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02 July 1999
I.N.S. OFFICIAL OPTIMISTIC ABOUT NEW STRATEGY
(Defends approach aimed at curbing illegal immigration) (500)
By Allison Yungbluth USIA Staff Writer
WASHINGTON -- The Clinton Administration hopes to maintain faith in the immigration enforcement system through a newly developed Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) strategy that was developed over the past two years.
Robert Bach, INS executive associate commissioner for policy and planning, told lawmakers at a July 1 congressional hearing that the INS "is committed to preserving the integrity of the legal immigration system and reducing the undocumented immigrant population in the United States while at the same time building community partnerships, promoting public safety and trust, and ensuring that all individuals can exercise their rights under law."
The plan lessens the emphasis on identification and deportation of illegal immigrants while strongly promoting programs and mechanisms to prevent and deter new attempts at illegal entrance to the United States, Bach noted.
He stressed that one priority is to address factors influencing illegal immigration, rather than narrowly focusing on the number of deportations. As outlined in the strategy, the INS aims to identify and remove criminal aliens, reduce recidivism, diminish the alien smuggling operation, cooperate with local governments and other agencies, minimize immigration benefit fraud and document forgery, and block the availability of undocumented workers to employers.
Many members of the judiciary committee voiced concern over the perceived lenience of the new INS policy. Lamar Smith, the Texas Republican who chairs the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims, called the strategy an open invitation to illegal immigrants. According to Smith, the approach encourages illegal immigration because it does not emphasize deportation of all illegal immigrants, which he described as the best deterrent to illegal entries. Bach argued that "removals from the country are effective forms of law enforcement only if the person deported does not successfully re-enter the United States." The new strategy is a comprehensive solution to illegal immigration and cannot be limited only to deportations, he reiterated.
The INS estimates (conservatively, some legislators claim) that there are more than 5 million illegal aliens within U.S. borders, and that the net total increases each year by 250,000. As discussed in the strategy, "priority one of the Interior Enforcement Strategy focuses on working with governments at all levels of jurisdiction to identify criminal aliens as they are processed through the criminal justice system and remove them as appropriate." The strategy focuses on criminal aliens because they have "severe negative effects ... on local communities and public safety." Bach said that of the non-expedited removals made by the INS in FY 1998, 59 percent were of criminal aliens.
Bach conceded that the INS is "not being sufficiently effective right now," but he reassured the committee that the success rate would improve through the utilization of this multi-layered strategy. He predicted that higher levels of employment, a reduction in crime, and greater confidence in the integrity of documents will be among the benefits of the new strategy.