INS REORGANIZATION

The ISSUE: The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) both enforces immigration laws and adjudicates applications for nonimmigrants and immigrants. INS has been justifiably criticized for not providing timely and consistent service for applicants.  However, Congress must also take responsibility for creating unfunded, complicated and often-conflicting mandates. Simply put: the INS has tremendous adjudications and naturalization backlogs, and does not consistently and professionally enforce immigration laws. Nearly everyone who deals with the INS agrees it should be reformed. The question is: how to do that, while allowing the agency to operate successfully.

BACKGROUND:  Appointed in 1990, the Commission on Immigration Reform recommended breaking up the INS, and dispersing its operations to the State, Justice, and Labor Departments. President Clinton rejected those recommendations.  In the 105^th Congress, Representative Harold Rogers (R-KY) introduced H.R. 4264, which would have turned the INS into a Bureau of Enforcement and a Bureau of Border Affairs within the Department of Justice. This measure did not pass.

CURRENT STATUS: There are three INS reorganization proposals currently before Congress:

H.R. 3918, introduced by Representatives Harold Rogers (R-KY), Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Silverstre Reyes (D-TX), would split the INS in two, with separate enforcement and adjudications bureaus.  This bill was marked up in the subcommittee, and the full Judiciary Committee mark-up is scheduled for late June. Advocates oppose this measure because it provides for neither a single person with clout to be accountable for immigration policy, coordination between the functions, nor an adequate funding mechanism. 

H.R. 2680, introduced by Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), and supported by AILA, would create a National Immigration Bureau, run by a single person reporting to the Attorney General; would create separate offices handling adjudications, enforcement and detention; would mandate an Office of Shared Services, handling support requirements for all offices; and would require that all offices receive appropriated funds.  This measure also would restore Section 245(i), with the funds from the fees generated used to support the office handling adjudications. 

S. 1563, sponsored by Senators Spencer Abraham (R-MI), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), which AILA also supports, would create an Immigration Affairs Agency within the Department of Justice.  This Agency would be headed by an Associate Attorney General for Immigration Affairs.  This measure also would separate the INS into an Immigration Services and Adjudication Bureau, and a Bureau of Enforcement and Border Affairs. This bill provides for coordination and support between the bureaus, and would mandate that user fees support adjudication functions.  It also would establish accountability within both the adjudications and enforcement agencies.

ADVOCATE'S POSITION: Any INS restructuring proposal must include: separating, but coordinating, the enforcement and adjudications functions; a high-level person at the top with clout and clear authority; and adequate funding for adjudications.  Both H.R. 2680 and S. 1563 meet our criteria; as introduced, H.R. 3918 does not.  Therefore, advocates strongly support H.R. 2680 and S. 1563.