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Sweeping INS reform addresses borders, technology

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Immigration and Naturalization Service, under the microscope since 19 immigrants hijacked and crashed four airliners September 11, will undergo extensive reform to improve its enforcement and service functions, officials said Wednesday.

Attorney General John Ashcroft and INS Commissioner James Ziglar announced that several new administrative positions will be created under the reform, including posts overseeing and coordinating the agency's border patrol efforts, its detention programs and its technology.

"The INS must become a stronger deterrent to our enemies and a better servant to our friends," Ashcroft said.

The INS has experienced explosive growth in both its workload, budget and staffing recent years, and the agency handled more naturalization cases in the past 8 years than in the previous 40 years, Ashcroft said. But the number of glaring mistakes has also risen, including the agency's mailing of visa approval notices last month to two men identified as the pilots who crashed planes into the World Trade Center.

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One of the most prominent reforms deals with the U.S. Border Patrol, which conducted more than 500 million inspections last year and currently communicates through district and regional field offices. In the new system, the 21 Border Patrol field leaders will report directly to Border Patrol Chief Gus de la Vina, allowing him to rapidly deploy personnel and resources to crisis points.

Another new post, the head of detentions, will oversee all those in custody due to immigration violations. The move aims to consolidate and streamline the detention process, which until now had been handled largely on a case-by-case basis.

The INS will also create an Office of Juvenile Affairs. Officials said the new program will help the agency to better meet the needs of unaccompanied minors who become its responsibility by providing specially trained personnel and services.

A new chief financial officer will manage the INS's finances, and a field advisory board will now serve as a liaison between Washington and the agency's field components.

The INS will also have a chief information officer will head up efforts to improve the agency's databases and information sharing. In a CNN interview last month, Ziglar said, "We have an agency that has antiquated technology. We have an agency that has overly bureaucratic processes."

Congress is also considering several measures aimed at beefing up INS law enforcement, said Ashcroft.

Proposals include making personal identification documents more tamper-resistant, improving the immigration screening process and better monitoring foreign students and other visitors to make sure they do not abuse their immigration status.

In addition, Ziglar has requested $6.3 billion for the next fiscal year -- an increase to a budget that has nearly quadrupled since 1993.

Ziglar stressed that the new policies announced Wednesday, pushed by President Bush in the wake of last fall's terrorist attacks, marked only the start of reform at the embattled agency.

"The initiatives that we're announcing today are the first steps of reform at INS," Ziglar said. "[They] represent significant structural changes aimed at creating a clear division between the agency's service and enforcement missions and creating better-defined chains of command."