![\"Obama_Mexico_flag\"](\"http:\/\/www.wnd.com\/files\/2015\/04\/Obama_Mexico_flag.jpg\")
<\/p>\nGREG COROMBOS
\nWND.com<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, and 21 other members of Congress are demanding the Government Accountability Office conduct a formal audit of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services out of growing suspicion that money is being improperly used to fund President Obama\u2019s unilateral immigration actions in violation of court order.<\/p>\n
Of greatest concern to Gohmert and the other members is the allocation of fees collected by the government through the legal immigration process and whether money charged of those in the country legally is actually being used to secure legal status for those who broke the law to get to the U.S.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey raise most of their money through fees,\u201d Gohmert said in an interview with WND and Radio America. \u201cThey used the fees for things they lied about using them for. We need the Government [Accountability] Office to get to the bottom. What are they using those fees for?\u201d<\/p>\n
The issue is triggering more concern for numerous reasons, the most recent of which stems from a confrontation inside the House Judiciary Committee\u00a0Tuesday\u00a0between Gohmert and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Sarah Saldena.<\/p>\n
Gohmert asked Saldena why the government has already\u00a0granted three-year deferrals to\u00a0more than 108,000 illegal immigrants who ought to be deported and where the authorization came from. Saldena said the authorization did not matter to her since it\u00a0came from Citizenship and Immigration Services, or CIS.<\/p>\n
When Gohmert wondered if Saldena was not bothered by the prospect of so many people receiving fraudulent benefits, she insisted she was concerned about potential fraud.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t like fraud, does it bother you that your Homeland Security Department that you work for has actually instigated a fraud among the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas?\u201d asked Gohmert at the hearing.<\/p>\n
\u201cRepresentative Gohmert, with all due respect, I would appreciate you not yelling,\u201d Saldena said.<\/p>\n
That exchange may have been the last straw.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat further accentuated the need to get some answers,\u201d he said, noting that the more suspicious the government\u2019s actions, the less helpful the administration is in responding to those concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe administration sends directors like the one from CIS over, who at one time had done great things and been noble participants in government,\u201d Gohmert said. \u201cThen all of a sudden they become in a position of leadership in this information and their job seems to be to obfuscate, to hide, to prevent people from finding out what was done illegally or unconstitutionally.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to the frustration on Capitol Hill, Gohmert said it is obvious the Obama administration is thumbing its nose toward lawmakers, the rule of law and a crystal-clear court order to stop implementing the administration\u2019s unilateral actions that Gohmert and others label as amnesty.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is clear that Homeland Security and CIS has been violating the law, the Constitution, and in particular, United States District Judge Andrew Hanen\u2019s order not to be granting amnesty that the president spoke into being,\u201d said Gohmert, noting Obama never actually signed any orders to try and change the law<\/a> but instead directed Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to issue a memorandum noting the change.<\/p>\n With the government providing very little help in clarifying how immigration fees are being used and whether the administration is complying with the law, Gohmert sent an investigator to CIS offices in Arlington, Virginia.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have massive Grade A space. I\u2019m shocked that they would feel the need to lease or purchase or create this Grade A business space for something that could virtually be done in a warehouse,\u201d he said. \u201cHow did they get this space? Who paid for it? How much did they pay for it? Who is being hired?\u201d<\/p>\n The investigator was sternly rebuffed when asking for more details on CIS operations.<\/p>\n \u201cWe couldn\u2019t get any of that information,\u201d he said. \u201cThey were stonewalling on everything, everybody saying, \u2018You\u2019ll have to talk to this person or that person.\u2019 Nobody was willing to get answers, nobody was willing to let a representative sent by a congressman in to review the facilities they\u2019ve hired.\u201d<\/p>\n Gohmert said the good news is that Congress does not need to pass anything to force the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, to conduct a formal audit.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are supposed to do audits where they see that they\u2019re necessary,\u201d he said. \u201cCongress can direct them to specifically do audits, but we hope by bringing this to GAO\u2019s attention, they will say, \u2018This is true. This is not money that\u2019s appropriated. They say they only need $600 million on hand for a rainy day fund, and yet they have $1.2 billion. So we we better take a look at this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Congress has demanded answers in other investigations into this administration only to find that key data no longer exists or numbers have been fudged. Gohmert said he\u2019s not overly worried about that happening in this fight.<\/p>\n \u201cIt may be that we\u2019ll run into the same problem that we had with the IRS or with the State Department,\u201d he said. \u201cGee, all of a sudden everything that would show what they\u2019ve been doing gets deleted. But if it happens that they\u2019ve deleted spending records, then they will have run into some criminal violations and be looking at prison.\u201d<\/p>\n In the meantime, the investigation continues into whether the Obama administration is abiding by Judge Hanen\u2019s order and suspending deferrals of deportation until the issue is settled in court or whether the government is directly violating court orders. Gohmert said the evidence following Hanen\u2019s first ruling strongly suggests the latter.<\/p>\n \u201cThey finally had to come in, I believe it was March 3, and admit, \u2018Gee, since November 20, even though we told you we would not violate your order and would not be granting these, there have been 108,081 that have been granted,\u201d Gohmert said.<\/p>\n He said the administration has an explanation for that, but its veracity is very much in question:<\/p>\n \u201cThey said those were just renewals from the prior amnesty program, but there\u2019s some question about that at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 22 CONGRESSMEN DEMAND OBAMA IMMIGRATION AUDIT GREG COROMBOS WND.com Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, and 21 other members of Congress are demanding the Government Accountability Office conduct a formal audit of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services out of growing suspicion … Continue reading