[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4363 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4363

To provide for the restructuring of the Immigration and Naturalization 
                    Service, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 30, 1998

Mr. Watt of North Carolina (for himself and Mr. Berman) introduced the 
  following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for the restructuring of the Immigration and Naturalization 
                    Service, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Immigration and Naturalization 
Service Restructuring Act of 1998''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are to--
            (1) advance the effective enforcement of our immigration 
        laws at our borders and in the interior, and the efficient 
        provision of immigration and citizenship services;
            (2) untangle INS' overlapping and frequently confusing 
        organizational structure by replacing it with two clear 
        operational chains of command--one for enforcement and one for 
        providing services--from the highest level of the agency to the 
        lowest;
            (3) create two parallel operational divisions which can 
        each focus on its unique management, knowledge, skills, and 
        abilities, while also retaining the essential functions for 
        guiding and coordinating these operations;
            (4) improve customer-oriented immigrant services by:
                    (A) creating new local service offices;
                    (B) establishing new, distinct lines of 
                accountability of authority for services;
                    (C) setting clear standards for customer service; 
                and
                    (D) using technology to improve efficiency and 
                customer service;
            (5) strengthen enforcement operations by:
                    (A) establishing a single, coordinated enforcement 
                mission;
                    (B) integrating enforcement, and strengthening 
                accountability;
                    (C) organizing enforcement areas by function, 
                including Border Patrol, inspections, investigations 
                and removals, detention, and enforcement support; and
            (6) provide for efficient integration of service and 
        enforcement by:
                    (A) creating an administrative and technical 
                backbone of support for enforcement and service; and
                    (B) developing and managing essential immigration 
                records, computer systems, training, and shared 
                administrative functions.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this Act, the following definitions shall apply:
            (1) The term ``INA'' refers to the Immigration and 
        Nationality Act of 1952, as amended up to the effective date of 
        this Act.
            (2) The term ``INS'' means the Immigration and 
        Naturalization Service.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    Except as otherwise provided by this Act, this Act shall take 
effect on October 1, 2000.

                      TITLE I--AGENCY ORGANIZATION

SEC. 101. AGENCY ORGANIZATION.

    The Immigration and Naturalization Service [the Service] shall be 
responsible for administering the immigration laws of the United 
States. The Service will be organized in a way that ensures the 
effective implementation of enforcement strategies at the border, the 
interior of the country, and overseas, and the timely and efficient 
provision of immigrant services and benefits with complete integrity. 
The Service will be structured along programmatic lines and composed of 
an: (1) Office of Immigrant Services, (2) Office of Enforcement 
Operations, and (3) Office of Shared Services.
    (a) Headquarters Operations.--The Service will be lead by a 
Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner who will focus on immigration 
enforcement and service policy and establish a framework to implement 
national priorities. In addition, headquarters operations will be 
responsible for policy formulation, strategic planning and the 
development of agency goals, objectives and performance targets; 
agency-wide management support and coordination; budget formulation and 
execution; public affairs; Congressional relations; general counsel, 
and internal audit.
            (1) Chief financial officer.--A Chief Financial Officer 
        (CFO) will be established for the effective and efficient 
        management and accountability of Service resources. The CFO 
        will coordinate budget formulation, execution and agency-wide 
        financial management operations. To address the Service's 
        diverse funding sources, the CFO will ensure sound agency-wide 
        financial management systems and processes. The CFO will ensure 
        that immigrant services and enforcement operations have clearly 
        separated and defined resource streams.
            (2) Strategic planning and statistical measures.--A 
        director of the strategy unit will be responsible for policy 
        formulation, developing the long term-strategy for the Service 
        and facilitating the process of designing programs to execute 
        that strategy, in consultation with the offices of Immigrant 
        Services, Enforcement Operations and Shared Services. This 
        office will create long-range strategic and performance 
        measurement plans, in cooperation with relevant program 
        components. In addition, this office will be responsible for 
        establishing and strengthening Federal immigration statistical 
        policy and measurement operations.
    (b) The Office of Immigrant Services will be headed by an Executive 
Associate Commissioner (EAC), a Senior Executive who will report 
directly to the Office of the Commissioner. The EAC will be responsible 
for establishing an operational chain of command dedicated solely to 
immigration services, focusing comprehensively on providing quality, 
timely and efficient services to the immigrant community and 
institutions requiring immigrant services. The EAC will be responsible 
for all aspects of INS service and benefit operations and the Office of 
Immigration Services will be organized around four functional goals: 
(1) ensuring timely processing and courteous service of the immigrant 
community through nationally-established customer service standards, 
(2) providing efficient, accurate benefit processing from remote 
service centers and service area operations, (3) ensuring secure 
documents with uncompromising integrity, and (4) serving the refugee 
and asylee population through humane and timely service and benefits. 
Additionally, the EAC is responsible for coordinating, with the Office 
of Shared Services, the effective acquisition and utilization of shared 
support items including information technology, financial management, 
facility construction, personnel and training. The responsibilities and 
duties of the EAC shall include:
            (1) Service area operations.--Service area operations will 
        be located in immigrant communities around the United States. 
        The EAC will develop and maintain performance measures to 
        ensure that offices within each area provide efficient and 
        consistent service, while maintaining the integrity of 
        application processing. These offices will provide a variety of 
        services to applicants, including fingerprinting, 
        photographing, and interviewing applicants. Some offices will 
        be configured as full-service offices and others will serve as 
        satellite locations. All will have a standard appearance with 
        customer-oriented features.
            (2) Service center operations.--Service center operations 
        will include centralized automated processing and adjudication 
        for applications and petitions that do not require immigrant 
        interviews. In addition, the service centers will provide 
        front-end fee receipt, data entry and scheduling for 
        applications and petitions that require interviews. The EAC 
        will be responsible for the collection of all management 
        reporting information relative to the service centers, for 
        budget formulation and execution for the service center 
        budgets, for ensuring the accuracy and quality control of the 
        adjudication of benefits at the service centers, for all 
        employee hiring and grievance issues at the centers and for 
        monitoring, overseeing and executing the mail file and data 
        entry operations. The EAC will also coordinate with the CFO on 
        financial management.
            (3) Telephone center operations.--The Service will operate 
        a coordinated telephone assistance system to respond to 
        customer inquiries. The EAC will be responsible for designing 
        and operating a telephone system that relies on all assets of 
        the Service to ensure that customer inquiries are promptly and 
        accurately addressed. This will include operating and 
        maintaining the telephone centers, any contract call-answering 
        facilities, and utilizing an overflow telephone call assistance 
        capacity designed to access information officers at the service 
        centers as needed.
    (c) The Office of Enforcement Operations will be headed by an 
Executive Associate Commissioner (EAC), a Senior Executive who will 
report directly to the Office of the Commissioner. The EAC will be 
responsible for establishing an operational chain of command dedicated 
solely to immigration enforcement, focusing comprehensively on illegal 
immigration problems at the border and in the interior of the U.S., and 
ensuring better linkages of enforcement operations through a single 
point of accountability for performance. The EAC will be responsible 
for all aspects of the Service's enforcement and border management 
operations including international enforcement efforts and will be 
organized around four functional goals: managing by the Border Patrol 
of the border between ports-of-entry; conducting inspections and 
managing all port of entry operations; overseeing investigations and 
removals; and coordinating and managing detention and enforcement 
support. Additionally, the EAC is responsible for coordinating, with 
the Office of Shared Services, the effective acquisition and 
utilization of shared support items including information technology, 
financial management, facility construction, personnel and training. 
The responsibilities and duties of the EAC will include:
            (1) Border management.--By placing both Border Patrol and 
        Inspection activities under a single EAC, the Service will be 
        able to provide seamless border enforcement along the Nation's 
        borders, and will be better able to coordinate operations with 
        other Federal and governmental agencies along the border.
                    (A) The Border Patrol will perform its current 
                border management and control functions of deterring 
                illegal immigration and apprehending illegal aliens 
                between ports of entry. In addition, the Border Patrol 
                will continue to work with Federal, State and local law 
                enforcement agencies to effectively administer laws 
                related to the interdiction of drug trafficking 
                activities.
                    (B) Port of Entry management is a key component of 
                border management due to the interrelationship between 
                activities at and between land border ports of entry. 
                The EAC will be operationally responsible for carrying 
                out these duties in compliance with applicable law and 
                policy and will be responsible for effectively 
                monitoring resource utilization and maintaining 
                accurate performance measures of these activities.
            (2) Interior enforcement and removals.--The EAC will be 
        responsible for consolidating investigations, intelligence and 
        deportation functions into one coordinated multi-disciplinary 
        component to focus on illegal alien removals and to vigorously 
        combat immigration document fraud, smuggling and illegal 
        employment in the workplace. This consolidated approach will 
        ensure swift and proper apprehension, incarceration and removal 
        of those illegally residing and working in this country.
            (3) Detention and enforcement support.--The EAC will be 
        responsible for ensuring logistical coordination for the 
        incarceration and transportation of criminal and illegal 
        aliens. The EAC will be responsible for effectively managing 
        the Service's bed space at both Service-owned and contract 
        detention facilities. Additionally, the EAC will be responsible 
        for effectively acquiring bed space from State and local 
        entities to ensure the Service can detain and transport 
        individuals it apprehends.
    (d) The Office of Shared Services will be headed by an Executive 
Associate Commissioner (EAC), a Senior Executive who will report 
directly to the Office of the Commissioner. The EAC will be responsible 
for establishing an operational chain of command dedicated to meeting 
the support requirements for both the enforcement and service 
operational components. The EAC will be responsible for the effective 
provision of shared administrative and support services to ensure that 
each side of the agency has the appropriate administrative and 
technological tools to do its jobs in the most effective and cost-
efficient way. The EAC will accomplish this through four functional 
goals; establishing and maintaining a records management system that 
accurately and efficiently documents immigration status; ensuring 
information and enforcement technology enhancements and initiatives are 
developed and maintained to operational component specifications; 
building and maintaining a superior recruiting, hiring and training 
operation to meet Service employment requirements; and building and 
managing a Service physical plant to adequately support agency housing 
needs. The EAC will also coordinate with the CFO on financial 
management. The responsibilities and duties of the EAC will include:
            (1) Automation and technology.--The EAC will be responsible 
        for ensuring that the Service establishes and maintains state-
        of-the-art information resources capability to carry out agency 
        enforcement and service functions. The EAC will be responsible 
        for deploying and monitoring technology and ensuring that the 
        Service's workforce operates as effectively as possible with 
        these tools. The EAC will also establish and promulgate agency-
        wide policy relative to the acquisition and deployment of 
        technology capabilities in coordinating with the operational 
        components of the Service.
            (2) Centralized records management.--The EAC will be 
        responsible for maintaining a centralized repository for all 
        Service records and will be responsible for establishing a 
        greater level of data integrity in existing electronic records 
        and managing the transition to an electronic records 
        environment.
            (3) Personnel and training.--The EAC will be responsible 
        for tracking the hiring of all categories of Service personnel 
        and ensuring that all employees receive proper training in a 
        timely manner. Specialized training courses and a full spectrum 
        of basic, advanced, and continuing education will be 
        established to ensure a professional workforce.
            (4) Administrative support.--The EAC will be responsible, 
        in coordination with the operational components of the Service, 
        for planning, constructing and renovating all required Service 
        facilities and equipment, including Border Patrol stations, 
        detention facilities, Immigrant Services offices and general 
        support office space. The EAC will also be responsible for 
        logistics; procurement; and environmental, occupational and 
        health activities of the Service.

SEC. 102. SAVINGS PROVISIONS.

    (a) Legal Documents.--All orders, determinations, rules, 
regulations, permits, grants, loans, contracts, agreements, 
certificates, licenses, and privileges--
            (1) that have been issued, made, granted, or allowed to 
        become effective by the President, the Attorney General, the 
        Commissioner of the INS, or any other Government official, or 
        by a court of competent jurisdiction, in the performance of any 
        function that is transferred; and
            (2) that are in effect on the effective date of such 
        transfer (or become effective after such date pursuant to their 
        terms as in effect on such effective date); shall continue in 
        effect according to their terms until modified, terminated, 
        superseded, set aside, or revoked in accordance with law by the 
        President, any other authorization official, a court of 
        competent jurisdiction, or operation of law.
    (b) Proceedings.--This Act shall not affect any proceedings 
including proceedings before the Executive Office for Immigration 
Review and any application for any benefits, service, license, permit, 
certificate, or financial assistance in pending on the date of the 
enactment of this Act before an office whose functions are transferred 
by this Act, but such proceedings and applications shall be continued. 
Orders shall be issued in such proceedings, appeals shall be taken 
therefrom, and payments shall be made pursuant to such orders, as if 
this Act had not been enacted, and orders issued in any such proceeding 
shall continue in effect until modified, terminated, superseded, or 
revoked by a duly authorized official, by a court of competent 
jurisdiction, or by operation of law. Nothing in this subsection shall 
be considered to prohibit the discontinuance or modification of any 
such proceeding under the same terms and conditions and to the same 
extent that such proceeding could have been discontinued or modified if 
this Act had not been enacted.
    (c) Suits.--This Act shall not affect suits commenced before the 
date of the enactment of this Act, and in all such suits, proceedings 
shall be had, appeals taken, and judgments rendered in the same manner 
and with the same effect as if this Act had not been enacted.
    (d) Nonabatement of Actions.--No suit, action, or other proceeding 
commenced by or against the Department of Justice or the Immigration 
and Naturalization Service, or by or against any individual in the 
official capacity of such individual as an officer or employee in 
connection with a function transferred by the Act, shall abate by 
reason of the enactment of this Act.
    (e) Continuance of Suits.--If any Government officer in the 
official capacity of such officer is party to a suit with respect to a 
function of the officer, and under this Act such function is 
transferred to any other officer or office, then such suit shall be 
continued with the other officer or the head of such other office, as 
applicable, substituted or added as a party.
    (f) Administrative Procedure and Judicial Review.--Except as 
otherwise provided by this Act, any statutory requirements relating to 
notice, hearings, action upon the record, or administrative or judicial 
review that apply to any function transferred by this Act shall apply 
to the exercise of such function by the head of the office, and other 
officers of the office, to which such function is transferred by this 
Act.
    (g) Department of State.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed to 
preclude or limit in any way the powers, authorities, or duties of 
special agents of the Department of State and the Foreign Service under 
section 2709 of title 22, United States Code, or of the Secretary of 
State under section 4801, et seq. of title 22, United States Code, to 
investigate illegal passport or visa issuance or use.

SEC. 103. COMMISSIONER COMPENSATION.

    Effective as of the day following the date on which the present 
incumbent in the office of the Commissioner ceases to serve as such, 
the Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service shall 
receive compensation at the rate prescribed for level III of the 
Federal Executive Salary Schedule (section 5314 of title 5, United 
States Code).

                    TITLE II--CONFORMING AMENDMENTS

SEC. 201. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

    (a) Section 103(e)(2) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. section 1103(e)(2), is 
amended by striking ``district office of the Service'' and inserting 
``designated office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service''.
    (b) Section 242(b)(3)(A) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. section 
1252(b)(3)(A), is amended by striking ``Service district'' and 
inserting ``designated office of the Immigration and Naturalization 
Service''.
    (c) Section 316 of the INA, 8 U.S.C. section 1427, is amended--
            (1) in section (a) by striking ``district of the Service'' 
        and inserting ``area serviced by the designated office of the 
        Immigration and Naturalization Service''; and
            (2) in section (f)(1) by striking ``district of the 
        Service'' and inserting ``area serviced by the designated 
        office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service''.
    (d) Section 319 of the INA, 8 U.S.C. section 1430, is amended--
            (1) in section (a) by striking ``district of the Service'' 
        and inserting ``area serviced by the designated office of the 
        Immigration and Naturalization Service'';
            (2) in section (b)(3) by striking ``district of the 
        Service'' and inserting ``area serviced by the designated 
        office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service'';
            (3) in section (c)(5) by striking ``district of the 
        Service'' and inserting ``area serviced by the designated 
        office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service''; and
            (4) in section (d) by striking ``district of the Service'' 
        and inserting ``area serviced by the designated office of the 
        Immigration and Naturalization Service''.
    (e) Section 324 of the INA, 8 U.S.C. section 1435(a)(1), is amended 
by striking ``district of the Service'' and inserting ``area serviced 
by the designated office of the Immigration and Naturalization 
Service''.
    (f) Section 328 of the INA, 8 U.S.C. section 1439, is amended--
            (1) in section (a) by striking ``district of the Service'' 
        and inserting ``area serviced by the designated office of the 
        Immigration and Naturalization Service'';
            (2) in section (b)(1) by striking ``district of the 
        Service'' and inserting ``area serviced by the designated 
        office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service''; and
            (3) in section (c) by striking ``district of the Service'' 
        and inserting ``area serviced by the designated office of the 
        Immigration and Naturalization Service''.
    (g) Section 329(b)(2) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. section 1440(b)(2), is 
amended by striking ``district of the Service'' and inserting ``area 
serviced by the designated office of the Immigration and Naturalization 
Service''.
    (h) Section 335(f) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. section 1446(f), is amended 
by striking ``district of the Service'' each time the phrase appears 
and inserting ``area serviced by the designated office of the 
Immigration and Naturalization Service''.
    (i) Section 338 of the INA, 8 U.S.C. section 1449, is amended by 
striking ``district office of the Service'' and inserting ``designated 
office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service''.
    (j) Section 339(b) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. section 1450(b), is amended 
by striking ``district office of the Service'' and inserting 
``designated office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service''.
    (k) Section 404 of the INA, 8 U.S.C. section 1101, note, is 
amended--
            (1) in section (b)(2)(A)(i) by striking ``a district 
        director of the Service'' and inserting ``a designated 
        Immigration and Naturalization Service officer''; and
            (2) in (b)(2)(A)(iii) by striking ``in a district'' and 
        inserting ``in a designated office of the Immigration and 
        Naturalization Service''.
                                 <all>