By Kari Jacobson
FAIR
On September 30, 2024, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a heavily redacted report revealing that Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) failed to fully assess the risks of releasing illegal aliens without proper identification into the United States and allowing them to fly within the country.
First, the OIG reported that processes at ICE and CBP permit the release of illegal aliens who lack proper identification. The OIG explained that when an arriving alien does not have necessary documents to prove his or her identity, CBP and ICE immigration officers simply accept whatever name and biographical information the aliens provide them and use it to fill out relevant immigration forms. The OIG states that immigration officers may collect photographs, fingerprints, and, if an alien is over 14 years old, DNA samples. However, even if collected, this information will be associated with the name provided by the illegal aliens. Incredibly, while immigration officers interviewed “acknowledged the risks of allowing noncitizens without identification into the country,” both CBP and ICE failed to conduct complete risk assessments for those aliens.
As part of its review, the OIG observed the processing of 53 illegal aliens by CBP agents at two ports of entry and four Border Patrol stations across Arizona and California during April 2023. Of the 53 illegal aliens observed as part of that review, the OIG found that 7—or 13 percent—did not present any identification to agents. However, since officers are not mandated to document whether aliens arrive with proper identification, the OIG revealed that “neither CBP nor ICE could determine how many of the millions of noncitizens seeking entry in the United States each year entered without identification.”
The OIG also reported that vetting processes at CBP and ICE increase the risk that TSA will not be able to accurately screen aliens attempting to board flights in the United States. After DHS processes and releases an alien, they are allowed to travel on domestic flights using DHS-issued documents which TSA verifies by using the CBP One mobile app or contacting the National Transportation Vetting Center. However, given that CBP and ICE create the immigration forms using whatever names and identification information the alien provides, dangerous aliens could slip through the cracks. Indeed, the OIG states that TSA relies on CBP and ICE officers to collect an alien’s biographical and biometric information and conduct the requisite background checks to determine if the individual poses a threat to the United States.
The OIG offered three recommendations to CBP and ICE following its report:
- That CBP conduct a comprehensive analysis of the risks associated with releasing noncitizens into the country without identification and develop and implement policies and procedures to mitigate those risks.
- That ICE conducts a conduct a comprehensive analysis of the risks associated with releasing noncitizens without identification from ICE custody and develop and implement policies and procedures to mitigate those risks.
- That TSA use the results of the Requirements and Capabilities Analysis office’s updated CBP One risk assessment to develop and implement policy and procedural changes to address risks [redacted].
Refusing to acknowledge that its policies have created a public safety and national security nightmare, DHS did not concur with any of the OIG’s recommendations. Instead the Department argued that it has to release illegal aliens. In its response, DHS states, “although it continues to remove record numbers of noncitizens, it cannot categorically detain all individuals subject to detention, including those inadmissible noncitizens without identification documents.” In turn, the OIG emphasized that the intent of its recommendations was to encourage DHS to implement a “unified strategy” towards mitigating risks posed by aliens released without identification documents.
To address the risk caused by allowing illegal aliens flying without proper identification, Members of Congress have proposed legislative solutions. In March 2024, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) introduced the FAIR-supported Verifying that all Aliens have Legitimate Identification Documents (VALID) Act. The bill was cosponsored by Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), and John Thune (R-S.D.). Among other provisions, the VALID Act prohibits TSA from accepting the CBP One app, a Notice to Appear (NTA), or a Notice to Report (NTR) as valid forms of identification at airport security checkpoints. In the bill’s press release, Sen. Lee criticized TSA’s acceptance of the CBP One app as a form of identification and stated that, “[t]he Biden administration has intentionally made our country more dangerous with policies that put Americans at great risk and weaken U.S. national security.”
The threats facing Americans across the country as a result of the border crisis cannot be overstated. With record numbers of illegal aliens flooding over our borders, some of whom are entering under false identities, Americans need strong reforms to ensure that potentially dangerous aliens cannot enter the country and jeopardize public safety and national security.
