Report: Admitting Migrants Without ID May Increase ‘Security Risks’

Federal agencies tasked with protecting U.S. borders have allowed illegal border crossers to enter the United States without adequate vetting and board domestic flights, a new Department of Homeland Security inspector general report found.

The 37-page document published on September 30 may be heavily redacted, but it paints a clear picture of the “potential risk” posed to Americans thanks to the willingness of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Transportation Security Agency to admit noncitizens without ID into the country.

“Under current processes, CBP and ICE cannot ensure they are keeping high-risk noncitizens without identification from entering the country. Additionally, TSA cannot ensure its vetting and screening procedures prevent high-risk noncitizens who may pose a threat to the flying public from boarding domestic flights,” the report states.

Federal law deems noncitizens without ID “not admissible into the country” and potentially “subject … to removal from the United States without further hearing or review.” According to Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari, however, CBP and ICE routinely use the law’s asylum and humanitarian exceptions to offer documentation to noncitizens without ID based solely on “self-reported biographical information.”

Neither agency, the report warned, “could determine how many of the millions of noncitizens seeking entry in the United States each year entered without identification and whose self-reported biographic information was accepted.”

Already, this system has paved the way for several of the dozens of illegal borders who appear on the terrorist watchlist to be permitted entry to the United States despite being considered “high-risk individuals.”

Cuffari noted that both CBP and ICE immigration officers “acknowledged the risks” of permitting the mass entry of ID-less foreigners into the country. “Yet neither CBP nor ICE conducted a comprehensive risk assessment for these noncitizens to assess the level of risk these individuals present and developed corresponding mitigation measures,” he added.

Instead, the DHS agencies’ willingness to offer documentation to foreigners based on self-reported information has potentially made millions of illegal border crossers eligible to pass TSA scrutiny and travel on domestic flights.

“Because of CBP’s and ICE’s process for inspecting and releasing noncitizens, TSA’s methods to screen for individuals who pose a threat would not necessarily prevent these individuals from boarding flights,” the report states.

TSA, allegedly aware of the security risks riddling CBP and ICE processing, conducted an internal assessment exploring the dangers. The agency’s findings about the shortcomings of screening tools like the CBP One app, however, were redacted.

“If CBP and ICE continue to allow noncitizens — whose identities immigration officers cannot confirm — to enter the country, they may inadvertently increase national security risks,” Cuffari warned.

The IG recommended that CBP and ICE “conduct a comprehensive analysis of the risks associated with releasing noncitizens into the country without identification and develop and implement policies and procedures to mitigate those risks.” He also asked the TSA to use its redacted assessment to “develop and implement policy and procedural changes needed to mitigate risks.”

DHS, however, did not concur with the report, claiming that it “cannot categorically detain all individuals subject to detention, including those inadmissible noncitizens without identification documents, due to several reasons including a lack of resources” including “bed space.”

The OIG report came to light shortly after ICE Deputy Director and Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director Patrick Lechleitner admitted in a letter that more than 647,000 noncitizens who have been convicted or suspected of homicide, sexual assault, and other violent crimes, along with various other offenses, are not in his agency’s custody.

Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News, and RealClearPolitics. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on X @jordanboydtx.