WH Doubles Down on "Reformer" Alejandro Mayorkas

To recap: The Deputy Homeland Security Advisor has the "appearance" of being corrupt and doing Big Dollar favors for connected Democrats, says the Inspector General of the DHS.

Just so you understand the Ca$h Money Ju$tice angle here: The EB-5 program grants permanent resident visas to foreigners who invest at least $500,000 in a US company.

Well, if you're a leftist connected to the Obama Administration, then, and want a lot of foreign money given to you in the form of "investments," you would certainly want to make sure your Big Dollar "Investment" Investors are getting their Cash Money Green Cards from the DHS, right?

You wouldn't want those held up, right? You wouldn't want them, egads, denied over security concerns, right?

No, you'd want your Cash Money Partners to get their Cash Money Green Cards that they paid for. Otherwise, what would be the point in investing in your Government Subsidized Boondoggle?

The Washington Times:

Alejandro Mayorkas, who was elevated from head of the department's legal immigration agency to be deputy secretary while the investigation was ongoing, also angered many of his colleagues by getting involved in the cases, and "created an appearance of favoritism and special access" for the wealthy immigrants, the inspector general concluded.

Inspector General John Roth said the cases involved major Democrats: former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, Sen. Harry Reid, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Anthony Rodham, brother of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

In each case, pressure from those individuals helped earn favorable treatment, Mr. Roth said

And dig this: There are some real security risks attached to some of these new fellow American residents.

Five different Homeland Security whistleblowers spoke with ABC News about a range of cases where visas were approved despite numerous red flags. They said objections were often ignored because the immigration program is so popular within the Obama Administration and with members of Congress from both parties. As the EB-5 visa program has grown in popularity, the programs critics have become increasingly concerned about the administration’s failure to adequately address abuses that have continued to surface.

"It is shocking," Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican said at the time. "Particularly when you have F.B.I. and other law enforcement agencies that are saying national security could be compromised or is being compromised -- that's enough for us to be concerned."

...

The Inspector General report released Tuesday said investigators had interviewed 15 whistleblowers, a group that included "very senior" department officials and attorneys "who each had direct contact with Mr. Mayorkas and were in a position to witness the events."

"Each conveyed the same factual scenario,” the report said. "Certain applicants and stakeholders received preferential access to DHS leadership and preferential treatment in either the handling of their application or petition or regarding the merits of the application or petition… Many witnesses provided emails, written contemporaneously with the events, to support their allegations of special access and treatment."

...

One of the projects studied in the report – the electric car start-up venture once overseen by McAuliffe and supported by Rodham – has already proven to be politically combustible.

The immigrant funding became fodder for attacks on McAuliffe during his 2013 run for governor. McAuliffe was accused by political opponents of trying to prod Mayorkas and later then-Sec. Janet Napolitano to approve visas for investors more quickly. He denied, however, that he sought undue influence. Rodham oversaw the EB-5 financing aspect of the business through a separate venture, called Gulf Coast Funds Management Regional Center. He also emailed Mayorkas in a push to speed up processing of immigrant visas, the report says.

...

When it appeared the electric car venture was headed for a denial, "Mr. Mayorkas told his staff that he wanted to review the decision..." the report says. "Many EB-5 officials found this highly unusual because past USCIS Directors typically had not scrutinized individual decisions; they found this level of scrutiny unsettling."

When Hillary Clinton's brother calls up to say "My 'investors' aren't getting the Cash Money Green Cards they paid for!!!," you need a man like Mayorkas to Get Cash Money Returns on Your Investments.

Now, when the White House found out about this, they went into their standard "We learned about this when you did" and "We're as outraged as anybody" act.

Kidding! They actually defended him to the hilt, calling him a "decorated civil servant" and "tireless reformer," who was Just Tryin' To Help a Brotha Out with this burdensome EB-5 system.

Watch that video. I'll wait.

Mayorkas says he was jus' tryin' to fix a "broken system." Broken in the sense, I guess, that it wasn't Delivering Deliverables to Democratic Donors and Henchmen at a rapid enough pace.

And they're defending it.

Because they don't care.

All the masks have come off.

posted by Ace at 02:18 PM

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