*EPF411 03/21/2002
Byliner: INS Director James Ziglar Says Change is in the Works
(Commissioner outlines changes now being made in the INS) (560)

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(This byliner by James Ziglar, Commissioner of the INS, first appeared in the USA Today newspaper March 21 and is in the public domain. No republication restrictions.)

Change is in the Works
James Ziglar

The events of last week demonstrate once again that the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) must be fundamentally reformed. You may think those are strange words coming from the commissioner of the INS, but that has been my goal and the focus of much of my effort since taking this job seven months ago.

When I was asked to become head of the agency, President Bush and the attorney general gave me two major tasks: reform the INS and reduce paperwork backlogs. I am committed to those goals, as are the men and women of the INS. In November, a major reform plan for the INS was announced and sent to Congress for its concurrence.

Essential to this reform is separating the law-enforcement function from the service function of the agency. The law-enforcement component of the INS must be able to focus exclusively on the safety and security of our nation.

The number of foreign visitors coming to this country has multiplied during the past decade. Last year, for example, the INS inspected more than one-half billion people crossing our borders. With the growth of its responsibility and workload, the INS has no choice but to develop 21st century tools to deal with a job of that magnitude.

While the headlines about late-arriving receipts for actions taken before Sept. 11 may not show it, the INS has been moving rapidly to develop the tools needed to secure America against the threats we now face.

Today, everyone making an application to the INS, including those submitting student-status-change applications, is checked through interagency law-enforcement databases. That was not the case before I arrived on the job. We have launched investigations at strategic facilities, such as airports and nuclear facilities, to ensure that the people who work there are legally in this country and pose no threat to the American people. To date, more than 100 arrests have been made as a result of that operation.

Aliens who have been ordered to be deported but haven't left the country are being added to the nationwide police "wants and warrants" watch list and are being pursued.

We are developing an entry-exit system to keep better track of foreign visitors, and we intend to beat the mandated deadline by a year. The INS is deploying an Internet-based system to track more than 500,000 foreign students, and the first stage of that system will begin operation this summer.

These are just a few of the initiatives that are underway to better secure America, and, like you, we at the INS wish that all of these programs could be in place tomorrow. The agency's problems were not created in a day. However, we are bringing the solutions online at a faster pace than they were created.

Like you, the people at the INS are loyal and concerned Americans. They, too, have families with hopes and dreams. Your urgency about reforming the INS is one they share as well.

(James Ziglar is Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.)

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(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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