Speech #970037696

Mr. Chairman. I urge support of H.R. 3462 and wish to comment specifically on the authorization for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. H.R. 3462 modifies some administration proposed cuts in the ImmigrationServices budget. These modifications. which add $25.226.000 and restore 973 positions. are essential to permit the Service to meet its responsibilities. The Committee on the Judiciary. although firmly committed to the reduction in Federal spending. concluded that the acute problems of immigration law enforcement could not be addressed within the strictures of the administrations budget. The Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy. after conducting hearings across the United States. overwhelmingly recommended enhanced enforcement efforts. The Commission supported increasing INS resources not only along the borders and at ports of entry. but also in the interior. Recent INS oversight hearings. conducted by the Subcommittee on Immigration. Refugees and International Law of the House Committee on the Judiciary. confirm that the Immigration and Naturalization Service has suffered from a long period of neglect. The major thrust of H.R. 3462 is not to provide newly authorized positions for the Immigration Service. but rather to restore already authorized and often unfilled positions that the administration proposal would delete. The restoration of 200 inspector positions is critical to permit the efficient inspection of persons attempting to enter the United States. An estimated 340.000.000 inspections will need to be conducted in fiscal year 1982. The loss of 200 authorized positions would cause inordinate delays at land borders. airports. and seaports. and seriously compromise the capacity of the Immigration Service to uncover fraud. The restoration of 160 border patrol positions is needed to maintain a credible deterrent to the entry of undocumented aliens. It actually brings authorized strength up to fiscal year 1981 levels. The Immigration Service faces an immeasurably more difficult task in attempting to discover and deport undocumented persons once they reach the interior of the United States. There is no substitute for an adequately staffed border patrol if this Nation hopes to bring its immigration policy under control. H.R. 3462 also restores 403 investigative and 200 adjudicative positions. A drastic cut in investigative positions would cripple efforts to detect fraud and other violations of our immigration laws and would increase conferrals of immigration benefits based on fraudulent petitions. The restoration of 200 adjudicative positions is necessary to prevent inordinate delays in the dispensation of immigration benefitsdelays that can cause severe hardships. Finally. the Judiciary Committee has restored 10 positions to the overseas program to permit adequate screening of refugees in countries of first asylum. Congress. in the months ahead. will be examining a broad range of proposed reforms in our immigration laws. The Immigration Service during this period of intense congressional study. must have minimally adequate resources. H.R. 3462. by authorizing positions that are essential. commands broad bipartisan support in the Committee on the Judiciary. I encourage the Members of the House to support the enactment of H.R. 3462.