In addition to the unfathomable immigration crisis that has jolted the nation during the Biden administration, millions of foreign nationals have been granted visas to enter the United States without proper vetting that includes in-person interviews and the collection of fingerprints similar to the Visa Express program used by three of the 9/11 hijackers. How could this occur more than two decades after the worst terrorist attack on American soil? Blame it on COVID-19, according to the explanation offered by the federal officials charged with safeguarding the nation.
The Department of State (DoS) issues visas to individuals seeking entry into the U.S. on a temporary basis for study, tourism, medical treatment, business, and temporary work. When the pandemic hit in 2020 the agency waived requirements to conduct consular interviews and collect fingerprints for some nonimmigrant visa applicants and 7.1 million got in without proper screening between 2020 and 2023, a recently published federal audit reveals. The agency said the waiver was issued to address staffing limitations and visa backlogs, according to the probe which was conducted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General. In its report, which includes multiple redactions to supposedly protect sensitive information, the watchdog refers to the enormous amount of visa waivers as an “urgent issue” that must be addressed.
The security lapse was created by the State Department when the task of screening the foreign visa holders was passed along to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the overwhelmed frontline agency charged with keeping terrorists and their weapons out of the U.S. during an unprecedented onslaught of illegal immigrants. Unbelievably the Inspector General found that CBP, which must balance facilitating lawful travel and trade with protecting land and seaports amid a deluge of migrants, was not informed which foreign visa holders arriving at the U.S. border were not properly vetted by the State Department. “CBP Office of Field Operations (OFO) port directors at some U.S. ports of entry had not been aware of the interview and fingerprint waiver program,” the report states, adding that it was not until March 2024 that the State Department began providing CBP with information on visa holders who were not screened. It is not clear why visa applicants are still not vetted abroad by consular offices even though the pandemic is no longer an issue.
Read Full Article Here…(judicialwatch.org)
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