In March 2015, Mr. Emrich testified before the U.S. Senate’s Judiciary Committee about a variety of issues related to the Syrian Civil War. During this discussion, Mr. Emrich was unable to answer questions from Senator Jeff Sessions about how the Department of Homeland Security vets Syrian refugees.

Sessions: Allowing this dangerous humanitarian disaster to occur. I just would say I think we have to ask those questions and about who we are going to serve and whose interest we are trying to serve. Now, Mr. Emerich, can you name a single computer database outside of maybe some very, very small but significantly valuable intelligence databases for Syria that you run a check against? Does Syria have any that you can access?

Emrich: Well, the government of Syria does not, no, sir.

Sessions: All right. So, fundamentally they're the ones that keep records. We keep them in the United States on people who are arrested and so forth. But they don't keep -- they don't -- you don't have access to any if they exist in Syria?

Emrich: As -- as Ms. Strack mentioned, in most cases these individuals do have documents from Syria. We do have various ways of identifying those documents, as she described our officers are trained in fraud detection. And I would be happy to -- we'd be happy to brief you in another setting on some of the ways that we have to do this.

Sessions: I'm asking you to be -- talk to the American people. The American people are asking you a question. I read what the FBI director said. He said there's no database to check. He suggests there's no way that they can get sufficient information on -- and implies substantial majority of these persons. Aren't you left to basically looking at whatever document they produce in conducting an interview?

Emrich: I can assure the American people that we have a robust series of screening measures here that encompass the wide range of U.S. Government resources that involve U.S. law enforcement agencies and intelligence community members, that these processes and these screening measures are constantly reviewed, that we are continuously looking at ways to improve these, that they incorporate both biometric and biographic checks. They incorporate an in-depth interview with a trained U.S. Government officer. They involve an additional interview -- or inspection, rather, when the person presents himself or herself at the U.S. port of entry.

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Sessions: I've been in law enforcement 15 years. I know how the national crime information center works. I know how you run background checks, Mr. Emerich. There's no way you can do background checks of any significance. I'm sure we have some intelligence data on a number of people throughout the region. And if you get a hit on that, I'm sure you would reject them. But you have only a minuscule number of people that have been identified I'm sure in that fashion. And I don't believe you can make -- you can tell us with any certainty that you have an ability to conduct an efficient background check. And let's say you have no information. Let's say there's a question, do you have any ability to send an investigator to Iraq to check and see if the person actually lived on this street, actually had the job he claims to have had?

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Emrich: While we do not have the ability to send an investigator to Syria, we do have resources we can use to verify various elements of someone's testimony and story.

Sessions: Well, I'm sure there are things you could do. But are you telling us you can do that for a majority of the people that you interview? Do you have the ability for a majority of the people you interview to have independent data of value to help identify them?

Emrich: We in many cases are able to find independent data

Sessions: Many cases. I asked you a majority.

Emrich: I cannot quantify. I have seen.

Sessions:  More or less -- 20% or 80% you get positive data from? Can you tell us? Is it less than20 or more than 80?

Emrich: I can't give you -- give you a number.

Sessions: Well, the reason is you don't have the ability. I wish you did, but you don't.

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In a 2017 hearing, also in the U.S. Senate’s Judiciary Committee, Senator Cruz asked Mr. Emrich about the Department’s inability to identify the 2016 San Bernadino bomber despite numerous red flags.  Mr. Emrich admitted that the department was incapable of determining the veracity of its own immigration data.

CRUZ: Do we know why the fake address in Pakistan was not found?

EMRICH: We do not have -- as Mr. Neufeld mentioned earlier in regards to -- to marriages, we do not have robust infrastructure overseas that -- that -- that is in place to verify addresses. We do use a process through both our -- we have for officers overseas, both through them, and through Department of State.

We can request overseas verifications in locations where we don't have personal; the Department of State will go out and verify addresses. When there are indications of fraud, but the infrastructure is not in place todo that on a --on a -- on a mass scale.

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Matthew Emrich again admits that there are massive blind spots in USCIS’ data with respect to vetting people arriving from overseas –particularly in countries with less-than-friendly relations with the United States.

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