[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 32 (Tuesday, March 21, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H1126-H1127]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   INS MANAGEMENT NEEDS TO DO ITS JOB

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Metcalf) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. METCALF. Madam Speaker, I do not have to remind this House about 
the fine work of our Border Patrol agents. They put their lives at risk 
every day to slow the flow of illegal drugs into this country and to 
keep our borders safe from dangerous aliens. Their work in helping to 
arrest a suspected terrorist near Port Angeles, Washington, in December 
was exemplary. We all appreciate their efforts. Due to the current 
inept management of the INS, however, the job of these officers is made 
much, much more difficult.

                              {time}  1245

  Over the past two fiscal years, Congress has appropriated funds for 
the INS to hire 2,000 new Border Patrol agents. The agency has failed 
to hire anywhere near that number, and every new agent they have hired 
has been assigned to the southern border, even though our northern 
border also has problems.
  In fact, until recently, the INS had been detailing agents from our 
already shorthanded northwestern border to shore up its Border Patrol 
officers in Arizona. At one point, nearly 10 percent of the field 
agents in Washington State were assigned to the southern border. The 
INS has indefinitely postponed the details, but refuses to call a 
permanent halt to transfers to the southern border.
  This is not what Congress wanted. There were supposed to be more 
agents in Washington State, not less. I agree that there are serious 
problems on the southern border. That is why the INS was given so much 
money for the Border Patrol last year. The INS management needs to do 
its job and hire more agents instead of robbing from one shorthanded 
border to fill out another. There is no reason why northern border 
staffing should not be increased.
  Last week, with my colleagues, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. 
Nethercutt) and the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Hastings), I sent a 
letter to the INS Commissioner, Doris Meissner, demanding a permanent 
end to transfers of the northwestern Border

[[Page H1127]]

Patrol agents and urging higher staffing levels on the northern border.
  Madam Speaker, how many more illegal drugs and weapons will flood 
across our northern border before the INS finally cleans up its act.

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