Jake Tapper, CNN, September 20, 2016

The number of individuals who were supposed to have been deported but were instead granted citizenship is far higher than was initially reported by media covering the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General’s office report on the matter.

On Monday, the Inspector General reported that 858 individuals from “special interest countries”–meaning countries that are considered to be “of concern to the national security” of the US–were supposed to have been deported but were instead granted US citizenship.

But the truth is the report is even worse than reported, with more than 1,800 individuals naturalized who should have been deported from the country.

A reason for the underplaying of the number may have been the report’s focus, which was whether the US Citizenship and Immigration Services was using digital fingerprints effectively. The Inspector General determined that the agency granted citizenship to 858 individuals who had been ordered deported or removed under another identity but “their digital fingerprint records were not available” during the naturalization process.

But a footnote on page one of the report also states that there were, as of November 2015, an additional 953 individuals about whom the Inspector General couldn’t determine if there was a problem with the fingerprint records specifically, but also should have been deported. {snip}

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