Fox's first appearance: The Biden administration is pushing the U.S. to allow a full, unredacted internal oversight report detailing how authorities released migrants into the U.S. without identification and allowed them to travel on domestic flights. He is facing pressure from powerful senators.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said, “These new findings in the DHS OIG report support the Biden-Harris administration's leadership in securing our borders and properly vetting and identifying noncitizens entering the United States. This further demonstrates the complete failure of the force,” the letter said. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. “These failures put our national security at serious risk.”
Mr. Grassley wrote regarding a DHS Office of Inspector General report that found that DHS agencies are allowing noncitizens to enter the United States and board planes without background checks.
Fed officials allow undocumented noncitizens to enter the country and board domestic flights: DHS OIG report
Sen. Chuck Grassley, Republican, Iowa (Photo by Susan Walsh/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
The report found that CBP and ICE accept self-reported background information when providing immigration documents to immigrants. This will allow immigrants to board domestic flights without having to have ID.
The IG added, “Immigration officials we interviewed acknowledged the risks of allowing undocumented noncitizens into the country.”
Several parts of the report were heavily redacted, particularly where TSA conducted an assessment of the risks of using the CBP One mobile phone app as a screening tool.
Evaluation results are not disclosed in the report.
“This is another example of the Biden-Harris DHS failure to be transparent with Congress and the American people,” Grassley said. “These redactions raise serious questions about what the administration is trying to hide about the potential risks to national security posed by the use of the CBP One app and program.”
Mr. Grassley provided a complete, unredacted copy of the report, as well as information on how many noncitizens were allowed into the United States without background checks, how many were high-risk, and who were allowed to board domestic flights. I'm looking for information about some people.
DHS has pushed back against the report, calling its conclusions inaccurate.
“OIG's report contains inaccuracies and lacks important context, and the department's efforts to identify noncitizens seeking entry to the United States and screen noncitizens traveling domestically. “This is misleading,” the authorities responded. “The OIG's report also does not reflect updates to policies and procedures that DHS has implemented this year to improve safety in accordance with TSA's normal risk assessment process.”
The agency said the tests are point-in-time and all individuals are checked against multiple databases, including Interpol notifications and terrorist watchlists.
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The agency says all travelers, including immigrants, must present an acceptable form of identification to enter secure areas of the airport. If you do not have an ID, there will be an additional screening.
“If non-nationals do not have acceptable identification and do not comply with facial recognition technology, they will be denied entry to secure areas of the airport and denied boarding. TSA will not be able to match their identity to DHS records. If so, they will also be denied entry to a secure area of the airport and denied boarding,” the official said.
It also emphasized that CBP One and DHS records are not considered acceptable forms of identification and that facial recognition performed using the app is separate from the appointment scheduling feature.
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But the report shows that Republicans have recently become concerned about the entry of immigrants into the United States and whether the checks being conducted are effective. Several members of Congress have repeatedly raised concerns about immigrants boarding planes without identification and who may be released into the United States.
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“The actions, or lack thereof, of this administration speak volumes. President Biden and Vice President Harris are willing to enforce our laws that make it illegal for noncitizens to enter our country without proper identification. “No,” Grassley said in a statement to FOX News Digital. “The findings of this independent watchdog report are yet another reminder that America is becoming less safe on their watch. We want concrete answers about what the Department of Homeland Security is doing to correct this.”
Fox News' Bill Melugin and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
