Delay In Background Checks Of Immigrants

Feb.19.2008
11:47 am
by johnsblogs42

Delay In Background Checks Of Immigrants

If there is any particular bunch in the “Immigration” issue that I actually feel sorry for, it’s these folks. The LEGAL immigrants, who are really trying to effect some change in their lives, and the lives of their families. The ones who are going through the motions to LEGALLY enter the country, and are being held up by an inefficient government system.

This issue came up when I received an e-letter from NumbersUSA, which included an article written by Paul M. Weyrich on The National Ledger site. The articles title is “A Dangerous Delay in Background-Checking Legal Immigrants,” written on Feb. 14th.

Weyrich brings up several topics such as the recent decision by the Bush Administration to “grant permanent residency status to tens of thousands of legal immigrants without first completing their required background checks against the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigative files because the backlog of legal immigration cases is too large and growing rapidly.”

Weyrich also brings up a good point about the system itself; “Part of the problem is that the system of background checks is inefficient. The FBI stores more than 86 million investigative files which electronically complete the background checks for about 90% of legal immigrants within three months. The remaining 10% can take years to finish through paper-based searches for any mention of an applicant’s name in records stored in 265 locations across the country.”

One would think that with such huge technological advancements and strides that had been made over the last few years, this sort of problem should be extinct by now.

The ones who ultimately will suffer until a more efficient means of clearing a person for entry can be arranged, are in fact legal immigrants. Congress bears some of the blame for this, as having over the last few decades increased the allowance for immigration to balloon to astounding proportions. It has increased from around 100-150 thousand legal immigrants a year in 1965, to well over 1 million a year these days. This would partially explain the steady backlog of applicants.

Another point that comes to mind, that Weyrich also brings up is; “What type of signal does this send to those who may be criminals in their home country or who seek to destroy America for ideological reasons? The signal is loud and clear: those with criminal records, including violent ones, or those who would mount terrorist attacks against us can beat the system because the Federal Government is too uncoordinated and lethargic to check their backgrounds.” The same thought crossed my mind before reaching this point in Weyrich’s article. And unfortunately, Legal immigrants (from any origin) can end up being victimized over such problems.

But skip over to Weyrich’s article on the National Ledger which carries considerably more info than I listed here. It’s a very good read.

Article info provided by The National Ledger and NumbersUSA.