Border securityMillions allowed into U.S. without proper border documents

A year and a half after the federal government strengthened rules on the documents needed to enter the country, millions of people are still being allowed to enter without passports or other hard-to-forge identification cards, a government audit has found.

The inspector general for DHS estimated this week that about 3.6 million people a year were still passing through customs without the required documents, and that about half of those were coming through the border crossings in Texas.

The New York Times reports that the audit noted that overall compliance with the law was relatively high; about 96 percent of travelers entering the country’s 39 land ports of entry along the Mexican and Canadian borders now follow the new rules, presenting, for instance, a passport, a border-crossing card, or a birth certificate.

The auditors found, however, that hundreds of thousands of people were still being waved through by customs officers without being referred for a secondary inspection. They also warned that if all the people who flouted the rules were sent for an extended second interview, it would overload customs officers.

The audit also said the guidelines for reviewing those people sent for a second inspection needed to be tightened and made uniform.

A spokeswoman for Customs and Border Protection, Stephanie Malin, said the agency agreed with the audit and planned to follow its recommendations.

Critics said the audit proved that the Obama administration had failed fully to carry out the stricter identification requirements mandated by Congress in response to the 9/11 attacks. “If you are just letting them through without asking questions, then you are not implementing the program,” said Janice Kephart, a former counsel for the 9/11 Commission who is now with the Center for Immigration Studies. “That’s a big security risk.”