INS to be restructured to aid immigrants, fight terrorism

Associated Press WriterWASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration announced Wednesday a major restructuring of the Immigration and Naturalization Service to separate law enforcement and service duties.

The change fulfills a campaign pledge by President Bush to try to reduce the long waits endured by people who apply for benefits such as naturalization or permanent residency. It also seeks to address deficiencies in how the INS tracks foreigners who enter the country.

Thirteen of the 19 hijackers in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks entered the United States legally, but no entry records exist for the other six.

"President Bush is concerned that the INS has been hindered by the current structure of the agency to perform its responsibilities of welcoming new immigrants and protecting our borders by enforcing immigration laws," Attorney General John Ashcroft said.

Under the plan, which is to be completed by Sept. 30, 2003, a new Bureau of Immigration Enforcement will oversee issues involving intelligence, investigations and illegal aliens.

The new Bureau of Immigration Services will process applications for naturalization, asylum, work permits and green card renewals, and deal with other immigrant benefits issues.

The restructuring comes as Congress is considering its own plans for remaking the agency, including one that would abolish the INS and create two new agencies. Critics in Congress say they field more calls from constituents about INS-related problems than other agencies.

The INS budget for processing applications has nearly quadrupled since 1994 to $500 million, and the staff has more than doubled to about 6,100, according to a General Accounting Office report issued in June.

But during the same time, the INS backlog on processing applications increased nearly fourfold to about 3.9 million, the GAO said. The GAO is an investigative arm of Congress.

INS Commissioner James Ziglar, who took over the agency in August, has said he wanted to divide the INS functions, but keep the agency intact.

Ziglar said separating the functions made sense because district managers whose INS experience is largely in enforcement may not place emphasis on service work and vice versa. The two functions should not be completely separated, he said, because at times they overlap.

These changes also can be made more quickly, because creating two separate agencies requires legislation, he said.

The changes will not require congressional approval, although the agency will need to inform Congress of transfers of money to support the changes.

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INS: www.ins.usodj.gov