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LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
H.R. 3918, the Immigration Reorganization and Improvement Act of 1999, introduced by Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY) and cosponsored by Reps. Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), would replace the INS with two separate departments, a Bureau of Immigration Services and a Bureau of Immigration Enforcement.  Each Bureau would be headed by a person appointed by the President with the advise and consent of the Senate and would report directly to the Attorney General.  The Services Bureau would be in charge of adjudicating immigrant and nonimmigrant visa petition, naturalization applications, asylum and refugee application, and all other applications for benefits under the Immigration and Nationality Act.  The Enforcement Bureau would be in charge of the Border Patrol, detention and deportation, intelligence, investigations and inspections.  The bill calls for funding currently dedicated to services to be transferred to the Services Bureau and funding to enforcement to the Enforcement Bureau. 
Within weeks of its introduction, H.R. 3918 passed the House Immigration Subcommittee by a 4-3 vote.  While the subcommittee quickly approved the bill, there is doubt about whether it will pass the Senate.  Some advocates say that they have been privately assured that Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-MI), the chair of the Senate Immigration Subcommittee, will introduce his own restructuring bill later this year.  
While H.R. 3918 does address some of the concerns that motivate the desire for INS restructuring, critics of the bill worry that the lack of centralized management will create new problems.  Also, many are concerned that the service bureau will not receive the necessary funding, while the enforcement bureau will have unlimited funding.  The Justice Department issued a letter to the House Subcommittee criticizing H.R. 3918 for failing “to create a proper balance between enforcement and services and does not provide an effective way to direct, coordinate and integrate enforcement and service functions.” Some in the pro-immigration camp, however, believe that the INS is hopelessly broken and that the services side of the agency is already being systematically bled to fund enforcement. An services agency that is dependent on the fees it generates for services would be much better than the current system, such advocates say. 
This is not the first INS restructuring bill that the Subcommittee has approved.  About four months ago a bill was approved that was more in line with the goals of the administration.  However, after Republican lawmakers began to say that the administration had no intention of pursuing restructuring, the Republican leadership abandoned the bill.