With the November elections fewer than 40 days away, the Department of Homeland Security is approving as many citizenship applications as it can to try to increase the number of voters.

So says an internal memo obtained recently by Senate Republicans.

It comes amid a DHS inspector general report that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) erroneously granted citizenship to at least 858 illegal immigrants from "special interest countries," meaning countries with connections to terrorism, who had previously been ordered deported. It was later revealed the number was actually more than 1,800 aliens.

The mistake was made because of incomplete fingerprint records: Neither the digital fingerprint repository at DHS nor the one at the FBI contains all of the old fingerprint records of people previously deported.

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In DHS's case, paper-based fingerprint cards used prior to 2008 were not consistently digitized and uploaded to the new repository. Also, in the past, fingerprints collected during immigration enforcement encounters were not always forwarded to the FBI, which explains why the bureau also doesn’t have all of them.

In all, the IG report said, about 148,000 fingerprint records of aliens from special interest countries who had deportation orders or who are criminals or fugitives have yet to be digitized.

The incomplete fingerprint repositories mean that USCIS could naturalize even more ineligible or fraudulent individuals in the future. These fraudulent citizens would then have the right to obtain a security clearance, serve in law enforcement and vote, among other things.

Daniel Horowitz, senior editor at Conservative Review and author of the book "Stolen Sovereignty: How to Stop Unelected Judges From Transforming America," says it's a perfect example of a government agency stealing the sovereignty of American citizens.

"It is this literal theft I had in mind when I warned in 'Stolen Sovereignty' about the irresponsible moves of the executive and judicial branches in violating the sovereignty of the citizen," Horowitz wrote in a recent column. "Whether it's granting unqualified birthright citizenship, preventing states from asking for identification before granting citizenship to children born here, counting illegals in the census, resettling refugees without the consent of local communities, allowing non-citizens to vote, tolerating fraud in the naturalization process or refusing to deport criminal aliens, the citizens of this country have been disenfranchised time and time again."

That's to say nothing of the security problems arising from granting citizenship to criminal aliens.

"These individuals are known to have engaged in identity fraud, have already been ordered deported – which means they are likely criminal aliens – AND are from 'special interest countries,'" Horowitz reasoned. "As you let that thought sink in, now consider that they already have citizenship in their back pocket, and the rights inherent in being an American."

As Horowitz writes in "Stolen Sovereignty," the United States has a long history of expatriating individuals when the law stipulated that immigrants were no longer in the country with the nation’s consent. He said 8 USC 1451(a) authorizes a court to revoke citizenship through criminal or civil proceedings.

However, according to the IG’s report, only a handful of the erroneously naturalized aliens were investigated and subsequently denaturalized.

It does not leave Horowitz feeling hopeful.

"Raise your hand if you believe DHS will begin immediately combing through the list of 148,000 names whose fingerprints have not been placed in the databases used by USCIS," Horowitz wrote. "Now raise your other hand if you believe the people’s representatives in Congress, which were purposely vested with the full power over immigration and naturalization, will lift a finger to force DHS to clean up its act."

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