IN THE NEWS - INS Re-Organization

IN THE NEWS
–
March 23, 2002: INS Re-Organization

By Caty Weaver 1

This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program, IN THE NEWS.

President Bush is considering ways to re-organize the agency that enforces laws about foreigners coming into the
United States. The agency is the Immigration and Naturalization Service known as the I-N-S. It is part of the
Justice Department.

One proposal reportedly calls for the I-N-S to join with the United States Customs Agency, which is part of the
Treasury 2 Department. The Justice Department would control the new agency. Such a move would require the
approval of Congress, which already is considering several bills to re-organize the I-N-S.

The purpose of the re-organization would be to establish more control over who enters the United States. Both
the I-N-S and the Customs Agency work to protect American borders.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service is responsible for enforcing laws connected to the admission of
foreigners into the United States. That is the Immigration part of the agency. The I-N-S also deals with requests
from foreigners for United States citizenship 3. That is the Naturalization part of I-N-S. Both supporters and critics
say these responsibilites of the I-N-S are difficult to balance. It works to help immigrants enter and stay in the
country. And it works to keep out people who are trying to enter the country illegally or who might be a danger.

The I-N-S has more than thirty thousand employees. They work at about one-hundred offices throughout the
world or at border patrol stations.

I-N-S workers supervise the more than three hundred land, sea and airports of entry in the United States. They
carry out hundreds of millions of inspections 4 of individuals arriving at these ports each year.

The I-N-S Border Patrol also guards thousands of kilometers of border between the United States, Mexico and
Canada. Each year I-N-S agents arrest hundreds of thousands of people trying to enter the United States illegally.

Other I-N-S employees deal with requests from foreigners seeking immigration services. The United States
receives millions of such requests every year.

There has been growing criticism of the I-N-S since the terrorist attacks against the United States. Four of the
September eleventh hijackers were in the country illegally. Critics also say the I-N-S does not closely supervise
the activities of hundreds of thousands of foreign students in the United States.

Tom Ridge 5 is the Director of Homeland Security for the United States. He argues that border control issues
involve too many agencies including the Coast Guard and the Transportation Department. He says the agencies
do not necessarily communicate with each other.

Mister Ridge and other supporters of a re -organization plan say it will increase government control of who enters
the country and help prevent terrorism. They also say it will save money.

This VOA Special English program, IN THE NEWS, was written by Caty Weaver. This is Steve Ember.

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