Inspector General office urges DHS to improve vetting and screening of asylum seekers

The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) office of the Inspector General claimed in a report released Tuesday that the department needed to improve its screening and vetting systems of asylum seekers.

The report found multiple issues, including inconsistencies in the way U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents inspected travelers arriving in vehicles at land ports of entry, and that it failed to have proper technology to perform biometric matching for those arriving by land.

"The Department of Homeland Security's technology, procedures, and coordination were not fully effective to screen and vet non citizens applying for admission into the United States or asylum seekers whose asylum applications were pending for an extended period," the office said in a news release, shared with Just The News. "Although [CBP] deployed new technologies to enhance traveler screening, it could not access all Federal data necessary to enable complete screening and vetting of noncitizens seeking admission into the United States."

The report also found the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) "did not always complete timely screenings of more than 400,000 affirmative asylum applicants who filed for asylum between October 2017 and March 2023."

The report included five recommendations, including improving systems such as the Automated Biometric Identification System, and developing and implementing a plan to automate security checks for asylum applicants, in conjunction with the director of the USCIS.

The department has agreed to all five recommendations, according to the inspector general's office.