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The House Homeland Security Committee has opened an investigation into how the Department of Homeland Security came to hire a woman who previously worked for a terrorist organization and who espouses virulently anti-Israel views.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services placed the employee, Nejwa Ali, on leave this week after her history was exposed but has not answered questions about whether it knew at the time she was hired that she had worked less than two years earlier at the Palestine Liberation Organization’s office in the U.S.
Rep. Mark Green, Tennessee Republican and chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, demanded that Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas get to the bottom of Ms. Ali’s hiring and how she was allowed to remain on the job as an asylum officer and immigration adjudicator, all while attacking Israel and in recent days celebrating Hamas in social media posts.
“It should go without saying that former spokespeople for groups that have been designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the U.S. government shouldn’t be working in our Department of Homeland Security,” Mr. Green said. “We’re demanding answers from Secretary Mayorkas as to why Ali, who also publicly espoused pro-terrorist and anti-Semitic beliefs, was allowed to maintain her role as an asylum officer.”
Mr. Green revealed the investigation in a letter to Mr. Mayorkas, which was obtained by The Washington Times. Three of Mr. Green’s subcommittee chairmen also signed the letter.
Mr. Mayorkas, who is Jewish and whose family lost nine members in the Holocaust, has not yet spoken publicly about Ms. Ali, and the Republicans are giving him a chance to do so.
They pointed out that Mr. Mayorkas delivered a speech on Oct. 12, after Hamas’ murderous sneak attack, celebrating the Biden administration’s efforts to reel in antisemitism.
“At the same time, DHS was employing an individual who apparently champions violence against Israel and innocent Israeli civilians while also supporting Hamas,” the Republican lawmakers wrote.
The Daily Wire first reported last week on Ms. Ali’s history of Palestinian activism, including her time in 2016 and 2017 as a public affairs officer for the PLO’s delegation in Washington.
Congress designated the PLO as a terrorist organization in the 1980s, though the PLO delegation was allowed to operate under a presidential waiver. The Trump administration ousted the mission in 2018.
USCIS issued an initial statement condemning antisemitism and announced by Wednesday evening that Ms. Ali had been placed on leave.
Mr. Green and his colleagues said the agency’s sudden decision makes it sound like “the department’s hiring officials were previously unaware of or ignored Ms. Ali’s background.”
The Times has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for this report.
Ms. Ali said on her LinkedIn profile that she started at USCIS as an asylum officer in July 2019, which means she decided whether to start the asylum process or grant asylum to people who claimed they faced persecution in their home countries.
At the start of this year, she listed herself as an adjudication officer handling various immigration benefit decisions.
In recent weeks, Ms. Ali took to social media to make anti-Israel remarks and highlight similar comments from others. She told The Daily Wire that she did celebrate Hamas militants who invaded Israel and killed indiscriminately.
The lawmakers asked to review any of Ms. Ali’s asylum decisions that might have involved a Jewish applicant or someone claiming Palestinian roots. They also sought documents on the hiring decision and the decision to place Ms. Ali on leave.
Mr. Green said Mr. Mayorkas must come clean about other “potential security risks” who have been employed at Homeland Security on his watch.
Several disturbing public cases at USCIS have come to light in recent years. Two years ago, prosecutors revealed the case of a man who was approved for a bogus asylum claim, was granted citizenship and was hired by USCIS, all under a false identity.
Making matters worse, his wife worked as an anti-fraud officer at USCIS.
Authorities have also exposed a massive refugee fraud ring operated with the help of two USCIS contractors who worked for the agency overseas and who used their access to steal and sell deeply sensitive data on Iraqi applicants.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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