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The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency may have processed as many as 30,000 citizenship applications in 2005 without reviewing critical background files, thousands of which have been lost, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

The 30,000 applications that may have been processed without so-called alien files in fiscal 2005 represented about 4 percent of the 715,000 total applications handled that year. The files, known as A-files, contain information such as arrest warrants and the results of immigration proceedings. CIS, a bureau within the Homeland Security Department, is responsible for about 55 million such documents.

GAO also found that, as of July 27, 2006, 14 of CIS' busiest district offices had lost 110,000 A-files. The losses can be attributed to poor training and a lack of emphasis from managers, the report (GAO-07-85) stated.

Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, outgoing chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, outgoing chairwoman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, requested the report after CIS' predecessor agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, granted U.S. citizenship to a suspected terrorist without checking his A-file in 2002. The file indicated ties to a terrorist organization and had been lost, according to Grassley's office.

"It only takes one missing file of somebody with links to a terrorist organization to become an American citizen," Grassley said in a statement. "A terrorist can be unsuccessful thousands of times, but we have to be perfect all the time. We can't afford to be handing out citizenship with blinders on."

Homeland security is not the only reason the missing files are of great concern, the senators said. Missing files result in unnecessary delays for thousands of other legitimate immigrants trying to become U.S. citizens, they said.

CIS officials told auditors that case adjudicators are not required to document whether or not they use A-files, meaning that for some of the 30,000 applications cited, the files could in fact have been reviewed. The GAO auditors recommended that in the future, CIS should ask employees to note whether an A-file was used to adjudicate an application. Homeland Security officials agreed with the suggestion.

Department officials also agreed that CIS should work with other agencies using the files - which include the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Customs and Border Protection bureaus -- to determine the extent of compliance with procedures for updating the National File Tracking System, an automated system for locating and transferring A-files. The agency spends about $13 million a year moving A-files around the country.

In August, CIS awarded a 5-year $150 million contract to begin converting paper A-files into electronic files. Earlier, GAO had reported that the bureau's plan to automate the paper-based process suffered from poor planning and risked falling short of expectations.

COMMENTS

• My immediate thought is that this was intentional because the government doesn't seem too concerned about performing the functions of government. Rather, they seem to be just agents for the multinational corporations. The war on terror is a fraud. It is more like a war of terror - against We The People. Vicky Davis Posted June 9, 2008 12:15 AM
• Problem with this data base system its all used on Americans ...good and bad . Talk about Big Brother !!! you have no real information on people from other countries because we don't know who they are to begin with and you aren't going to know , so whos left ? Americans are in the data base thats all !!! Ruth Slater Posted June 8, 2008 7:03 PM
• This is nothing new. Files and other critical paperwork have always gone missing except when they're connected to another insulting giveaway program which ultimately allows criminal aliens and general-purpose dirt bags to get in. In the case of those aliens who did everything by the book, who are of solid character, and would become productive citizens, they get hosed. I've always proposed that one effective way to curb the amount of files and paper is to just deny those we don't want and wouldn't qualify in the first place and send them packing. No application, no paperwork. As far as transitioning most paper to electronic files, I agree with the retired Customs Inspector yet, as I should point out, some of their legacy reporting systems are in the Dark Ages still. Some of them still operate on DOS-based systems which are older than dirt. The whole electronic filing and reporting system is in dire need of an overhaul. GovExec.com reader Posted December 10, 2006 6:53 AM