New Citizens Hid Past Crimes, INS Agent Says

Immigration and Naturalization Service officials have learned that about 5,000 of the 60,000 immigrants naturalized in six days of mass ceremonies in Los Angeles last month concealed past criminal records that might have disqualified some of them for citizenship, INS agent James Humble-Sanchez told The Times on Monday.

Of the 5,000 who proved to have criminal records, he said, their alleged crimes ranged from serious offenses that would disqualify them from citizenship, such as murder and rape, to minor violations that would not.

In response, top INS officials acknowledged that some criminals have been improperly naturalized, but they insisted that no more than 69 of these new citizens should have been denied naturalization because of criminal histories that were unknown to the agency at the time of their swearing-in. The INS plans to revoke the citizenship of anyone naturalized improperly, they said.

Humble-Sanchez is to testify today before a House subcommittee investigating problems with the Clinton administration’s election-year program to naturalize 1.3 million new citizens during the fiscal year ending Oct. 1. His testimony is certain to reinforce criticism of the INS, which has been widely accused of failing to adequately check the backgrounds of applicants for naturalization in its haste to meet the goals of the program, known as Citizenship USA.

“This is a shameful travesty,” Humble-Sanchez said. “We are not safeguarding society. We are giving away the most valuable benefit we can bestow on an individual--citizenship--to people who are legally not entitled to it. Worse than that, we are making criminal aliens a permanent part of our society.”

INS officials have previously acknowledged that some criminals were being naturalized inadvertently under the program, but they insisted that the numbers who fall into this category are--in the words of one official--”very, very, very small.”

Critics have accused the INS of failing to admit how many criminals have been naturalized by mistake.

Humble-Sanchez, a special agent who does investigative work in the INS office in Los Angeles, said his account is based on information his office received belatedly from the FBI on people who were naturalized during a series of mass ceremonies conducted by U.S. District Judge Lourdes Baird Aug. 7-9 and Aug. 14-16.

Because of the rush to naturalize citizens, he said, none of this FBI data was available to the INS before the ceremonies.

In response to Humble-Sanchez, Donald Neufeld, coordinator of the Citizenship USA program in Los Angeles, acknowledged in a telephone interview that about 5,000 of the 60,000 immigrants naturalized at the Civic Center in August proved to have criminal records.

But Neufeld insisted that many of these offenses were uncovered by the FBI before the ceremonies and discounted by INS officials as minor crimes that would not disqualify them for citizenship.

He said the FBI uncovered criminal records after the ceremonies for no more than 200 of those naturalized at the ceremonies. Of those, he said, only 69 appear to have been involved in crimes serious enough to perhaps disqualify them as U.S. citizens.

Federal law states that new citizens must be of “good moral character” and without “a criminal past.” The INS has regulations specifying the crimes that would disqualify an immigrant from citizenship, but the INS officials interviewed by The Times said they did not know exactly what those crimes are.

Naturalizing criminal immigrants is just one of the many problems that have been attributed recently to the Citizenship USA program. In an earlier hearing before the House Government Reform subcommittee on national security, international affairs and criminal justice, witnesses charged that the program to naturalize immigrants--most of whom traditionally vote Democratic--is designed primarily to help Clinton in the November election.

Subcommittee investigators said the hearings have uncovered evidence of fraudulent testing of applicants, of poor training for newly hired program examiners and of serious lapses in other INS law enforcement functions because resources are being diverted to naturalization.

Humble-Sanchez, 38, an INS special agent for the last nine years, said he developed a habit of speaking out about INS problems during his recent tenure as president of Local 505 of the American Federation of Government Employees.

In addition, he suggested that his supervisors share his criticism of Citizenship USA. A number of other INS employees also are scheduled to testify today about problems in the program.

Paul Ridley, an INS spokesman in Washington, said FBI checks are turning up criminal records on about 7% to 8% of all immigrants who have applied for citizenship under the program, but most of these are discovered prior to the naturalization ceremony. Of those with criminal records, only 10% are disqualified for serious criminal histories, he said.

Ridley said that most of the naturalized immigrants with criminal records turn out to have records of violating immigration laws and that those charges are not disqualifying.

But Humble-Sanchez said the 5,000 immigrants that are the focus of his allegations are, at minimum, guilty of perjury. He said they should have admitted their records on their applications for citizenship.

Prior to the inception of Citizenship USA, officials said, the INS generally waited until it received the results of an FBI check on applicants for naturalization before granting them citizenship.

Top INS officials have said they are still making an effort to complete the FBI checks before naturalizing citizens, but they cannot always achieve that goal. Critics claim that the INS no longer waits for the FBI information because they are under pressure to naturalize as many citizens as possible by Sept. 30, when the program ends.

According to Neufeld and Richard Rogers, a top INS official in Los Angeles, the agency plans to revoke the citizenship of criminals who have been naturalized by mistake. But Humble-Sanchez said it has proved difficult for the INS to undo the naturalization process.

Like other INS employees who have spoken out about problems in the administration of Citizenship USA, Humble-Sanchez said he views the mistaken naturalization of criminals as indicative of a general breakdown of standards at the INS, caused by pressure from the White House to create as many new voters as possible before November.

“You don’t get any negative points by naturalizing criminal aliens,” said Humble-Sanchez. “You do get negative points for not meeting your quota.”

In Los Angeles, it is estimated that Citizenship USA will have naturalized 326,800 people between August 1995 and the end of this month.