DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND INSECURITY

Inspector General releases scathing report: DHS unable to keep out 'high-risk noncitizens without identification'

 

 

by Matthew Holloway 

 

Law Enforcement Today 

Oct 6, 2024

 

 

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A redacted report from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General revealed that the agency created in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks "cannot ensure they are keeping high-risk noncitizens without identification from entering the country.” 

As reported by The Center Square, the most recent report from the OIG, has assessed that the federal agencies ensconced within Homeland Security have been unable to prevent these "high-risk noncitizens without identification" from being flown about the country on domestic fights.
 
The report said in part, 

"Under current processes, CBP and ICE cannot ensure they are keeping high-risk noncitizens without identification from entering the country."

"Additionally, TSA cannot ensure its vetting and screening procedures prevent high-risk noncitizens who may pose a threat to the flying public from boarding domestic flights.”

The document exposed several stunning lapses in the security measures undertaken by DHS to prevent the potential incursion of high-risk non-citizens into the U.S.

Notably, in one instance OIG investigators "requested data on the number of noncitizens who did not have identification and were released into the United States from [fiscal years] 2021 through 2023." However, they found that "because immigration officers are not required to document whether a noncitizen presented identification in the databases, the data we obtained may be incomplete."

This led to the stunning analysis that, "Therefore, neither CBP nor ICE could determine how many of the millions of noncitizens seeking entry in the United States each year entered without identification and whose self-reported biographic information was accepted."

In the report's heavily redacted conclusion the OIG warned that "if CBP and ICE continue to allow noncitizens — whose identities immigration officers cannot confirm — to enter the country, they may inadvertently increase national security risks."

Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Transportation Security Administration all disagreed with the findings expressed by DHS's OIG in the report. The agencies gave a reply of "non-concur" to the findings, essentially arguing with the DHS ombudsman's view of their own inadaquacies.

The OIG in turn reiterated its recommendations to each agency. "We recognize the complexity of the issue and appreciate the challenges facing the Department. Although the recommendations are addressed to each component (ICE, CBP, and TSA), the intent of our recommendations is for the Department to develop a unified strategy for addressing the issue. Although we understand that each component carries out its unique mission, we believe that a whole-of-Department approach will be most effective."