From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov Transcript for: Asylum Processing and Fraud Description: Audio Interview by GAO staff with Rebecca Gambler, Director, Homeland Security and Justice Related GAO-16-50: Asylum: Additional Actions Needed to Assess and Address Fraud Risks Released: December 2015 [ Background Music ] [ Narrator: ] Welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for news and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. It's December 2015. Tens of thousands of people apply for asylum in the United States each year. Asylum officers review these applications for evidence that the people have legitimate fears of persecution. A team led by Rebecca Gambler, a director in GAO's Homeland Security and Justice team, recently reviewed trends in asylum claims and how they are screened for potential fraud. GAO's Jacques Arsenault sat down with Rebecca to talk about what they found. [Jacques Arsenault:] Can you describe the asylum-seeking process and who is eligible for protection? [Rebecca Gambler:] Yes. Individuals who are in the United States and who have a fear of returning to their home country due to past persecution or the potential for future persecution can apply for asylum. These individuals can come from a host of different countries. In recent years some of those countries have included China, Russia, Guatemala, Mexico, and other countries. To apply for asylum, individuals can do that in two different ways. First, they can apply directly to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services -- or USCIS -- within the Department of Homeland Security; and USCIS asylum officers review or adjudicate asylum claims. Secondly, an individual's asylum claim can be heard in immigration court. If that is the case, an individual is in removal proceedings before an immigration judge and can make an asylum claim as a defense against possible removal from the U.S. [Jacques Arsenault:] And how has the number of people applying for asylum here changed over time? [Rebecca Gambler:] From fiscal year 2010 to fiscal year 2014, the number of total asylum applications increased by about 130 percent. In fiscal year 2014 alone, there were over 100,000 asylum applications made to USCIS or the immigration courts. [Jacques Arsenault:] Your report also mentions a sizeable backlog of claims. Given all the work, can USCIS effectively screen all asylum applications for potential fraud? [Rebecca Gambler:] Yes, USCIS does have a backlog of asylum applications. As of September 2015, that backlog was about 100,000 applications. And given that workload, USCIS does face significant challenges in its ability to assess and address potential fraud risks to the asylum process. And let me give you some examples of ways in which we found USCIS's capabilities for addressing fraud in the process were limited. First, USCIS has not assessed potential inherent risks of fraud in the asylum process; and as a result of that, it's difficult for USCIS to know whether or not they have the right tools in place to address potential fraud. Secondly, USCIS does not have complete or reliable data on the results of its efforts to combat fraud. So for example, USCIS does not have reliable data on the number of asylum-fraud-related investigations it has conducted. And so as a result of that, USCIS doesn't really know how effective or what level of effort it's putting to its anti-fraud prevention activities. Third, USCIS has not provided sufficient training to its asylum officers on potential fraud. USCIS provides basic training to new asylum officers and also provides ongoing trainings to asylum officer staff. We heard from asylum officers that they would like more training on asylum fraud and that their training needs have not be regularly assessed by USCIS. [Jacques Arsenault:] So it sounds like there are a lot of opportunities for improvement there. [Rebecca Gambler:] There are certainly a lot of opportunities for USCIS to strengthen its efforts to both assess potential fraud risks in the asylum process as well as to better equip its asylum officers to be able to detect and address fraud where it might be occurring or is occurring. [Jacques Arsenault:] So along those lines, can you talk about the recommendations that GAO is making in this report? [Rebecca Gambler:] In this report we made ten recommendations to USCIS to strengthen its tools for addressing potential fraud risks in the asylum process. Those recommendations include regularly assessing what the fraud risks are; maintaining more complete data on the results of its fraud detection and prevention efforts; and providing more training to its asylum officers on asylum fraud and regularly assessing the training needs of its officers. [Jacques Arsenault:] And finally, what would you say is the bottom line of this report? [Rebecca Gambler:] The U.S. asylum process exists to protect individuals who are unwilling or unable to return to their home countries because of past or the potential for future persecution. It's important to maintain the integrity of the asylum process so that individuals aren't wrongfully returned to their home countries. Part of maintaining the integrity of the asylum process is for USCIS to have the tools and the data and the training it needs to efficiently and effectively process asylum claims, but also to be able to assess, detect, and prevent fraud where it could occur or is occurring. [ Background Music ] [ Narrator: ] To learn more, visit GAO.gov and be sure to tune in to the next episode of GAO's Watchdog Report for more from the congressional watchdog, the U.S. Government Accountability Office.