Faced with a surge in illegal aliens and delays in assisting immigrants, Attorney General William Barr will announce Sunday a major expansion of the Immigration and Naturalization Service that includes hiring 300 agents to help patrol the U.S.-Mexico border.
Justice Department officials said the $100 million-plus initiative also will include 200 investigators mainly to pursue aliens suspected of crimes, particularly gang members; establishment of a National Criminal Alien Tracking Center; and the use of surplus Pentagon equipment ranging from helicopters and land vehicles to field meals.In addition, the program will add 240 airport inspectors, 100 information officers to help reduce long lines at INS offices, 100 employees to work with refugee and asylum applicants and 250 temporary workers to help reduce immigration backlogs.
The 300 new Border Patrol agents will be stationed in California, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico, with the largest number in California, department officials said. The U.S.-Mexico border now has about 2,500 agents, with roughly 800 assigned to the San Diego sector.
Barr, who is in California for a border inspection and a meeting with law enforcement officials, is expected to provide more details of the program during a stop in San Diego Sunday.
A Justice Department official said the expansion will affect "everything INS does." He said the purpose is "to add integrity to the whole system."
Major portions of the expansion will be financed with money from INS fines, from criminal asset forfeiture funds and through the closer scrutiny of immigration user and examination fee accounts to make sure the money there is used to pay for services, officials said.
The Bush administration's fiscal 1993 budget would boost INS spending by $120.8 million, to $1.07 billion, and include 200 more Border Patrol agents. But the expansion plans to be announced Sunday would occur this year and be in addition to requests made in next year's budget.
The Justice Department will be required to ask Congress to reprogram INS funds to pay for part of the expansion, but it will not seek more money from legislators, department officials said.
The new expansion program also will involve reissuing counterfeit-resistant green cards for alien workers and redesigned employment authorization documents, and stepped-up enforcement of sanctions against employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens.
Last year, the INS attempted to toughen enforcement of the employer sanctions, but critics said the effort had limited impact because of the proliferation of fraudulent documents. The new green cards and authorization papers will be an attempt to combat that problem, officials said.