INS Announces Restructuring Plan

IMMIGRATION LAW & POLICY

Arrest and Detention

INS ANNOUNCES RESTRUCTURING PLAN
Immigrants' Rights Update, Vol. 15, No. 8, Dec. 20, 2001

The Immigration and Naturalization Service has unveiled a proposal for a major restructuring of the agency that would split its service and enforcement functions, though the INS would continue to be led by a single commissioner. The division would be implemented by replacing the current district and regional structure with a network of area and local offices whose work would be conducted under the auspices of either a service or enforcement bureau. Although the plan, which was announced on Nov. 14, 2001, does not require congressional approval, it will necessitate regulatory changes. Proposed changes will be phased in, with some of the plan's elements beginning to take effect immediately. Others are to be completed by fiscal year 2003. In a related development, the INS announced that Commissioner James Ziglar has named Richard Cravener, a former director of the agency's Houston district, as restructuring director.

The proposal is lengthy and contains detailed descriptions of implementation timelines, analyses of budgetary and personnel impacts, and related agency initiatives. The following summary, however, is limited to descriptions of the INS's two new major components and of offices with agency-wide responsibilities or authority that stand apart from them. It also provides a brief overview of budgetary impacts, the plan's timeline, and related initiatives. The complete proposal can be downloaded from the INS's website at www.ins.gov/graphics/index.htm.

BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION SERVICES

The Bureau of Immigration Services will have jurisdiction over immigration services such as asylum determinations, naturalization and adjustment of status adjudications, and requests for employment authorization. Reporting directly to the INS commissioner, an executive commissioner will head the bureau and have direct line authority over all area directors who, in turn, will supervise all field office directors. The proposal divides the country into six service areas, each of which will generally be comparable in size, in terms of both geographic area and population of service seekers.

The proposal places five offices in the new bureau. They are the Customer Relations Office; Office of Quality Assurance; Office of Service Center Operations; Office of Area Directors; and the Office of Asylum and Refugee Affairs.

Office of Customer Relations. Newly created by the proposal, this office will oversee all customer service initiatives in the bureau. The office will be staffed with trained case problem solvers who will work with individuals and be authorized to assist them with application-related difficulties. This office will report directly to the executive commissioner.

Office of Quality Assurance. Quality Assurance is another new office, and it will develop quality assurance and audit programs. Like customer relations, this office will report directly to the executive commissioner.

Office of Service Center Operations. This office will be responsible for the service centers. Currently accounting for approximately 70 percent of the INS's application workload, the service centers' work involves the adjudication of matters not requiring face-to-face interviews with applicants. The centers also collect fees and conduct pre-adjudication actions for applications that later require field office interviews.

Office of Area Directors. This office will be staffed by directors of the six service areas who will concentrate solely on immigration services. Each of the area directors will directly oversee the field office in his or her jurisdiction. The field offices will be responsible for the other 30 percent of the application workload, including naturalization, adjustment of status, interviews, fingerprinting, and other matters that require personal contact with INS service personnel. Because the Southwest and Northeast areas will have double the workload of the other four area offices, they will have additional staff.

Office of Asylum and Refugee Affairs. Slated to have authority over the field asylum offices, this office will administer and oversee the refugee program overseas and the bureau's humanitarian parole authority.

BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT

Like its service counterpart, the Bureau of Immigration Enforcement will be a separate division headed by an executive commissioner who directly reports to the INS commissioner. This executive commissioner will oversee six different divisions, including the Border Patrol and Interior Enforcement, the Detention and Removal Division, and the International Division. The proposal divides the country into 9 enforcement areas, while retaining the 21 Border Patrol sectors currently in use.

Border Patrol and Interior Enforcement Division. The Border Patrol and Interior Enforcement Division would be the largest component of the enforcement operation. The division will be headed by a chief with authority over all law enforcement components in field offices, including personnel assigned to the 21 Border Patrol sectors, the 9 enforcement areas, and the INS intelligence program. Four deputy chiefs, one each for the Border Patrol, Investigations, Inspections, and Intelligence units, will support the division chief.

The deputy chief of the Border Patrol will oversee 21 deputy chief patrol agents who, in turn, will oversee the daily operations of the Border Patrol sectors. This direct line of authority linking deputy chief patrol agents to oversight by the Border Patrol's deputy chief is a new element proposed by the plan, whose authors suggest that it will lead to improved law enforcement coordination and greater flexibility.

The other deputy chief positions will be staffed as follows:

The deputy chief of Investigations will have direct line authority over special agents in charge (SACs), who oversee day-to-day law enforcement operations in the interior of the U.S. SACs will be assigned to the 9 enforcement areas.
The deputy chief of Inspections will have direct authority over all INS ports of entry.
The deputy chief of Intelligence will coordinate strategic intelligence to ensure efficient law enforcement.

Enforcement Areas. As noted above, the proposal creates 9 enforcement areas. Each will have designated an investigations office headed by a SAC and an inspections port area headed by an area port director. By locating these offices in the same enforcement areas and having them share administrative support, the INS hopes to facilitate their cooperation.

According to the proposal, coordination within enforcement areas among Border Patrol, Investigations, and Inspections should occur at the level of the local office head. For example, where a Border Patrol sector, an investigation office, and a port of entry are located in the same geographic area, coordination will be ensured by the deputy chief patrol agent, SAC, and area port director assigned there. Any failure to coordinate will be addressed by the chief of the Border Patrol and Interior Enforcement Division.

Enforcement field offices will manage four main smuggling corridors: the south Texas corridor, the west Texas/New Mexico corridor, the southern California corridor, and the Arizona corridor.

Detention and Removal. This division will be headed by a director who will have authority over INS detention facilities and operational standards nationwide. The proposal authors believe this arrangement will provide greater policy consistency throughout the INS.

International Division. This division will have oversight responsibility for foreign government training and liaison and enforcement functions. The division director will have authority over INS offices located overseas. The division will work in coordination with the Dept. of State, the U.S. Coast Guard, and foreign governments to monitor and disrupt the smuggling of persons and groups into the U.S. The overseas field offices will work closely with host countries, air and sea carriers, and international law enforcement organizations to investigate fraud and dismantle and deter criminal organizations operating both overseas and within the U.S.

The restructuring proposal also creates new, free-standing offices within the enforcement bureau. These new offices are the Office of the Ombudsman, the Interagency Liaison Office, and the Office of Quality Assurance.

Creation of Ombudsman. In response to criticism of INS abuses, the proposal establishes an Ombudsman Office in the Bureau of Immigration Enforcement. Generally, the office will provide the public with a means to communicate concerns about enforcement activities and will seek to facilitate resolution of complaints before they reach the attention of Congress. The ombudsman will confidentially handle complaints, resolve problems, and forward allegations of serious misconduct, fraud, or abuse to the Office of Professional Responsibility. In addition, the proposal places an ombudsman representative in the Border Patrol and Interior Enforcement and the Detention and Removal divisions.

Office of Quality Assurance. This office will monitor the enforcement components to ensure consistency and fairness.

The Interagency Liaison Officer. The interagency liaison officer is another new position, and it is intended to facilitate the flow of information and cooperation with federal, state, and local law enforcement organizations. The plan devotes resources in each enforcement field office specifically intended to enhance information sharing.

AGENCY-WIDE OFFICES

In addition to the two main bureaus, the plan has provisions for a number of agency-wide offices. Some of the offices, such as the Office of Juvenile Affairs, are completely new while others have simply been reorganized. Still others remain virtually unchanged. The agency-wide offices are the Office of Juvenile Affairs; Office of Policy, Planning and Programs; Office of the General Counsel; Office of Professional Responsibility; Office of the Chief Information Officer; Office of Administration; Office of Congressional and Public Affairs; and Office of the Financial Officer.

Office of Juvenile Affairs. In response to mounting criticism regarding the INS's treatment of children in its custody, the proposal calls for a new central policy office on juvenile matters. Its aim is to centralize national policy to meet the needs of unaccompanied minors in INS custody. The office will seek to ensure that the INS treats all juveniles with whom it comes into contact with dignity, respect, and special concern. It will respond to the needs of juveniles (including but not limited to unaccompanied minors) in INS custody, coordinate services to juveniles in INS field offices, and ensure that juveniles found inadmissible or removable from the country are removed safely and correctly. The goals of INS policy toward minors include developing research-based best practices and service approaches, ensuring consistent application of policies and procedures, facilitating family reunification, and developing effective case management systems.

Office of Policy and Planning and Programs. This office will be responsible for developing policy and setting the INS's strategic direction. Policy and planning activities will be conducted in close collaboration with the INS commissioner. In addition to policy development, the office's responsibilities will include developing legislative requirements and strategies, directing long-range planning activities, analyzing the agency's official statistics, and managing the agency's performance planning and evaluation functions.

Office of the General Counsel. The structure and responsibilities of this office appear unchanged. The general counsel currently provides legal advice to the commissioner and field managers, represents the INS before the immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals, and advises on the formulation of regulations and legislative proposals. The office also represents the INS in contested naturalization and denaturalization hearings, labor-related cases, and employer sanctions and civil document fraud litigation. It also provides litigation support when the agency is a party to lawsuits in federal courts and assists in issuing reinstatement of removal orders, expedited removal orders, and administrative removal orders by field managers.

Office of the Information Officer. This office will consolidate the current Office of Information Resources Management, the Office of Records Services, the Website Management Unit, and the Office of Strategic Information and Technology Development. Through the information coordinator, the chief information officer will ensure that the bureaus maintain access to relevant enforcement data for adjudications and enforcement. The chief information officer will also develop links with other federal, state, local law enforcement and other relevant agencies.

Office of Professional Responsibility. Under the plan, the Office of Professional Responsibility would assume the functions now performed by the Office of Internal Audit. These include managing the organization's systems for resolving alleged employee misconduct, reviewing and evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of programs, and ensuring proper liaison between the INS and outside audit and inspections organizations.

Chief Financial Officer. The Chief Financial Officer will be responsible for the INS's financial management.

Office of Administration. The Office of Administration will direct the agency's responsibilities for human resources, equal employment opportunity, procurement, facilities, property, and security. It will also be involved in health and safety standards, space acquisition, property management, and monitoring all capital assets.

Office of Congressional and Public Affairs. This office will provide liaison with Congress, the media, and external "stakeholders." Within the agency and with the Dept. of Justice and Office of Management and Budget, Congressional and Public Affairs will coordinate the development of legislation and agency views on pending legislation. The office will also advise the INS commissioner on legislative matters and coordinate hearings and meetings with congressional offices. This office will also provide congressional offices with responses to case-related inquiries.

RESTRUCTURING BUDGET AND STAFFING NEEDS

The separation of the agency's two primary functions will result in the need for increased staffing. However, because all field positions supporting the current regional office/district office structure will be eliminated, the net staffing increase required for restructuring is estimated to be 522 positions. This represents only a 1.5 percent increase over current staffing levels. Overall the estimated cost of restructuring is $102,010,000.

TIMELINE

The plan proposes to complete restructuring in three phases. The initial phase will begin with headquarters and the establishment of the necessary support structure. The next two phases will focus on the organizational changes in the field. The fundamental reform of the INS and the splitting of the INS into two separate bureaus will be completed by FY 2003. Staff relocations and final office moves should be completed by FY 2004. The INS will use existing authority to accomplish near-term changes envisioned for the first phase within the FY 2002 budget. As noted above, the INS commissioner has already appointed a director of restructuring, who will oversee the implementation of these changes. Most notably, the restructuring director will immediately begin to work with senior field and headquarters staff to design and implement changes to reporting relationships. Taking effect as soon as possible, these interim changes will be in place while plans for permanent restructuring are finalized and implementation is completed The establishment of the Office of Juvenile Affairs at INS headquarters is also due to take place during this phase.

INITIATIVES

Introduced with the restructuring plan are a series of initiatives that are separate from the proposal but which the INS considers equally important to improve agency performance. Among other things, the initiatives seek to improve field offices' ability to provide personalized service, to enable applicants to file some immigration benefit applications on-line, and to expand successful local border patrol programs to locales across the country. Of greatest interest to many current applicants is the initiative to launch an aggressive backlog reduction effort in FY 2002. Through this initiative, the INS hopes to achieve a national average processing time of six months by the end of 2003 and, by the end of 2004, an average processing time of six months or less in every service office.