THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1999

Effect of INS' poor policies

A humanitarian crisis is occurring. People leaving to escape the hardships of their homeland are walking to the border. Lacking documentation, they cross the border in an isolated mountainous area. They travel with only the clothes on their backs and with what little they can carry.

A surprise storm hits. They become disoriented and wander aimlessly for days. Some are dressed only in shorts and tennis shoes. Children as young as five are separated from their parents. Authorities with dogs and helicopters find seven dead and 50 suffering from hypothermia.

Are they the ethnic Albanians fleeing Kosovar? No. They are immigrants crossing the border to enter the United States. Just as with the plight of the refugees in the Balkans, administration leaders have failed to identify in advance the scope of this continuing calamity.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service's new five-year strategy will concentrate on deterring illegal immigration. It will focus on large-scale organized-criminal attempts to illegally bring in workers, the employers who contract for the workers and those who produce fraudulent documents.

This new plan will reduce the priority to deport the estimated five million illegal immigrants in this country. Critics believe this new policy amounts to de facto amnesty. Over the last decade, INS priorities were deporting illegal immigrants convicted of crimes and undocumented workers found in the workplace.

The absurdity of current INS policies is seen in the way they managed 500,000 illegal immigrants from El Salvador and Guatemala. After Hurricane Mitch, all were granted extended stays to reduce the burden their return might create. The stays expired; they are to be deported; yet the president and the INS have publicly stated that the INS will not look for them.

The INS is running out of prison beds to house immigrants convicted of crimes and waiting deportation. The INS may release them into the community with a notice to appear at a deportation hearing. Hearings aren't held rapidly enough to keep up with the volume.

Commissioner Doris Meissner was unable to hire and train 1,000 additional Border Patrol agents the INS planned to deploy this year. She canceled six recruiting classes and has fewer than 400 agents in training.

INS failed to meet administrative goals. It didn't process paperwork promptly to permit legal immigrants to become citizens. Problems obtaining fingerprints forced large numbers of applicants to reapply.

The INS has announced it will back off enforcement during the census.

Rather than impact the head count, agents will not go into immigrant communities during the census.

Operation Gatekeeper was declared a success because the number of illegal immigrants apprehended at San Diego declined. But, the illegal border crossings have only moved east into more dangerous desert areas.

Granted, determining immigration policies is a difficult task with many issues to be considered. Until immigration laws are changed they must be enforced. We cannot allow our borders to be openly crossed with impunity.

Should the INS administrative functions and the Border Patrol law enforcement functions be separated? The present leadership of the INS appears unable to handle both functions. Despite increases in personnel and budgets, the Border Patrol apprehends fewer people today then it did in 1986.

Perhaps the enforcement of law at the border should be consolidated?

Let's study closely the functions of the U.S. Customs, Drug Enforcement Agency, the Department of Agriculture and all other agencies with border security responsibilities.

If we can't stem the flow of drugs and illegal immigrants crossing our borders, how will we ever stop terrorists with nuclear, biological or chemical agents?

Warren R. Strong is a student studying journalism.