US immigration officers reassigned to screen South African refugees and find ‘unlawful’ voters
Exclusive: internal correspondence reveals USCIS anti-fraud officers shifted on to two ‘high-priority’ initiatives All US immigration officers working for a key anti-fraud unit have been reassigned by Donald Trump’s administration to focus on screening South African refugees and alleged “unlawful” voters. Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate (FDNS) immigration officers have been…
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has reassigned its Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate (FDNS) immigration officers to focus on two high-priority initiatives: screening South African refugees and alleged "unlawful" voters. This shift in focus occurs during the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, which has led to a slowdown in processing asylum claims and leaving many applicants in limbo.
An internal message from USCIS stated that all FDNS officers have been reassigned full-time to these two initiatives, leaving the agency unable to assign officers to train asylum officers in the near future. While USCIS spokesperson Zach Kahler confirmed the reassignment, he noted that the FDNS unit works on various vetting portfolios to combat fraud, maintain system integrity, and detect national security and public safety threats. This priority includes election integrity and refugee screening.
The FDNS unit, responsible for detecting fraud and national security concerns in immigration benefit applications, including asylum claims, refers matters to law enforcement and helps asylum officers identify potential fraud. However, the reassignment of FDNS personnel may have broader implications, as it could affect both the training of asylum officers and the routine screening of pending asylum applications.
The focus on South African refugees is part of the Trump administration's effort to curb US refugee resettlement while prioritizing admissions of South Africans, primarily Afrikaners, who face alleged racial discrimination and "white genocide." According to the US state department's recent refugee report, out of the 10,258 refugees admitted to the US between October 2025 and July 2026, 10,255 were from South Africa.
Meanwhile, the initiative to screen for "unlawful voters" appears to be part of a broader effort to identify noncitizens who allegedly registered or voted in US elections. However, experts have expressed skepticism about the claim that this is a significant problem, with evidence suggesting that confirmed cases of noncitizen voting are rare.
Written by urgent.news from The Guardian US's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
