No More INS?

THE DAILY FED

No More INS?

A bipartisan commission plans to recommend that Congress abolish the 156-year-old Immigration and Naturalization Service and disperse its functions across other government agencies, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform described the agency as beset by "mission overload," and "longstanding structural problems." INS, they said, is ill-designed to handle the influx of immigrants and an increasingly complex mission.

INS officials did not agree with the recommendations. In a statement, the agency said that INS has just begun to receive the resources it needs to overcome a history of neglect.

"Breaking up the agency, which has been proposed frequently over the years, would be needlessly expensive and duplicative, requiring other federal agencies to build separate, new capacities," the agency said.

A briefing paper circulating in Congress recommends consolidating the immigration system's operations within the State, Justice and Labor departments. This approach calls for establishment of a Bureau of Immigration Enforcement in the Justice Department and an Undersecretariat for Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Admissions in the State Department. The Labor Department would enforce sanctions against employers hiring illegal workers.

The commission will release the report next month.