Immigration agency lost 100,000 files, GAO says

The Homeland Security Department?s Citizenship and Immigration Services clearly does not have its own house in order, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.
The bureau has lost more than 100,000 files in recent years on aliens applying for citizenship, asylum, or other immigrant status because of poor recordkeeping.
What?s more, CIS employees granted citizenship to 30,000 aliens in 2005 without first consulting the department?s so-called A-files, as required, to check case histories and other important background information. That represents about 4 percent of the 715,000 citizenship applications the agency approved that year. The A-files house all documents showing an alien?s interaction with CIS and other Homeland Security Department components. They contain papers such as residency applications, background checks, arrest warrants, and results of immigration hearings.
GAO said Nov. 28 that A-files are vital to deciding who is eligible for benefits such as citizenship. Other agencies rely on A-files as well. For example, GAO said, Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses them to decide when aliens should be deported.