The incompetence of this woman is absolutely frightening!!!!

Islamic jihadists are on the march and 14 people were massacred in San Bernardino, yet DHS seems clueless about what is going on with potential threats to our security. Watch DHS testify before the National Security Subcommittee yesterday.
Posted by Congressman Ron DeSantis on Friday, December 11, 2015

Attack Highlights MINIMUM ENFORCEMENT of Visa Overstays

Although not specifically mentioned in the following article, it is important to note that the Federal Government's refusal to enforce the law on all types of visa overstays has resulted in millions of persons, many from high risk countries, living among us illegally.

Ben Ferro (Editor)

benferro@insideins.com

The WSJ Highlights More Immigration Visa Abuse Connected to San Bernardino Attacks

by Caroline May, breibart.com

The abuse of a popular visa program intended to allow foreigners to come to the U.S. for educational exchange purposes is a “sidelight” to the San Bernardino terrorist attacks that shows additional dysfunction in the nation’s immigration system, The Wall Street Journal reports.

As the paper recounts, Enrique Marquez Jr. — the man accused of purchasing the guns used in the San Bernardino attacks — has also been charged with entering into phony marriage in 2014 with a Russian woman named Mariya Chernykh.

Chernykh initially came to the U.S. on a J-1 visa, but remained in the U.S. illegally for six years after her three month visa expired. To date, she has not been charged in connection with the Dec. 2 attacks that killed 14 people.

There is no cap on the number of J-1 visas issued annually for finite stays and those who overstay their visas become part of the illegal immigrant population in the U.S., the Wall Street Journal reports. Some 40 to 50 percent of the illegal population are those who were granted legal access to the U.S. but overstayed their visas.

“The J-1 category is a huge, catchall category for all sorts of purposes, and it’s relatively easy for people to use,” Margaret Stock, an immigration expert, told the WSJ. “Some J-1s come here, they love America and they hear the misinformation that nothing is going to happen if they overstay.“

As the WSJ notes, while it is illegal to overstay one’s visa, the Department of Homeland Security rarely “tracks down” those who overstay their visa.

“Visa overstays are a long-standing challenge for immigration enforcement,” Marc Rosenblum, deputy director for U.S. immigration policy at the Migration Policy Institute, told the paper. “Overstay enforcement has never been a top priority, and completing a system to reliably identify and track overstayers remains years away.”

According to the WSJ, in fiscal year 2014 the U.S. issued 331,068 J-1 visas to applicants from 200 countries and rejected another 42,792 applications. The Journal notes that it is “unclear” how many J-1s are part of the visa overstay population.

As with other foreigners in the country illegally, the DHS doesn’t attempt to locate visa overstays unless a person has committed a crime or is in police custody, the spokeswoman said. Thus, it is unlikely that Ms. Chernykh would have raised any red flags.

Marquez’s marriage to Chernykh on November, 2014 made her eligible to apply for legal permanent residency, despite having overstayed her initial three-month visa.

A day after the attack, she was due at a DHS office in Southern California for a green-card interview, according to law-enforcement officials. Officials wouldn’t comment on whether she might face any charges or deportation because of the continuing investigation.

The Immigration Debate: Today’s Issues

Surge at southern border sparks debate across U.S.

By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Tribune Newspapers

   HOUSTON — The southern border has become a flashpoint in recent weeks as Syrian families, along with Cuban and Central American migrants, have arrived to seek asylum. At the same time, the president’s executive action programs to provide temporary relief for up to 5 million immigrants have ignited a heated national debate. Here is some background on today’s immigration issues.

   Q: How many Syrians have arrived at the southern border seeking asylum?

   A: It depends on whom you ask. Several Syrian families have arrived at the southern border in recent months, seeking asylum, but the administration has delayed releasing complete figures. According to a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman, only five Syrians were stopped by Border Patrol nationwide in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, with 14 the previous year and two the year before that. But U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, whose South Texas district includes Laredo, said there actually were more than 80 Syrians apprehended at the border last year.

   Q: Has there been an influx of Cuban migrants?

   A: There was a 44 percent increase in the number of Cubans arriving at U.S. ports of entry in the year that ended Sept. 30, 43,159 compared with 24,278 the year before, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. While Cuban migration to the U.S. has increased annually since 2009, officials conceded that the recent jump significantly exceeds the average increase in the last six years.

   Q: What’s driving the upswing in Cuban immigrants?

   A: Cuban migrants who recently entered Texas through Laredo told Tribune Newspapers that they fled after the U.S. and Cuba announced last December the beginning of a process to normalize relations. The change, migrants feared, would mean the end of the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, which allows Cubans who make it to the U.S. to stay and work legally. Their fears appear unjustified in the short term. Secretary of State John Kerry said last summer that he had no intention of changing the policy.

   Q: Last year, President Barack Obama said Central American children and families flooding the border had created a “humanitarian crisis.” What is happening now?

   A: There has been a new surge this fall in Central American families and unaccompanied children arriving at the southern border, according to Customs and Border Protection figures. In October and November , the number of families intercepted there nearly tripled to 12,505 compared with the same period last year, while the number of unaccompanied children more than doubled to 10,588.

   Q: Where are the unaccompanied minors coming from?

   A: Most travel from Guatemala and El Salvador.

   Q: What is the status of Obama’s proposal to give temporary legal status to up to 5 million immigrants now in the U.S.?

   A: The programs, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, would not apply to recent arrivals, such as the Central American families, Cubans or Syrians stopped at the border recently. The programs were designed to allow children brought to the country by their parents, or parents of U.S. citizens or resident children, to stay in the U.S. Texas, joined by 25 states, sued to block the programs, arguing that they create an undue burden including associated costs, such as the cost of issuing immigrants driver’s licenses. Texas attorneys asked for a 30-day extension until Jan. 20 to respond because of a heavy workload. On Dec. 8, the court denied Texas’ request and granted an eight-day delay instead. 

Ben Ferro (Editor)

benferro@insideins.com

On the Question of Refugee Vetting

You're being lied to and perhaps a bit naive if you believe that security vetting of Middle Eastern refugees is meaningful. Here's why:

First: The claim by the government that the security vetting process of refugees often takes two years and, therefore, should be seen as thorough and complete is pure fiction. The fact is that while the process often is lengthy, its duration has little or nothing to do with security or background checks. The greatest delays are generated by "cultural training" and other administrative functions conducted by community organizations. (These organizations are under the umbrella of the State Department and are handsomely compensated for these services)    

Second: True security vetting is dependent in large part on the exchange of information between governmental law enforcement organizations and from informants in home countries. Where traditional governments are in disarray or no longer even exist and where sources in country are extremely limited as is the case in most of the refugee providing countries, vetting is at best a crap shoot. What is left in the vetting process are "camp sources" and the interviews with the applicants.

In sum, without criminal records and in country source information, vetting is a misnomer for "best available." 

Ben Ferro (editor)

benferro@insideins.com

(Ben Ferro served for six years as the Justice Department's Immigration Director at Embassy Rome with responsibility for all refugee processing of persons from the then Soviet Union, the Middle Eastern countries, as well as those refugees fleeing war torn areas in Africa. During Mr. Ferro's tenure, tens of thousands of persons were processed each year through INS Rome operations.)

Enough is Enough!

This is hypocrisy of the highest order. Here's the NY Times suggesting that Immigration requirements should be tightened for intending female spouses of US Citizens. This is the same organization that whined loudly that we shouldn't treat women and children with the same restrictions when considering tightening the Refugee and Visa Waiver Programs for persons coming our of Syria. Would the Times want the U.S. to tighten up Visa requirements of intending female spouses coming instead from their historically political support communities? I think not.

Ben Ferro (Editor, www.insideins.com)

benferro@insideins.com

For Woman in Shooting, Easy Passage Through U.S. Visa Process

By Julia Preston, The New York Times

The woman involved in the shootings in San Bernardino, Calif., on Wednesday passed through two rounds of criminal and national security background checks as she obtained a “fiancé visa” and later a resident green card to live in the United States, federal officials said.

Those checks turned up no negative information about the woman, Tashfeen Malik, a federal official said Friday. But after the F.B.I. said Friday that it was investigating the shootings as an act of terrorism — Ms. Malik pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in a Facebook post the day of the attack — officials were scouring her immigration record to see if there were any revealing details they might have missed.

“There was nothing she presented that would have been flagged,” a federal official said, speaking anonymously to discuss a fast-moving investigation involving several federal agencies. But, he said, “We’re going back right now and double-checking and looking over everyone’s shoulder who was involved.”

The information that Ms. Malik came to live in this country legally has heightened concern about security reviews in the immigration system. It has also renewed a tense debate in Washington, particularly after the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris provoked a furor in Congress and among state governments about the vetting of refugees from Syria and Iraq.

On Thursday, two Republican senators, Ted Cruz of Texas, who is running for president, and Jeff Sessions of Alabama, demanded that the Obama administration provide them with detailed information on the immigration history of Ms. Malik, who came to the United States and married Syed Rizwan Farook, an American citizen whom officials have identified as her partner in Wednesday’s shooting that killed 14 people and injured 21.

Ms. Malik, 29, was granted a K-1 visa, also known as the fiancé visa, in Pakistan in July 2014, the officials said, and she traveled to the United States that month. The review process for a K-1 visa is “not as strict” as the vetting for refugees, Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman said. But immigration officials said the K-1 review was more extensive than the vetting of a foreigner who planned to only visit. Mr. Earnest said Obama administration officials were examining Ms. Malik’s journey to this country to see if any policies should be changed.

As a routine part of the visa and green card applications, Ms. Malik gave fingerprints and other identifying information, which were passed twice through background checks using the State Department’s watch lists and the immigration, counterterror and criminal databases at the Department of Homeland Security and at the F.B.I.

For the K-1 visa, Mr. Farook, 28, initiated the application to bring in his fiancée, who provided a Pakistani passport. Adhering to standard procedure for the K-1 visa, Ms. Malik had to demonstrate to State Department consular officials in Pakistan that their relationship was legitimate, and that she and Mr. Farook intended to marry in the United States within 90 days after she received the visa. Mr. Farook had to prove that he and Ms. Malik had met in person at least once in the previous two years, typically done by providing photos showing them together, personal messages and travel reservations. After the 90-day period, a K-1 visa expires and cannot be renewed.

As part of that review, Ms. Malik had a personal interview with a consular officer in Pakistan, federal officials said.

The couple came to the country in July 2014 on a flight that originated in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, two federal officials said. According to a certificate obtained by The Associated Press, the two were married in Riverside County, Calif., in August 2014, within the 90-day time limit.

On Sept. 30, 2014, Mr. Farook applied for a green card to make Ms. Malik a permanent resident, based on her marriage to an American citizen. There is no limit on the number of green cards available to spouses of citizens, so the process generally moves quickly.

Since green cards are granted by a different agency, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, Ms. Malik had to undergo more background checks, probably providing a new set of fingerprints, officials said.

It is routine for an officer from the citizenship agency to interview both spouses, but officials there could not confirm that Ms. Malik was interviewed, citing privacy concerns. Under the standard procedure, the couple would have had to provide documents and undergo questioning, primarily to persuade immigration officers their marriage was not fraudulent. Typically the officer would interview the spouses separately, often asking highly personal questions about foods or pastimes the other spouse enjoyed or other intimate details, to make sure the immigrant and the spouse lived together.

Ms. Malik received a conditional green card in July 2015, officials said. After two years, the couple would have had to apply again to get a regular green card, showing they were still married. Both were killed in a shootout with police on Wednesday, leaving behind a 6-month-old daughter.

San Bernardino Violence

Terrorism??

The White House says "Too early to tell"

Take your pick, the White House or the facts

The facts from  law enforcement:

·       Subject was in touch with terror suspect abroad

·       Subject visited Pakistan in 2014

·       "This was not a workplace argument" Local PD

·       Subjects' home had bomb making tools and devices

·       Subjects' vehicle contained hundreds of rounds of ammunition

·       Subjects' home had 12 assembled pipe bombs 

Ben Ferro says:: Are you blind?

Benferro@insideins.com

Update:

FBI Investigates Shootings as Terrorism