Critics Want Crackdown on Immigrant Asylum Claims

Immigration critics are demanding that border security start with tighter restrictions on people claiming political asylum, Fox News reports.

An internal Department of Homeland Security report obtained by the House Judiciary Committee last year showed that at least 70 percent of asylum cases contain proven or possible fraud, the Washington Times reports.

"Almost anyone at all can call themselves an asylum seeker and get in. It's a global joke," Kenneth Palinkas, president of the National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council, told Fox News. "It's not border security if anyone can recite the magic words and get waved right on in."

Current policy allows immigrants caught at the border without documentation to claim asylum and get authorization to work in the United States, Fox News reports.

The work permit then allows the person to get a Social Security card and some taxpayer-funded benefits, including Supplemental Security Income, SNAP/food stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and Medicaid, according to Fox News.

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