House chair plans to move INS restructuring measure

House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said Thursday he would seek to move an Immigration and Naturalization Service restructuring measure shortly after Congress returns from the spring recess.

Sensenbrenner said he has planned a hearing on the bill--which he introduced last year--for April 9 and has slated a full committee markup for April 10.

His bill would separate the administrative and enforcement functions of the agency into two separate chains of command, each of which would answer to a new associate attorney general.

Sensenbrenner indicated that the Bush administration is resisting restructuring the agency though a statute, as opposed to administrative means. However, administrative changes lack the necessary teeth and traditionally have tended to "make things worse" at the agency, Sensenbrenner said.