Homeland Security’s legal immigration agency put an employee on leave Wednesday after being confronted with her history as an operative for the Palestine Liberation Organization and a more recent series of pro-Hamas social media posts.
Nejwa Ali had been hired at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services as an asylum officer in 2019 and is now serving as an adjudication officer, according to her LinkedIn profile.
That profile is also used to highlight her time as a public affairs officer for the PLO, an umbrella group that advocates for Palestinians and has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S.
The Daily Wire first reported on Ms. Ali’s troubling history, saying she has been posting for years in support of Palestinian causes, and has intensified those comments in the wake of Hamas’ horrific sneak attack on Israel earlier this month.
The comments were a black eye for USCIS.
“USCIS strongly condemns antisemitism and the use of violent rhetoric in any form. USCIS employees are held to high ethical standards both on and off duty, including their presence on social media. Any violation of these standards is taken seriously by the agency,” Matthew Bourke, a spokesperson for the agency, said Wednesday afternoon.
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By the evening, the agency had put Ms. Ali on leave.
Former USCIS officials said the agency must figure out how someone with those views managed to secure such a sensitive job.
Ms. Ali’s online profile says she was responsible for ruling on immigration cases at Homeland Security and helped guide new hires.
She began as an asylum officer in July 2019 and started as an adjudication officer at the start of this year.
Her LinkedIn profile used to list her role as a public affairs officer for the PLO’s delegation to the U.S. in 2016 and 2017. The U.S. listed the PLO as a designated terrorist organization in 1987.
Her LinkedIn profile used to list her role as a public affairs officer for the PLO’s delegation to the U.S. in 2016 and 2017. But as of Wednesday afternoon, that part of her public profile had been deleted.
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The Daily Wire reported that Ms. Ali had posted images of Hamas militants and, after the initial Hamas attack, wrote on Instagram: “F*** Israel, the government, and its military. Are you ready for your downfall?”
“She should be terminated,” said Emilio Gonzalez, who ran USCIS in the Bush administration.
He was stunned that she was hired in the first place, given her background.
“The PLO is a designated foreign terrorist organization,” he said. “The fact that she worked for them and then was hired by the Department of Homeland Security tells me that somebody dropped the ball with her background checks.”
USCIS said applicants are “thoroughly vetted” and face “extensive” background checks before being hired for a permanent position.
The agency also said its handbook directs employees not to post anything to social media that is “discriminatory, obscene, harassing or intimidating.”
Former USCIS employees said asylum and adjudication officers hold sensitive positions with power over the fate of people’s lives. The employees said Ms. Ali’s expressed views raise questions about whether applicants whose cases came before her could have received fair treatment.
Ms. Ali assured The Daily Wire she was able to keep her views separate.
“That does not affect the ability to do my job at all. You can mind your own business,” she said, according to the news outlet.
Ms. Ali’s case harkens back to a case in 2020 in which a USCIS employee in Florida was caught in a viral video telling a Black teenage girl that she didn’t “belong” in his neighborhood. The girl’s family lived on the street.
Lee Jeffers, the employee, said his comments weren’t racially motivated and he was upset after seeing the girl and her friends driving a golf cart dangerously.
USCIS put Mr. Jeffers on leave over the incident.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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