Lax DHS screening is allowing an unknown number of noncitizens without identification to enter the U.S. – and even board domestic flights – despite the threat to public safety, the department’s inspector general warns in a new report.

The title of the inspector general’s (IG) report sums up his finding that U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) are failing their duty to keep Americans safe:

“CBP, ICE, and TSA Did Not Fully Assess Risks Associated with Releasing Noncitizens without Identification into the United States and Allowing Them to Travel on Domestic Flights”

CBP officers encountered more than 3.2 million noncitizens nationwide in Fiscal Year 2023. Of those, more than 2.4 million tried to enter through the nation’s beleaguered Southwest border, which is currently being overrun by a tide of illegal aliens.

Despite the threat, “neither CBP nor ICE could determine how many of the millions of noncitizens seeking entry in the United States each year entered without identification and whose self-reported (i.e., unverified) biographic information was accepted,” the IG found.

“If CBP and ICE continue to allow noncitizens — whose identities immigration officers cannot confirm — to enter the country, they may inadvertently increase national security risks,” the report warns, stressing the need for tighter screening:

“Until ICE strengthens the risk classification assessment process, it cannot ensure its officers are making informed, consistent, and transparent custody decisions that prevent release of noncitizens who pose a potential risk to public safety.”

Likewise, TSA’s inadequate vetting and screening procedures pose a threat to passengers on domestic flights, the IG’s study finds:

“TSA cannot ensure its vetting and screening procedures prevent high-risk noncitizens who may pose a threat to the flying public from boarding domestic flights.”

Examples of failed vetting and screening cited in the report include noncitizens released into the U.S. who were later discovered to be either on the FBI’s Terrorist Watchlist or paroled into the country despite posing a potential threat to national security and the safety of local communities.

The inspector general cites specific flaws in the way CBP, ICE and TSA officials handle noncitizens who don’t have identification, such as failure to consistently follow protocols and simply taking the noncitizen at his word, without verification:

In conclusion, the inspector general’s report provides three recommendations, each calling for the DHS to further study the effectiveness of its methods, then make appropriate improvements – all of which the DHS rejected.

In its “non-concur” responses, DHS says it doesn’t have enough beds to detain all the noncitizens without identification who might pose a threat and that it has already make adequate adjustments in some areas.