First on Fox: The Biden administration A top U.S. senator is facing pressure to release a completely unredacted national surveillance report detailing how authorities allowed immigrants to enter the U.S. without identification and allowed them to travel on domestic flights.
“These new findings in the DHS OIG report further illustrate the complete failure of the Biden-Harris Administration leadership to secure our borders and adequately track and identify noncitizens entering the United States,” said DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas . “These failures place our national security at grave risk.”
Grassley wrote about a report from the DHS Office of Inspector General that concluded that DHS agencies allowed noncitizens to enter the United States and board flights without verifying their identities.
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Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa (Photo by Susan Walsh/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
The report concluded that CBP and ICE accept self-reported biographical information, which they use to provide Immigrant Immigration Forms. Migrants can then board domestic flights even if they do not have identification.
The IG added that “in our interviews, immigration officials recognized the risks of allowing noncitizens into the country without ID.”
Several parts of the report were heavily redacted, especially when the TSA assessed the risks of using the CBP One mobile app as a screening tool.
D Assessment results Not disclosed in the report.
“This is another example of the Biden-Harris DHS’s failure to be transparent with Congress and the American people,” Grassley said. “These reviews raise important questions about what the administration is trying to hide about the potential risks to our national security that result from the use of the CBP ONE app and program.”
Grassley is seeking a complete, unredacted copy of the report, as well as information on how many noncitizens were allowed to enter the U.S. without verifying their identity, how many were high risk and how many were allowed to fly on domestic flights.
DHS rejected the report, calling its conclusions flawed.
“The OIG report contains distortions, lacks important context, and misrepresents the Department's efforts to verify the identities of noncitizens seeking to enter the United States and to screen noncitizens flying domestically,” the agency said in response. “The OIG report does not reflect the policy and procedural updates that DHS implemented this year to improve security in accordance with the normal TSA risk assessment process.”
The agency said the check is a spot check, with all individuals checked against multiple databases, including Interpol notices and terrorism watch lists.
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The agency said all travelers, including immigrants, must present an acceptable form of identification to enter secure areas of the airport. Those without identification are subject to additional screening.
“If non-citizens do not have acceptable identification and do not submit facial recognition technology, they will be denied entry into airport security areas and denied boarding. If the TSA is unable to match their identity to DHS records, they will also be denied entry to the airport. security areas and will be denied boarding,” the agency said.
It also emphasized that CBP One and DHS records are not considered acceptable forms of identification, and facial recognition performed through the app is separate from the appointment scheduling function.
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But the report echoes recent concerns among Republicans about the entry of immigrants into the United States and whether testing is effective. Several lawmakers have repeatedly expressed concern about immigrants boarding planes without identification and being allowed into the US.
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“This administration’s actions – and lack thereof – speak for themselves: President Biden and Vice President Harris do not care about enforcing our laws that say it is illegal for non-citizens to enter our country without proper identification.” , Grassley said in a statement to Fox News Digital. . “The findings of this independent surveillance report are yet another reminder that America is less safe from its surveillance. My vigilance demands concrete answers about what DHS is doing to correct lax screening practices that put people in danger.”
Fox News' Bill Melugin and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
