Cornyn Introduces Immigration Amendment To Prevent Rampant Document Fraud

Press Release

Cornyn Introduces Immigration Amendment To Prevent Rampant Document Fraud

In an effort to close a critical loophole in the immigration bill under consideration by the Senate this week, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee's Immigration and Border Security subcommittee, today introduced an amendment that would help prevent the rampant document fraud that resulted from the 1986 amnesty bill. Sen. Cornyn's amendment would ensure that there are no restrictions on law enforcement's access to information filed by an alien who is denied the proposed "Z" visa status.

"Although this legislation does take some steps to prevent fraud, it still contains common-sense-defying rules that prevent the Department of Homeland Security and others from fully enforcing our immigration laws," Sen. Cornyn said today. "We cannot, and should not, compromise on the enforcement of our laws and the protection of our citizens. This amendment would close a gaping loophole and give our law enforcement a critical tool that they need to prevent document fraud and prosecute those who have broken our immigration laws."

Notably, the current immigration reform legislation does the following:

* Denies law enforcement access to information submitted by an alien who is denied "Z" visa status on non-criminal grounds (i.e., failure to show the alien was here before 1/1/07)
* Denies law enforcement access to information submitted by absconders who have not been physically removed from the U.S.
* Allows law enforcement access to information from "Z" applications ONLY in situations where the federal government is:
o conducting a criminal or national security investigation; or
o seeking to identify deceased individuals

As a result, the Department of Homeland Security is effectively prevented from doing its job to enforce the laws—because it is prohibited from using all of the information submitted with "Z" applications and sharing information from "Z" applications with the relevant law enforcement agencies—especially to identify and remove absconders.

Background:

The "confidentiality" provisions of the 1986 immigration bill were credited with causing widespread fraud and abuse. In fact, the New York Times reported in 1989 that this provision led to "one of most extensive immigration frauds ever perpetuated against the United States government." In 1999, then INS General Counsel Paul Virtue, under President Clinton, testified before the House that "[t]he confidentiality restrictions of law [in the 1986 amnesty] also prevented INS from pursuing cases of possible fraud detected during the application process."

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