The General Accounting Office, at the request of the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, Charles Grassley (R-IA), recently sent agents with fraudulent documents and fake identities to try to enter the US . The fraudulent documents were created using easily available computer software, meaning that they were not especially sophisticated.

After conducting the exercise, the GAO reported that INS inspectors did not catch the fraudulent documents, and in some cases did not even bother to request any identification documents. The places tested were the Miami International Airport , ports of entry at San Isidro , the Peach Arch Park and Port Angeles . The Port Angeles crossing is where, in 1999, an INS agent arrested Ahmed Ressam, who has since been convicted of a terrorist plot to blow up the Los Angeles International Airport .