and so, it is potentially available to avert the future crisis that — that could — that could take place with respect to the board. If there are no other questions —
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Thank you, counsel.
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Just when you think they might not be so crazy, Iran proves you wrong:
Iran’s parliament said Wednesday it was preparing a bill that would prohibit all foreign warships from entering the Persian Gulf unless they received permission from the Iranian navy.
The bill, disclosed by the the semiofficial Fars News Agency, surfaced a day after Iran’s armed forces commander warned a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier not to return to the gulf, remarks that rattled commodities markets and helped drive up oil prices.
The proposed legislation suggested that at least some Iranian officials are serious about trying to stop the U.S. Navy from entering the oil-rich gulf waters. Iranian analysts said the bill probably would not have been introduced if it were not supported by higher authorities.
“If the military vessels and warships of any country want to pass via the Strait of Hormuz without coordination and permission of Iran’s navy forces, they should be stopped by the Iranian armed forces,” Fars quoted lawmaker Nader Qazipour as saying in explaining the bill. He noted that Iran regards the strait as part of its territorial waters and said the bill would be presented to parliamentary leaders next week.
Iranian Foreign Minister Ahmad Vahidi restated Iran’s position that “transnational forces” have no place in the region. Vahidi also said Iran is willing to organize joint military drills with neighboring countries, Fars reported Wednesday.
More Here
