Fox Guarding The Henhouse?
(All emphases by Always On Watch)
The following information comes from the April 6, 2006 edition of the Washingon Times:
"An Iraqi-born U.S. citizen suspected of being a foreign intelligence agent was employed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to rule on asylum applications, including those from unfriendly Middle Eastern nations, according to documents obtained from Congress by The Washington Times.Doesn't the above make you feel secure?
"Michael J. Maxwell, the former head of the Office of Security and Investigations at USCIS, is expected to testify about the Iraqi case and other breakdowns at the agency to a House subcommittee today.
" Mr. Maxwell will tell legislators that the immigration system is being used by enemy governments to place agents in the United States.
"The suspected agent, whose name has not been released, judged 180 asylum applications while at USCIS, the agency that also rules on green cards, citizenship and employment authorization. ...
"'The immigration system as a whole is so broken that our adversaries can game it,' Mr. Maxwell told The Times when asked about the documents this week. 'I can assure you they're using it against us; they can with impunity.'
"His testimony comes as the Senate debates whether to enact a guest-worker program that would allow current illegal aliens and future foreign workers a new path to citizenship....
"The man has since left USCIS and the United States so Mr. Maxwell closed his investigation. But Mr. Maxwell said that despite his findings, USCIS doesn't even have the ability to go back and see whether any of the 180 cases the former employee approved should be revoked.
"'With no internal audit function at CIS, we don't know who he let into this country,' Mr. Maxwell said.
posted by Always On Watch @ 4/06/2006 06:50:00 AM
57 comments
57 Comments:
AOW, I feel about as secure as a long tailed cat in a room full of Rocking Chairs.
Sheesh! What will it take to wake this country up? Another 9/11?
GM,
Yep.
Our government knows as much about controlling immigration as a hog knows about Christmas.
Amazing when you consider the implications discovered following 9/11.
A Country with relatively open borders and a World trader, needs to maintain control of who is coming and going. If legal people are watched and tracked, surely illegals should be doubley so.
I can't believe it, OH YES, I CAN. Each day I wake up to another new stupidity executed by the leaders of this country! Thanks for sharing. I may post this, or part of it at Right Truth, and a link back to you.
Would it be possible for our government to possibly drop the ball on any more issues? It's getting rather ridiculous. Strike that, it is already ridiculous.
Yes, it will take something like 9-11. The people of this country have very short memories and refuse to learn from history. Look how many people support socialism when it's failed EVERY single time it's tried?
The outrages, slips, lapses of intelligence, and policy debacles will continue.
I believe they have to.
Geez . . . I wonder why I'm not surprised. Wasn't it also OUR government who let the hijackers in to the USA to begin with? Yeah, our State Department is doing one hellava job.
The story about the DHS Undersecretary who was caught online for pedophilia and sent his photo WITH his DHS badge visible really comforted me. Ignoring the pedophilia issue, this official who is part of Homeland Security sends out a photo with his badge visible????? This maroon who is in the TSA (calling Norman Mineta....) doesn't have a clue. I'm so comforted by the able officials at DHS. Hello Julie Meyers another bureaurocrat with no military or law enforcement background gets appointed to DHS. But she does have family connections and is "another" attorney.
I’m sure we didn’t want to offend Muslim sensibilities by actually considering if the Iraqi-born case worker was loyal to America.
Americans would like to be considerate of those truly in need of asylum. But having lost all confidence in our government, can we but demand a complete termination of all asylum requests? Until the government can assure us that they can judge each case appropriately, is there any other alternative?
GM Roper,
"Sheesh! What will it take to wake this country up? Another 9/11?"
Have to agree with AOW - Yup. And a lot of us think that these days. Don't you just love it that the government is growing and taking over the responsibility for our safety? Aren't they doing a great job?
Debbie,
"... another new stupidity executed by the leaders of this country!"
Yup.
Ogre,
Re: Socialism failing "EVERY single time it's tried?"
Yup. Another government intervention. Of course, it's always the same ol' same ol'..."It's a wonderful idea, it's just that it hasn't been carried out the way it should be because people won't cooperate!"
Pim's,
"...it is already ridiculous."
And it's BEEN ridiculous for a very long time.
Mussolini,
"The outrages, slips, lapses of intelligence, and policy debacles will continue."
They are really slow learners.
Mustang,
"...our State Department is doing one hellava job."
Yeah...it's absolutely chock full of people who "want to be liked" more than they want to represent the best interests of their country. And don't forget, like all the politicians, journalists, educators etc., they are products of a school system where the goal is not to produce a thinking, educated population, but a compliant one.
Toni,
"But she does have family connections..."
Yeah... This is the little game "they" can play when the country is not in danger; given the way "they" have been dysfuntioning lately, "they" must think everything's fine and dandy.
Keep the points of entry under our control? Maintain ownership of strategic infrastructure? Stop sending billions of dollars to Hamas and others who have sworn to kill us?
Why, that would be just plain UNFRIENDLY!
BTW, I thing that by now, an awful lot of us are somewhere between confused and PO'd at the way our bloated, ineffective, ridiculous, what-me-worry government is failing us.
A few months ago, a guy named Harry Browne, author of a highly readable book called "Why Government Doesn't Work" died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gherig's Disease - horrible, absolutely horrible).
Anyway, he was the Libertarian candidate for president X 3; I left the Libertarian Party a lot of years ago because it pushed the open border thing, but everything else in the book is very, very worth while.
It's doubtless available cheap in used book stores, and if you want some insight into why we are all complaining about the kind of job our protectors are doing, this is a great read. If you like John Stossel at all, you'll love this book.
It's greatest utility will be to give you loads and loads of ammunition.
Not suprising really. I have found immigration departments to be full of people who can't speak english.
This story as silly as it may be, comes as no shock what so ever.
Ogre's right..we're in a mess and Tacredo is the only one who knows it and is willing to do something authentic about it.
Perhaps we should GRANT ASYLUM to our entire immigration service. Then, we would be obligated to move them all to that asylum and lock the door, a la forensic psychiatry ward style. Then, we could start over and pick people who can actually find their derrieres with both hands and can still in adulthood tell right from wrong, and good from bad, and want to be accountable. So far, only Tancredo is making sense about this stuff like an American should.
Is it really surprising that Uncle Sam let this happen?
After all, this is the same government that trained the 911 hijackers at 'secure' military bases in Alabama and elsewhere on Sam's Plantation.
They need these sorts of patsys to create cover for their domestic terrorist operations. This creates a cover so that when the next attack occurs, it can be put off on someone else.
What is Tancredo doing about improving record keeping and intelligence within the Homeland Security Department?
Wheve known our agencies were disfunctional for decades and we let the Chucklenuts Administration off the hook when the Homeland Security Department was formed.
What the hell is Tancredo doing about the malfunctions in INS, FBI and CIA? All he's doing is powdering your collective ass. When are you people going to figure out that you've been had? There isn't going to be immigration reform. Businesses are making too much money of illegals. This is part of the full Ayn Rand hell that's going to shove a plank up your collective butt.
When you all figure out that we are not going to have any meaningful reform until we get the campaign money out of the system you might start making some sense.
Meanwhile, keep reading the Washington Times, they were the ones that ran with the story that the French were giving passports to Hussein's top command and moving them into Syria. The Reverend Moon just leads you clowns around by the nose.
We are becoming a sorry frakin' people.
Ducky,
It's good to read the Times, actually. Yesterday they had an important story about oil contracts between Russia and Iraq that nobody else, including the Russian media, said much about.
Don't blow it off too easily. Sometimes their loony perspective is actually helpful from an information gathering perspective.
I still hold that intelligence "failures" like this are not failures at all. They're the necessary steps to creating patsys.
Sorry, Ducky, but open borders is a Democratic platform since they hope the new immigrants (or their children) will vote Democratic when they become citizens. Republicans, for the most part, are just cowards who are afraid of losing a few votes in the short run.
There may be a few politicians who want to secure the borders and limit immigration to non-Islamic countries and even then in moderation. There may be but I haven't found them yet.
jason, get you're goddamn head out of your ass. Illegals are coming for two reasons.
1. Business (rethug supporters) make a buck off them and and illegals assist in breaking unions and advancing the progress of the full Ayn Rand. They are necessary for you to realize your economic dreams.
2. We have not been able to pressure Mexico into cleaning up its own corruption and breaking down its oligarchy. The same oligarchy you want to see in America with your libertarian clap trap.
Then you go on with your "non Islamic" immigration. There you go pissing your diapers every time you see a galabeya.
You have to be ex-military. I can't imagine how else you developed such tunnel vision and such a warped world view.
"Freedom and culture". Can you give me twenty five words or less about what this "culture" is that your defending? I say its been degraded and turned us into nothing but a nation of schmucks looking to buy cheap crap at Walmart. No creativity, no spirituality, no compassion...what do you say?
I don't understand why the government cannot go back and check out the 180 individuals who received documents. There has to be a paper/computer trail. The way these bureaucracies work, everything is done in triplicate and with redundancy. It's not like the applications could just be lost.
This story raises more questions than answers.
How did the suspected agent even get the job?
Who hired him?
Our ineptness is risking the lives of our citizens.
Ducky,
You're totally deluded if you think this is a Dem/Repub thing or that Repubs are into the money people and Dems are for the common man.
Harry Reid has been one of the most vile racists around on this subject.
Bill Clinton has more to do with the devastation to Mexico's economy than anyone else on earth.
He put NAFTA into play. Once it was up and running, farmers got thrown off their land and agribusiness came in to steal it... just like Marx talked about.
Crime Bill Clinton's Treasury Department (led by Goldman Sachs thug Robert Rubin) smashed Mexico with their structural adjustment and debt-leverage imperialist policies, too, which didn't help matters.
AC,
Because they need patsies they can call alCIAda.
That's why.
John Brown needs to take a lesson. The Mexican oligarchy (aka The Full Ayn Rand) was in place long before Clinton.
Mexico has been disfunctional throughout most of its history. What could we smash? It's never been anything except a libertarian hellhole.
Ducky is lucid, today.
Pay attention because this is where you'll find he is right.
Preach on, troll-master.
Ducky said..."Freedom and culture". Can you give me twenty five words or less about what this "culture" is that your defending? I say its been degraded and turned us into nothing but a nation of schmucks looking to buy cheap crap at Walmart. No creativity, no spirituality, no compassion...what do you say?
Ducky...You're from Arkansas?
George Bush Sr. put NAFTA into play. Clinton was just dumb enough to ratify it.
I don't deny that.
I'm saying that the flood of immigrants over the last decade or so has nothing to do with the oligarchy in Mexico and everything to do with 'free trade' policies of Crime Bill Clinton and his clique of neoliberal bankers.
If you take away a person's land and livelyhood, of course they're going to go where they can find work.
You've constructed a false dichotomy.
Both parties have one constituency: big capital. Their policies reflect the needs of big capital - the need to exploit cheap labor for profit.
Fair point, IranWatch.
But he wasn't being dumb when he stabbed big labor in the back. He was just serving his master.
Of course illegals come here for the economic opportunity. Can you blame them? But the Democratic Party is the major obstacle to getting anything done about it. Republicans are weak as well because they are split with some siding with the Democrats.
Why should we pressure Mexico to do anything? We don’t run their show. You imperialist SOB, leave Mexico to deal with their own problem. And by the way, they don’t have laissez-faire capitalism; they have massive government controls & regulations, limited property rights, and a very poor excuse for a free market.
We need to secure our borders, period.
That was in response to Ducky's post.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Both parties have one constituency: big capital. Their policies reflect the needs of big capital - the need to exploit cheap labor for profit.
Sad but true. I don't see any change coming soon.
From my article about Grover Norquist:
“It now appears that Mr. Norquist’s help has extended beyond facilitating high-level access and influence for various Muslim-American and Arab-American entities with troubling ties to, or at least sympathy for, radical Islamofascists – and even terrorists. Reportedly, his association also helped someone affiliated with such a group to gain a political appointment to an exceedingly sensitive post: ‘policy director’ of the Department of Homeland Security’s Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection division...."
Full article about Faisal Gill here.
Just to clarify...The above italics relate to Faisal Gill, not to the ICE/Iraqi who was the subject of this posting.
AOW,
I discovered rather early that it is the public service, which runs most of our democracies.
Politicians in OZ are too afraid to put the foot down as screams of indignation from the PS would hit the sky.
Interference with the democratic process is the scarecrow.
Employment according to equal opportunity rules, everything is done according to procedures even the most life threatening situations (nothing is left for so called common sense and initiative).
Unless there is a major misconduct and therefore an excuse to reshuffle a department nothing changes much regardless of political leanings of consecutive governments.
Ducky,
Wouldn't you feel better if you had your own blog? You could express yourself instead of just reacting, or is trolling more rewarding than reaching out?
Mexico has a lower unemployment rate than the United States (and ours is pretty frickin' low, compared to the rest of the world).
Mexicans are coming to America to escape corruption and a quasi-totalitarian police state.
I don't see any hordes flooding Mexico. Of course, any visit there requires constant vigilance to avoid Montezuma's Revenge.
Ducky's example of Mexico is of libertarianism at its extreme. Power has been gathered and wealth accumulated so heavily on the top end that the wealthy are nobility in practice, if not fact.
The common Mexican has no hope of breaking this barrier, thus comes here.
I see more to it than this, but he is correct on that basic assumption.
Mussolini,
Not all the Mexican immigrants coming here are interested in getting a better life. That is not to say that Mexico doesn't cause many to flee the broken society there.
Yes, that is my thesis mussolini. I do believe that libertarianism, laissez-faire, randoid objectivism lead to that top heavy structure.
I am wrong to lump them all in a bundle, no doubt but I seldom read libertarians discussing how to avoid the concentration of wealth and the problems of a winner-take-all competitive system.
AOW, of course you can find exceptions but I think the working thesis that mexicans have little opportunity and will go where they can find it is a good working hypothesis. It frames this issue.
Should we "get tough" on immigration and hope that will force change in Mexican government? I think so. I'd start by telling employers that there is a 5000 fine for each illegal and then do a green card sweep at ever Dunkin' Donuts in town. You could shake things up pretty quickly.
My thoughts on immigration reform here exactly, Ducky.
The Mexican government problem is not one that will change with "reform" measures. The culture of bribery and corruption is so prevalent that only a complete revolution would rectify the problem. I don't see that happening.
I hold forth my solution yet again: build a wall to create chokepoints. Screen each and every single Mexican coming across the border to keep out criminals - but otherwise let them all in with a work-for-citizenship program. No welfare benefits available to illegals, except what private charities might offer.
I think America would do well taking as many Mexicans that want to come for the American dream as want to come.
Draining Mexico of its "slaves" with an open immigration program might very well force a change.
I'm not too far from that position mussolini. However, I'm not sure that immigrants do in fact take jobs that "nobody wants". Rather aI think they are used primarily to depress wages and benefits (I'm a socialist after all).
We do agree that the Mexican government is a shitpit. I wonder why Bush can't put in a few well chosen words to at least acknowledge twhat we all should know.
When labor statistics show that illegals have certain jobs, none of the percentages are ever 100%.
In fact, most of the %s are below 50 - meaning that Americans do hold jobs we commonly hear are "beneath us."
I agree. I feel the slap-happy look-the-other-way attitude of the republican hierarchy is a tawdry way of reducing wages.
Shameful.
Duck,
mexicans have little opportunity and will go where they can find it
The Mexican Constitution encourages the migration, both ways. You can find a copy of the document in English online, I think.
I suspect that we might have more exceptions to the-immigrants-work-hard rule than previously imagined.
Mussolini,
No welfare benefits available to illegals, except what private charities might offer.
I'm for that!
Kevin,
I've frequently encouraged Duck to get his own blog.
This professed lack of a paper trail astounds me. I've never known any government operation NOT to have the paper trail.
I'd take Mussolini's plan further. He says no welfare benefits available to illegals, except what private charities might offer, where I would say "no welfare benefits available to anybody, ever, except what private charities might offer."
There's plenty of free bugs to eat.
If people had to eat bugs or work, I think most would make the choice to work. Most.
"He who does not work does not eat."
I like "he who does not work eats bugs" better. But, he'll have to catch his own bugs.
Mr. Beamish,
Yes, that is better. I was more-or-less quoting Scripture.
Locusts and honey?
I have a friend who enjoys cicadas. He gorges himself every time the 17-year type come around. Sautees them in garlic sauce.
Once this fellow was sitting on my front porch, and a yellow jacket landed on him. He swatted it, pulled the stinger out, and ate it. I couldn't believe my eyes!
My friend's motto: "Good enough for John the Baptist--good enough for me."
Well, I wouldn't eat a bug unless I had no other option. Life is all about collecting options.
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