Clinton Administration's Own Verdict:

Damage From 'Citizenship USA' [INS] Can Never Be Undone

May 12, 1997

    Last year the press revealed rampant corruption and abuse in the Clinton Administration's scandal-wracked "Citizenship USA" program, a blatant attempt to naturalize a million prospective Clinton voters before the Presidential election.
    News reports showed: (1) that control of the supposedly non-partisan $95 million taxpayer-funded initiative was moved from the INS to the Clinton White House; (2) that the Administration turned naturalization over to advocacy groups linked to the Democratic Party; and (3) that the Administration failed to complete FBI background checks for nearly 20% of the record-breaking 1.05 million people naturalized in FY 1996.
    In the ensuing scandal, the Clinton Administration repeatedly promised wholesale reforms that would undo the damage from Citizenship USA and prevent future abuses. Now internal reports, outside reviews, and House and Senate hearings have revealed that these were hollow promises. By the Administration's own admission, the program remains a shambles, and the damage it has wrought can never be undone.

"Citizenship USA" and its Aftermath

The abuses in Citizenship USA have been widely reported, and on April 28, 1997 the Justice Department's Inspector General opened a massive investigation into allegations of "mismanagement, misconduct, and illegality" in the program. Members of Congress have asked Attorney General Janet Reno to appoint an Independent Counsel to investigate all aspects of the scandal, including the role of the Vice President--a request she has rejected.⁽¹⁾ In response to the avalanche of criticism, the Clinton Administration has repeatedly promised to tighten screening procedures around the nation and to revoke the citizenship of those improperly naturalized under the program. These promises have not been kept.

"No Assurance That INS Is Not Continuing to Incorrectly Naturalize Aliens"

On November 29, 1996, Doris Meissner, Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), issued a memorandum on "Naturalization Quality Procedures" outlining reforms, to be implemented immediately, designed to correct the abuses in the Citizenship USA program. In March 1997 joint oversight hearings before two House subcommittees, Commissioner Meissner categorically asserted that, although "[w]e made mistakes in Citizenship USA[,] [w]e have corrected those mistakes and put in place a series of new measures to prevent them in the future."⁽²⁾
On April 17, 1997, the accounting and consulting firm KPMG Peat Marwick completed an exhaustive 140-page survey, commissioned by the Department of Justice, of the INS 's implementation of the reforms. The survey was based on on-site reviews at each of 24 regional and district offices over the course of five weeks. The offices collectively account for 85% of INS' naturalization workload.⁽³⁾ Its results were appalling: of the 24 INS offices surveyed, exactly one was found "compliant" with the new procedures. Fifteen--almost two-thirds--were found to be flatly "non-compliant," and seven were rated "marginally compliant." As Chairman Abraham of the Senate Immigration Subcommittee stated in oversight hearings on May 1, 1997:

One District Office and two Citizenship USA sites could not produce the particular policy memo they were supposed to be implementing. Numerous offices were sending fingerprint cards to the wrong FBI address, fingerprint cards were completed incorrectly, and worksheets that were required to be dated and initialed showed no evidence of key tasks being completed.⁽⁴⁾

Small wonder the private-sector auditors stated categorically, "We cannot provide assurance that INS is not continuing to incorrectly naturalize aliens with disqualifying conditions."

"A Gaping Loophole" for Fraud

    The INS did not issue regulations to secure the integrity of its criminal background checks until three years after the Justice Department's Inspector General and the General Accounting Office warned the INS of what the Washington Post called "a gaping loophole" in its procedures. The gaping loophole was the fact that "[t]he INS, anxious to streamline the citizenship process, began accepting fingerprints handed in by the applicants themselves rather than performing the time-consuming procedure in its offices."⁽⁵⁾ The result was that aliens with criminal records could easily cheat the system by switching someone else's fingerprints in place of their own.⁽⁶⁾
    But, even after a three-year delay in addressing this critical weakness, the system is still dangerously flawed. The final program does not require the INS or even a law enforcement agency to take the applicants' fingerprints. Rather, any "Designated Fingerprint Service" certified by the INS--or even one not certified, but which is in the process of applying for certification--would be able to forward the applicants' fingerprints on their own say-so. Worse, the new regulations actually permit such services to employ persons convicted of aggravated felonies and "crimes involving dishonesty."⁽⁷⁾ And the INS list of services with approved or pending applications (i.e., organizations currently authorized to submit fingerprints, since simply filing an application qualifies an organization to submit fingerprints) includes liquor stores, hairstylists, photo shops, bridal shops, and advocacy groups. Even Hermandad Mexicana Nacional in Los Angeles, now under investigation for illegal alien vote fraud in the 1996 election, remains authorized to collect applicants' fingerprints.
    As a result, Peat Marwick's audit found that the "INS continues to have the most significant control problems with the fingerprint process and the identification of statutorily-barred applicants." The Washington Post recently reported:

At the Nebraska Service Center, one of two regional INS facilities in the central United States, 95 percent of the fingerprint cards received during the period under review were rejected because of errors in filling them out, Peat Marwick said. In addition, the center and two others like it were found to be sending fingerprint cards to a "wrong FBI address." Nevertheless, the Nebraska center was rated in "marginal compliance" with the new regulations, while others in California, Texas and Vermont were deemed "noncompliant."⁽⁸⁾

And the Nebraska Service Center is not just any INS facility--it's the site of the nationwide "Fingerprint Clearance Coordination Center" established in June 1996 to upgrade INS processing of fingerprint cards.

Repairing the Damage: "Highly Uncertain," Says INS

    In the aftermath of the scandal, the Clinton INS promised to revoke the citizenship of those it had improperly naturalized.⁽⁹⁾ This promise is also being broken. As a result of the Citizenship USA program, 180,000 immigrants naturalized in 1996 did not undergo any fingerprint checks for criminal records. Now that these 180,000 have become citizens, the FBI and the INS cannot require them to provide their fingerprints for background checks. The INS has no other practicable way to check them.
    Furthermore, according to an internal memo from INS General Counsel David Martin to Commissioner Doris Meissner, "it is highly uncertain that the Department could win or sustain a revocation based on a misrepresentation in the absence of proof of an underlying statutory disqualification. . . ." In other words, even if the INS and FBI could prove that newly naturalized aliens lied on their citizenship applications, it would be impossible to denaturalize them unless they had also been convicted of a felony--despite the fact that lying in such circumstances ordinarily precludes naturalization.
    In short, the improper naturalizations rammed through the process at the direction of the Clinton White House to assist the President's re-election are permanent. They will never be undone.

Conclusion

In politically abusing the United States agency and system that confers the gift of citizenship, the White House violated one of the most solemn responsibilities of government--and exposed the nation to new criminal predators in the bargain. When the scandal was exposed, the Clinton Administration promised Congress and the American people that the corruption and fraud would cease forthwith. They promised that criminals would no longer be admitted to citizenship. And they promised that those criminals already admitted would be found and stripped of citizenship. None of these promises has been fulfilled; the last, by the Administration's own admission, never will be.

1. "Hearing Set on Naturalization Process," Reuters, April 30, 1997. For general background on the program, see "Clinton White House Turns Foreign Crooks Into U.S. Citizens," House Policy Committee Policy Perspective, October 28, 1996.

2. Statement of INS Commissioner Doris Meissner before the House Judiciary Committee Immigration and Claims Subcommittee and the Government Reform and Oversight Committee Subcommittee on National Security, International Affairs and Criminal Justice, p.12, March 5, 1997.

3. Statement of Assistant Attorney General for Administration Stephen Colgate, U.S. Justice Department, before the Immigration Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, p.7, May 1, 1997.

4. Statement of Hon. Spencer Abraham, Chairman, Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Immigration Subcommittee, Hearing on INS Oversight: The Criminal Record Verification Process for Citizenship Applicants," p. 4, May 1, 1997.

5. "INS Says It May Never Find Naturalized Criminals," Washington Post, May 1, 1997.

6. Statement of Hon. Lamar Smith, Chairman, House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims, Hearing on Safeguarding the Integrity of the Naturalization Process, April 30, 1997.

7. Id.

8. "Audit Faults INS Practices: Criminals May Still Be Getting Citizenship," Washington Post, p.A1, April 19, 1997.

9. Testimony of INS Commissioner Meissner, supra, at pp.11-12, March 5, 1997; letter from Commissioner Meissner to Sen. John Kyl, November 15, 1996, p.3 ("Any instance of improper naturalization is of concern to us. If it is determined that improper naturalization has occurred, we will move quickly to institute denaturalization proceedings.")

The Policy Committee is the policy-making arm of the House Majority. It is comprised of the House Leadership (the Speaker, the Majority Leader, the Majority Whip, the Conference Chairman, the Policy Chairman, the Conference Vice Chairman, the Conference Secretary, the NRCC Chairman, and the elected leaders of the Junior, Sophomore, and Freshman classes), the chairmen of key standing committees of the House, and Members elected by region and seniority. The Committee meets weekly to consider legislation and issues of national importance.

SITE-MAP