Speech #970041681

INS inspectors operate at major ports of entry and at U.S. airports. In 1980. INS inspectors turned back over 800.000 illegal aliens seeking to enter the United States. the year before. over 950.000 illegal aliens were turned away. That number exceeds the number of illegal migrants detained by the Border Patrol. and points up the importance of the inspections program as a frontline enforcement program. At the same time. foreign visitors coming lawfully to the United States are expected to spend $12 billion this year. Last year. for the first time in our history. more commercial air passengers arriving in the United States were foreign visitors than returning citizens and resident aliens. The orderly admission of these visitors is critical to our economy. At the same time the United States must be protected against the illicit entry of millions who seek to enter the United States to compete in the U.S. job market. avail themselves of the benefits of this society at added costs to our taxpayers or for other illegal purposes. This is the task of the immigration inspector. It makes no sense to reduce the number of inspectors by 200 or 12 percent. when the number arriving at U.S. ports of entry continue to increase. The inspections workload at airports is expanding at an annual rate of 15 percent. Despite the development of more streamlined methods of operations. the Judiciary Committee itself expects that a significant cut in the number of INS inspectors will "result in long waiting times at ports of entry and airports. limit INS ability to identify inadmissible aliens. and could inhibit international tourism and commerce." In fact. today waiting times at the Miami International Airport can run as long as from 21/2 to 4 hours. The administrations proposal represents a 12.8percent cut in the number of INS inspectors. INS investigators locate and identify illegal aliens already in the United States. thereby deterring other potential illegal aliens from attempting to enter the United States. This is the only method currently used to apprehend illegal aliens who have made it past the border. and who are already holding jobs in the United States. In 1980. INS investigators located over 65.000 aliens who were illegally employed. They were earning at a rate of over $446 million a year. INS investigators also locate aliens who have been scheduled for deportation. but who have absconded. Investigations activities focus on fraud. criminal. immoral. narcotics. and other areas. Status verification investigations gather the background material necessary for field investigations and for adjudications on immigration and deportation proceedings. The pending caseload is expected to rise from about 9.600 at the beginning of 1980 to over 14.000 by the end of 1982. This rise in caseload. coupled with the proposed staffing cuts. will make it more difficult for the adjudications and naturalization programs to properly process visa applications. Prior reductions over the last several years have decreased the authorized force of these two programs by 421 positions. or over 30 percent. This has already had a drastic effect on both the casework and the alprehensions made by the INS investigators: In 1977. the number of deportable aliens has decreased from 204.000 to 126.000 last year. The additional staff reductions of 403 persons. 309 in investigations and 94 in status verifications will further reduce the effectiveness of both programs and add to the backlog already created by prior staff cuts. There are no easy places to make the offsetting cuts which are necessary for that portion of my amendment which exceeds the amount recommended by the Senate Budget Committee.