[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 155 (Friday, November 5, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2287]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  WITHDRAW COSPONSORSHIP OF H.R. 2528

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. XAVIER BECERRA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, November 4, 1999

  Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Speaker, today I withdraw my cosponsorship of H.R. 
2528. I was an original cosponsor of H.R. 2528, the Immigration 
Reorganization and Improvement Act of 1999, because I support any 
effort to jump-start--or better put, restart--the Immigration and 
Naturalization Service (INS). Chairman Harold Rogers, Chairman Lamar 
Smith and Representative Silvestre Reyes have worked diligently to 
fashion a restructuring bill and are doing what they believed best 
moves us toward that end. I had concerns about the bill when I first 
signed on. But I felt it was important to support efforts to 
restructure the INS. I had hoped H.R. 2528 would move in a direction 
addressing my concerns. However, at this stage I find that the current 
status of the bill falls short of meeting the elements necessary to 
make it a meaningful reform that will place the INS on solid footing to 
effectively address its obligations.
  History has shown that the INS does not receive the resources 
necessary to carry out its duties in the area of services and 
adjudication. This is why the backlog of pending naturalization 
applications grew to approximately 2.0 million and currently stands at 
approximately 1.4 million. Far too many of those backlogged applicants 
waited or have been waiting over 2 years for their cases to be 
adjudicated. The backlog and delay in other adjudication areas--
adjustments of status and the green card replacement program, for 
instance--are as bad if not worse than for naturalization. As such, my 
primary concern pertains to the financing mechanisms within the INS for 
the services and adjudication functions of the agency. Current law and 
its implementation fail to meet this challenge. And H.R. 2528 falls far 
short as well. So long as we continue to require fees collected from 
immigrants for a particular service to pay for non-fee activities, we 
will always run into budgetary problems and services will suffer. H.R. 
2528 authorizes no funds whatsoever for backlog reduction or asylum and 
refugee processing. This additional strain on already stretched 
resources, with no additional funding, will only exacerbate the 
backlogs as well as undermine the United States' ability to meet the 
protection needs of refugees and asylum seekers.
  I am also seriously concerned that H.R. 2528 does not go the 
necessary mile to ensure that these newly independent agencies of the 
Department of Justice's immigration until function properly under the 
oversight and direction of a principal executive. While autonomy for 
the enforcement and service agencies will allow them to perfect and 
specialize in their areas of responsibility, too much distance between 
them could foil the ability of the Department of Justice to direct, 
coordinate and integrate the overlap in enforcement and service 
functions. The latest version of H.R. 2528 improves upon the original 
bill by adding an Assistant Attorney General as that principal in 
charge. However, it maintains three separate legal and policy offices 
which will lead to multiple interpretations of immigration, refugee and 
asylum law. This structure will bear three bureaucracies instead of one 
and cultivate confusion among the three arms of the agency.
  I am committed to continuing to work with the authors of H.R. 2528 
along with the Immigration Subcommittee members and the Clinton 
administration to strengthen the structure of the INS so that it can 
finally, rightfully handle all duties under its charge. The people of 
America who must turn to the INS for services--and who happen to pay 
the taxes and fees to fund this and all other government operations--
deserve no less.

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