-Caveat Lector- [Boston Globe version follows] http://www.nandotimes.com/nation/story/0,1038,500458303-500697233-503775629- 0,00.html Boston INS audit finds many criminals approved for citizenship The Associated Press BOSTON (February 28, 2001 12:01 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - The government may have let thousands of immigrants with criminal backgrounds become naturalized citizens in Massachusetts, due in part to pressure from above to reduce a backlog of citizenship requests. Immigration and Naturalization Service memos obtained by the Boston Globe show an internal audit of the Boston office, conducted in 1998, found an average of five out of every 30 immigrants approved for citizenship had criminal records, and 16 percent had been convicted of a crime not known to the FBI. Data about other states was not included in the Globe's report. In all, the Boston office naturalized 21,052 citizens in 2000, compared to 5,923 in 1990, the Globe reported Wednesday. The Globe said the pressure was partly a byproduct of a now-disbanded 1996 Clinton administration initiative aimed at reducing the citizenship application backlog. Because of pressure to reduce the backlog, agents check criminal backgrounds with the FBI but normally don't review state criminal records, the Globe reported. However, the audit found that felons from Massachusetts don't always show up on FBI records. Under INS policy, all people applying for citizenship submit to a 10-finger print, which is sent to the FBI to check for matches, but many police departments in Massachusetts don't send prints to the FBI, so those felons don't show up on FBI checks, according to INS Special Agent Thomas Carroll, a quality control officer, who wrote the memo obtained by the Globe. He declined to comment on it. Steven Farquharson, district director of the Boston INS office, said that after receiving Carroll's audit he sent a memo to INS headquarters asking for guidance, but he told the Globe the response several months later said he was not allowed to use other databases. Russell Bergeron, spokesman for INS headquarters, said the fault lies with the FBI for not requiring all police departments to file fingerprints and with the departments themselves for not sending them. A Department of Justice investigation of the Citizenship USA program concluded last summer that the flaws in the program were the result of an agency that is "a mess" with systemic problems, including poor criminal history background checks, that date back decades. In the national program's granting of citizenship to 1.2 million people, the investigation found that a number of people with criminal histories became citizens. http://www.globe.com/dailyglobe2/059/nation/Many_with_records_said_to_slip_b y_INSP.shtml Many with records said to slip by INS Failure to check with state at issue By Cindy Rodriguez, Globe Staff, 2/28/2001 flaw in the criminal background checking system used by the regional office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service may have allowed thousands of immigrants convicted of crimes to become naturalized citizens in violation of federal law. INS memos obtained by the Globe reveal that an internal audit conducted in 1998 found an average of five out of every 30 immigrants approved for citizenship by the INS's Boston office had criminal records. Although the exact nature of the offenses remains unclear, one applicant cited in the audit had passed a criminal background check even though he had been convicted of assaulting a police officer. Yet, the same office continues to process people using the flawed system, under which agents check criminal backgrounds with the FBI, but normally don't review state records that include additional felons. The loophole is partly a byproduct of a Clinton administration initiative to reduce the often years-long wait for citizenship faced by many immigrants. Under fire from Congress and the White House to reduce the application backlog, INS created a ''numerical target'' system that, sources say, keeps officers who process the applications in a constant frenzy. ''There was a lot of pressure to meet our goals. We had a quota to meet,'' said an INS source who requested anonymity. Administrators ask officers to work long days, and they pull in staff from other departments, all in an effort to meet goals that have taken the regional office from naturalizing 5,923 citizens in 1990 to 21,052 in 2000. If the 1998 audits are typical of people applying for US citizenship in Boston, more than 3,000 of the candidates approved in 2000 alone could have had criminal records. The random check in 1998 found that 16 percent of applicants had been convicted of a crime not known to the FBI. Steven Farquharson, district director of the Boston office, admits that the current processing glitch continues to allow some felons to escape detection - but he says he can't do anything about it. ''I certainly am concerned about it,'' Farquharson said, but added, ''I don't have that authority locally where I can implement change.'' Farquharson said he learned of the loophole after reading a memo written by INS Special Agent Thomas Carroll on Aug. 25, 1998. Carroll, a quality control officer who was auditing the criminal checks process, had heard that criminals were somehow eluding detection when their fingerprints were sent to the FBI. Under INS policy, all people applying for citizenship submit to a 10-finger print, which is sent to the FBI to see if there's a match. In most cases when the FBI database detects print matches, it calls up the person's criminal record. But Carroll found that when he cross-checked with the Massachusetts Board of Probation, the FBI had overlooked criminal convictions. ''The problem with this procedure is that many police departments in Massachusetts do not send a set of fingerprints'' to the FBI, Carroll wrote in his report. As a result, he said, felons from Massachusetts don't always show up on FBI checks. Russell Bergeron, spokesman for INS headquarters, supported Farquharson, saying the glitch - which he was unaware of - is the fault of either the FBI for not requiring that all police departments file their fingerprints, or with the departments themselves for not sending them. ''That problem is outside INS,'' Bergeron said. ''Clearly, if our work has uncovered an issue with respect to the FBI database and local submissions to it, then we can work with those agencies, but we can't resolve the problem.'' Giving citizenship to criminals seems to fly in the face of a strict 1996 immigration law that mandates the expulsion of immigrants who have committed ''aggravated felonies,'' a term defined by members of Congress to include felonies as well as some misdemeanors.Even immigration officials call that law too harsh. But the damage from naturalizing criminals is hard to reverse. Once people are naturalized, INS cannot deport them, even if officials learn later they had committed egregious crimes. However, INS sources say directors of the agency did little to respond to Carroll's 1998 findings. Those sources, who fear retribution if they are named, say Carroll was treated with contempt by some higher-ups because his suggestion that they begin checking state criminal records would have slowed the process. Carroll, who still works for INS, declined to comment on the criminal background check issue. Six months after his Aug. 25, 1998 memo, sources say two district adjudications officers, Toni Swanson and Carol Fulchini, asked deputy district director Dennis Riordan why the problem hadn't been addressed. A source who was at that meeting said Riordan called the Massachusetts Board of Probations fingerprint check unnecessary and said it would add to the backlog. Farquharson, speaking on behalf of Riordan, said he doubted the validity of the claim. He said four days after receiving Carroll's audit, he sent a memo to INS headquarters asking for guidance. Farquharson said headquarters finally sent him a response on July 7, 1999, saying he was not allowed to use other databases. But sources at the INS said the memo Farquharson referred to was addressed to all INS district directors and that he never got a clear answer from headquarters about checking state records. Still, Farquharson is convinced that he's following INS procedure. He said officers are allowed to check the Massachusetts Probation Department database, but only if they have probable cause. The problem in Boston is rooted in former vice president Al Gore's ''reinventing government'' plan, under which the INS was told to process people more quickly. INS's answer was Citizenship USA, a program that more than doubled the number of people naturalized during its one year of operation. The INS went from naturalizing 488,088 people nationwide in 1995 to 1,044,689 a year later. The program was disbanded after the Justice Department found that 180,000 immigrants escaped fingerprinting under the new rules and 80,000 of those had criminal records. Send news tips to Cindy Rodriguez at [EMAIL PROTECTED] This story ran on page A01 of the Boston Globe on 2/28/2001. � Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company. ================================================================= Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT FROM THE DESK OF: *Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends ================================================================= <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! 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