Posted on 04/21/2007 2:57:22 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Homeland Security Department officials have discovered widespread fraud in a religious worker visa program that allows thousands of foreigners a year to enter the U.S. and remain here.
Last year, the officials found that 33 percent of the visas that investigators examined were granted based on fraudulent information, USA Today reports.
"We found that the program had been compromised and the fraud rate was excessively high," Emilio Gonzalez, head of Citizen and Immigration Services at Homeland Security, told USA Today.
The visa program was established in 1990 to allow churches, synagogues and mosques to hire qualified foreigners to fill open jobs. Applicants for a religious visa must have a sponsor in the U.S.
Now Homeland Security plans to implement new regulations in an effort to prevent radical groups from using the visa program to get terrorists into the U.S.
The regulations will allow inspectors and Customs officials to investigate religious organizations sponsoring applicants to assure that they are legitimate.
They will also demand more proof from applicants that they are qualified for the job they're seeking, and require proof of employment after one year on the job before extending a visa.
© NewsMax 2007. All rights reserved.
PING!
lemme just take a wild guess at which religion is pracicing widespread fraud...hmm..something to do with goats perhaps, goats in burkas?
Gee, I wonder of these three religions is committing the fraud? Of course Homeland Security would never admit it.
Surprise Surprise!!!!!!
I’m not really sure why it is necessary to have a special religious visa anyway. It’s essentially the same thing as a work visa just for a specialty field. Why the special designation?
Umm. And the breakdown of the numbers, please? How many synagogues, ashrams, Coptic churches, Shinto temples, Santeria cults, what have you, are importing clergy?
And how many of the imports are for TROP?
Mrs VS
Darn Amish immigrants!
I'm not sure. I'm guessing the religious workers are compensated tax-free and need the special Visas as proof.
“Now Homeland Security plans to implement new regulations in an effort to prevent radical groups from using the visa program to get terrorists into the U.S.”
They (phony clerics) are already here, some for more than a decade.
It would be interesting to see a statistical breakdown of the numbers by religious interest — churches, synagogues and mosques.
Anyone wanna place bets on which major ‘religion’ might have the higher numbers?
[That information is buried so deep in bureaucracy that it will never see the light of day.]
Hmmmmmmm
A Christian writer who comes to the US a lot had his visa held up last year because he happened to mention he would be selling his book at the churches he spoke at.
Christian leaders come here to get financial aid to build churches, schools, hospitals, but they are not allowed to work or benefit financially while they are here...
I wonder how many of those visas were filled in by people who actually did receive offerings while they were here...
The concern is for the terrorist groups who benefit from the funds provided by religious groups, but innocent religous workers are included in the visa policies.
I wonder when we will see our first Amish al-Qaeda. He might be driving a suicide bomb buggy.
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