Page 19 - FCW, May 2017

IT Modernization
behalf of foreign workers, expects the suspension of premium processing to have an array of effects. Foreign work- ers renewing H-1Bs might not be able to travel internationally for months while their applications are pending, even if their jobs require it. In many states, they won’t be able to renew driver’s licenses.
A SYSTEM RIDDLED WITH ERRORS
Because of the rush to file as many H-1B renewals as possible before expedited service was suspended, USCIS said it has not been able to keep up with its manual data entry.
With its funding source on pause, ELIS remains thirsty for resources. There has been a steady stream of reports from the Department of Home- land Security’s Office of Inspector Gen- eral saying the system’s flaws have resulted in worrisome mishaps.
In a single month in 2013, USCIS sent out almost 2,500 green cards erroneous-
ly marked as valid for 10 years instead of two years because a faulty database had filled in incorrect information in the “expiration date” field.
In 2014, the agency issued over 5,000 green cards bearing the wrong names or birth dates. Some replaced the appli- cant’s first name with “No Given Name”; others included the wrong photos or fingerprints.
From March to May 2016, USCIS issued duplicate green cards to 756 applicants and in some cases sent as many as five green cards to a single individual. Months later, the OIG found, the agency had not recalled any of the duplicates.
USCIS’ recently departed acting director, Lori Scialabba, told Congress in March that although the OIG’s find- ings were accurate, the study had been conducted shortly after the green card process was added to ELIS, “a time when it is typical for IT systems to have kinks that need to be worked out.”
USCIS made its citizenship appli- cation available on ELIS last April then took it down four months later. The OIG said it had alarming security concerns about the process, including the fact that ELIS was allowing appli- cations to move forward that had not been properly checked against FBI and Customs and Border Protection databases.
Some 175 individuals were granted citizenship before the problems with the background checks were discovered, the OIG added.
The agency now says ELIS will be finished in March 2019. But Kristen Ber- nard, who has overseen several audits of USCIS as director of the DHS OIG’s IT Management Division, is skeptical. “We can see that they aren’t going to make that date either,” she said. n
Marcelo Rochabrun is a reporting fel- low at ProPublica, where this article first appeared.
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