During
testimony before the US Senate, I called it the largest fraud in the history of the US immigration system. In fact, it is likely the first $1 billion fraud—a theft of processing fees for services never rendered. Even Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana
told me at the hearing that he was shocked it was happening.
It is happening, and it is shocking.Via
Common Dreams:
An immigration researcher at the Cato Institute found that the Trump administration is "raking in billions of dollars in immigration fees and not providing the adjudications that applicants are entitled to."
A report published last week by the Cato Institute, written by director of immigration studies David J. Bier, found that the State Department and Department of Homeland Security were receiving millions of applications from immigrants whom Trump has made ineligible for legal status and pocketing the fees without ever processing the requests.
"The US government collected over $1 billion in immigration fees then refused to process the applications," said Austin Kocher, a fellow at Immigration Lab and a professor at Newhouse and Syracuse University in a social media
post breaking down the report on Monday. "No denials. No refunds. Just silence."
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Before this gets buried under the news about the ground invasion of Iran, which could happen as soon as this weekend, I thought I'd share this story about the government defrauding visa seekers en masse.
BTW, No Kings 3 is this Saturday, March 28th.