The Immigration and Naturalization Service has unveiled a series of management reforms and new resources designed to address the substantial criticism the agency has been receiving from Congress, the public and the media.

The INS' Office of the Executive Associate Commissioner for Field Operations will be separated into two divisions - an Immigration Services Division and an Enforcement Division. The Immigration Services Division is designed to help the agency to "provide better and more timely service in field offices around the country." Within the new division, INS will name officials to focus on backlog reduction, customer service, reengineering and other daily adjudication operations. William Yates who currently manages the INS' Eastern Region will head the new adjudication division. The new enforcement division chief will be Richard Cravener. The plan will mean that enforcement and benefits operations will be under two distinct chains of command having separate offices and staff

The INS also announced a number of new initiatives to improve customer service:

- creating backlog reduction teams to work in the five offices responsible for 65% of the caseload. This includes hiring 200 additional adjudicators, expanding support staff, and increasing overtime;

- naming an individual responsible for Customer Service in the new Immigration Services Division to oversee the agency's efforts to improve service delivery and timeliness;

- developing a nationwide telephone customer service center to answer questions about eligibility for citizenship and other benefits, application procedures and individual case status; and

- continuing efforts underway to reduce the backlog and reengineer the naturalization system.

In the meantime, Congress is not buying the INS' efforts at self-reform and is proceeding with efforts to strip the agency of its powers. On July 30th, the House Immigration Subcommittee voted to remove from the INS its enforcement powers. Under a bill proposed by Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY), the powers would be assumed by a new Bureau of Enforcement and Border Affairs that would be a separate agency under the control of the Department of Justice. The INS would focus strictly on its service mission, continuing to issue visas, citizenship and work authorization. The chances of this forced reorganization happening this year are slim. The amount of time left in this session of Congress is very limited and Spencer Abraham, the Senate Immigration Subcommittee chair, has stated he is not seriously considering such a plan this year.