Facing backlog, Feds ease path to green card

Marisa Taylor
McClatchy Newspapers
Feb. 11, 2008 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON - In a major policy shift aimed at reducing a ballooning immigration backlog, the Department of Homeland Security is preparing to grant permanent residency to tens of thousands of applicants before the FBI completes a required background check.

Those eligible are immigrants whose fingerprints have cleared the FBI database of criminal convictions and arrests but whose names have not yet cleared the FBI's criminal or intelligence files after six months of waiting.

The immigrants who are granted permanent status, more commonly known as getting their green cards, will be expected eventually to clear the FBI's name check. If they don't, their legal status will be revoked and they'll be deported.

The decision to issue green cards demonstrates how federal agencies are struggling to keep up with surging immigration applications while applying stringent post-Sept. 11 background checks.

About 150,000 green card and naturalization applicants have been delayed by the FBI name check, with 30,000 held up more than three years.

_____

How to clear an immigration backlog: Skip the background checks!

By Michelle Malkin • February 11, 2008 10:49 AM

McClatchy reporter James Asher has a new piece out detailing how DHS is clearing massive application backlogs by skipping the background checks. Before we get into the meat of that story, let me refresh your memories about a few things.

During the shamnesty debacle, we were told to shut up about our national security concerns because McCain and company were going to guarantee that all illegal alien guest-workers would get thorough background checks. We were told to calm down about the proposal because there was nothing to worry about. But the background check process was a fraud.