Speech #930238246

Leonard F. Chapman. Jr.. the Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. has informed me that Sol Marks. District Director of the New York district of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. will retire on May 24. 1974. He has had a distinguished career with the Service and has made a significant contribution to the immigration field. He began his career in 1935 as a stenographer and went on to become immigration officer where he developed a comprehensive understanding of the immigration and naturalization laws. Sol Marks then became an adjudicator In the central office and for the remainder of his career. he was appointed District Director where his managerial skills led to important changes in the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Sol Marks developed and utilized new administrative techniques. one of which was to permit 100 hearings to be heard and completed per day in the district. His requirement that total staff meetings be held regularly In a district operation has led not only to a rapid dissemination of information. but to high morale among the employees. He was also responsible during his New York tenure for selecting the first female district investigator and the first female shipboarding inspector. Other administrative improvement which are credited to him include "group training" for supervisors. a newsletter for employees. and the creation of a position for a district training officer. Monthly meetings with employees of the Immigration and Naturalization Lawyers Association and a Union of Immigration Employees contributed to the smooth operation of his district and the human enforcement of the law. Sol Marks did not confine his talents to the operation of the district. In his effort to promote an understanding of the immigration law. he lectured at various colleges. before the bar association of the city of New York. the Society of Foreign Consuls of the United Nations. and at the Practicing Law Institute. He has catered to the publics right to know about immigration policies by participating in television discussions especially in connection with the medias interest in widely publicized and often misunderstood immigration cases. He testified before congressional committees and was always an informed witness. I extend to Sol Marks my best wishes for the future. At this time I wish to include in the RECORD an article published by Newsday in June of 1971 about Sol Marks when he was appointed district director for the New York office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service: