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While the Bush administration continues to insist that American citizens must accept increased inconveniences at airports and more privacy intrusions under the Real I.D. Act, it is waiving security checks for tens of thousands of new immigrants, including many who are being hired as Border Patrol officers.

"Facing a rapidly growing backlog of immigration cases, the Bush administration will grant permanent residency to tens of thousands of legal U.S. immigrants without first completing required background checks against the FBI's investigative files," the Washington Post reported on February 12. The change, it said, applies to about 47,000 permanent residency, or green-card, applicants whose FBI checks have been pending for more than six months.

Christopher S. Bentley, a spokesman for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, told the Post the decision "just seems like a very logical way to get people who deserve benefits in a very fair and timely manner without compromising national security or the integrity of the immigration system." Mr. Bentley did not explain how the administration can speed the process along by dispensing with the security checks 'without compromising national security or the integrity of the immigration system."

Even more disturbing is information that the administration is using the same "wave them through" policy when it comes to applicants for the Border Patrol, including applicants who are "former" members of violent Mexican gangs and Mexican drug cartels. "A lot of [Border Patrol] agents are very upset by the big influx of Mexican gang-bangers" into the service, a recently retired BP agent told me. "This is insane, and is being done under the excuse of increasing the number of ‘native Mexican speakers’" in the Border Patrol.

According to the former agent, the admitted gang members are merely asked to promise that they have broken with their gangs and then are being allowed to continue the application process. "Some of our [Border Patrol] background investigators have brought up serious security concerns about many of these guys, things that in the past would have weeded bad guys out. But the investigators get over-ruled by higher-ups in the administration. This will be disastrous if it is allowed to continue."