Some 5.5 million U.S. work permits have gone to non-citizens since the first year of the Obama administration — far beyond the number authorized by Congress, and not counting millions more to be issued under executive amnesty,
Fox News reports, citing government documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by a conservative think tank.
Parolees, stowaways and people suspected of document fraud are among those to receive work permits without comprehensive background and citizenship checks, according to the report by the Center for Immigration Studies.
The Center stated that the administration was acting on a rationale that would become the basis for amnesty — President Barack Obama's decision in November, in defiance of Congress, to shield millions of people here illegally from deportation.
The new report's findings prompted an immediate call by Sen. Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican, for a congressional probe.
The Center "has unearthed the operation of a shadow immigration system previously unknown to the American public," Sessions, a leading Capitol Hill critic of Obama's immigration policies, told Fox News.
"A full investigation is warranted," said Sessions.
Between 2009 and 2014, Congress authorized 5 million green cards and 3.5 million guest workers, Fox reports.
But the report's author says the administration has done an end-around on those limits. The biggest beneficiaries are three groups receiving work permits without being eligible: illegal immigrants (928,000), people of "unknown" immigration status (1.7 million), and temporary visa holders (1.8 million), study author and director of policy studies Jessica Vaughn told Fox Business host Lou Dobbs.
The numbers also encompass 23,215 parolees, nearly 1,000 stowaways and 49 people suspected of document fraud, said Vaughan.
Officials with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office, which issues work permits and green cards, did not return a Fox News call requesting comment on the report.
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