Speech #850181134

Mr. Speaker. I have today introduced a bill that would authorize adequate and badly needed training quarters and facilities for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. It is my hope that by enactment of this bill the Service will be better prepared to train and educate the men who guard the borders of our country. I believe there is no doubt in the minds of any of the Members that this is a vital service to the United States. We have. however. been delinquent in providing the Immigration and Naturalization Service with the tools to do a good job. Each year approximately 400 officers are trained in the Border Patrol School after selection from the ranks of the border patrol. Each year those who are qualified for advanced training are offered additional courses and some 200 men are trained annually. Periodic refresher courses are needed for these officers. Physical facilities for this important training are wholly inadequate. The Border Patrol Training School has been housed in hastily constructed. temporary type. onestory frame buildings located at Fort Bliss. Tex.. built some 15 years ago and abandoned by the Army as no longer economically feasible before they were turned over to the Service. The Advanced Officers School is housed in the Old Post Office Building here in Washington and accommodations are far from satisfactory and practically nonserviceable.