In a new, heavily redacted report, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General (IG) found that several federal agencies did not fully assess risks associated with releasing noncitizens without identification into the U.S. and allowing them to travel on domestic flights.
Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari said in the report that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) failed to ensure that high-risk noncitzens without ID are not entering the country and boarding domestic flights.
The IG said that according to federal law, “noncitizens without ID are not admissible into the country and “shall be detained,” but that CBP and ICE are permitted to release noncitizens into the U.S. based on various circumstances.
The report notes that CBP and ICE accept self-reported biographical information, which they use to give migrants immigration forms. The migrants are then able to get on domestic flights, even if they do not have identification.
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Immigrants line up at a remote U.S. Border Patrol processing center after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border on December 07, 2023 in Lukeville, Arizona. (John Moore/Getty Images)
The inspector general said he asked DHS for data on the number of noncitizens who did not have identification and were released into the U.S. between fiscal years 2021-23, but CBP and ICE were unable to provide the information because they did not log into their system whether or not noncitizens had identification.
The IG added that “immigration officers we interviewed acknowledged the risks of allowing noncitizens without ID into the country.”
When it came to the TSA, the report found it relied on data and background checks on noncitizens from CBP and ICE to determine if a noncitizen was a threat.
The report said if the data from CBP and ICE was incomplete,…