A report published this week by the federal Office of the Inspector General (OIG) revealed that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data regarding the premature issuance of expanded work permits is “unreliable.” The report follows an admission in May by the Obama Administration that expanded work permits were granted to more than 2,000 illegal immigrants under the president’s executive amnesty program in violation of a court order. The OIG concluded that, due to the condition of the administration’s data, they couldn’t determine how many such permits were issued.
“USCIS’ data is unreliable and we cannot validate the number of 3-year [Employment Authorization Documents] either produced or issued after the injunction,” the report concludes.
The report found that USCIS management “was not specific in its direction,” and “was mistaken in its assumptions about what IT staff was able to do.” Additionally, it found “a lack of understanding about the consequences of actions taken” related to the issuance of expanded work permits.
“Every step of the president’s plan has been entangled in error and bureaucracy, from incorrectly assuring a federal court that the Administration's plan was not being implemented, to belatedly admitting that it was, to lacking even a reliable count of how many expanded work permits were issued,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said. “If the Obama Administration can’t even provide reliable information to the court, how can it be trusted by the American people in this process moving forward?”