U.S. 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 105th
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. AILA
opposes 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. Recently, Representatives Rogers and Smith
reintroduced the bill as H.R. 3918.
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.
AILA'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, AILA strongly supports H.R. 2680 and
S. 1563.
34GR9071.3 03/01/00