The Center for Immigration Studies hosted a panel discussion to explore fraud and abuse in the asylum system. The erosion of controls designed to prevent fraud, and the resulting increase in approvals, have led to a 600 percent increase in applications since 2007.
This has serious implications for ordinary immigration control, as seen in South Texas, where there is a surge of Central Americans crossing illegally many of whom are claiming asylum. It also has national security implications; not only were the Boston Marathon Bombers granted asylum, but the Obama administration announced earlier this year that it was loosening restrictions on asylum seekers with ties to terrorism.
View the panel video: http://cis.org/Videos/Asylum-Panel-043014
View the panel transcript: http://cis.org/PanelTranscripts/Asylum-Panel-043014
View asylum report: http://www.cis.org/asylum-system-checks-balances-dismantled
The panel was held on Wednesday, April 30, 2014, at the National Press Club, 529 14th Street, NW, 13th Floor, Washington, DC.
Participants:
Michael Knowles: President, USCIS Local 1924 of the American Federation of Government Employees
Dan Cadman: Former INS / ICE official with 29 years of experience as an agent, supervisor, and manager and author of a new CIS report, "Asylum in the United States: How a finely tuned system of checks and balances has been effectively dismantled"
Jan Ting: Former INS executive overseeing asylum; currently Temple University Beasley law professor and CIS board member
Moderator:
Mark Krikorian, Executive Director, Center for Immigration Studies
Contact: Marguerite Telford
[email protected], 202-466-8185