No one denies that the INS has serious problems.  The recent flap over the visas for the hijackers, the absurdly long waits for legal immigration, and the long waits for simple visa adjudications are known by anyone interested in the area.  What is not so well known are some of the bizarre results that occur from the current INS structure.

Currently the INS is one entity, charged with granting benefits and enforcement of immigration law.  The officers who grant benefits work side by side with the Deportation and Investigation officers who are charged with enforcing the law.  They share the same building, and the same resources.  The INS officers who grant petitions, approve citizenship applications, and grant permanent residency work next to and with the officers who are charged with identifying and removing those who are here without permission.  It is as if the IRS had an office in your bank.  These people, with vastly different missions and vastly different relationships with aliens, should not be together. 

The current structure can result in some not so funny results.  The INS has a "walk in, walk out" policy, which means that one who goes into INS to ask questions, no matter if they are someone here without permission, or even someone who has been removed or deported before, may walk out again, without interference from the INS Deportation or Investigation officers.  This makes sense because it allows anyone with questions free access to the resources offered by INS without fear.  We want all aliens to feel free to ask questions at INS, without any fear.

And let's remember what is at stake here. The aliens going to INS to ask questions are the good guys.  These are the aliens who wish to regularize their status so that they may pay taxes and become law abiding, contributing citizens of the US.  We want to encourage people to go to INS if they have questions about how to fix their status, not discourage them, so this policy should stay.  But because the Deportation and Investigations officers share space in Tampa with the officers who grant benefits, it is possible that an officer who is looking for a certain dangerous criminal alien may find him one day, in his office, but he will have to watch him leave, and will have to try to catch him later, because of this policy.  So because of our good policy protecting aliens who enter the INS office, we have put blinders on those charged with protecting our safety.

The officers who grant benefits also, from time to time, draft Notices to Appear and issue them to alien applicants whose application or petitions have been denied.  A Notice to Appear is your notice that you are being called before the Immigration Court to explain why you should not be removed from the United States.  In February and March of this year many permanent residents got a surprise.  These people, who applied for citizenship from six months to two years ago, were not eligible for citizenship.  No big deal, right?  But, along with their denial letter, they received a Notice to Appear in Immigration Court, because they may or may not be removable. 

Again, people applying for citizenship are the good guys.  These are the people who have decided to foreswear other allegiances and become US citizens.  We need to show that we appreciate the efforts these people are making to become citizens by letting them know that they will not be removed from the US for seeking citizenship.  If they may be removable, let the enforcement arm of the INS figure that out, not the benefits arm.

We need to separate the INS functions for benefits and enforcement, and insure that they keep a wall between them such that applying for a benefit will never directly result in entry into removal proceedings.  We also need to take the restrictions off of the Deportation and Investigations officers grant them the power to stop and remove dangerous aliens, wherever they find them.

This would increase the efficiency of INS as each group would have one mission.  The benefits group would work to assist legal and illegal aliens in becoming tax paying residents and citizens of the United States.  The enforcement group would be free to concentrate on identifying and removing criminal aliens.  The increased efficiency from this concentration would result in shorter waiting times for benefits, quicker processing times for petitions and applications, and, get this, happier employees at INS, as they get to do what they like to do, without interference, without restrictions, and without distractions.

P.S.         
I don't have the space to cover all I would like to change, but I would