< back
NEWS BYTES
Representatives of the INS and the Mexican government recently concluded the third annual meeting of the Eastern U.S. Region’s Interior Consultation Mechanisms (ICM). The purpose of the ICM is to develop a cooperative relationship between Mexican consular officials and the U.S. Border Patrol, aimed at increasing the protection of the rights of Mexican migrants, while at the same time enforcing U.S. immigration laws. The meeting focused on reviewing the progress made on consular notification and border safety. Similar meetings are to be held shortly for the Central and Western Regions.
The INS has announced the deployment of 200 agents in 11 states as part of the newly designed Quick Response Teams (QRT). The agents will form 45 separate teams. The states and the number of agents they will receive are as follows: Colorado, 31; Missouri, 25; Nebraska, 23; Tennessee, 21; Utah and Iowa, 20; Georgia and North Carolina, 16; Kentucky, 13; Arkansas, 10; South Carolina, 3; and Louisiana, 2. The INS stresses that while the QRTs will cooperate with local law enforcement officials, local law enforcement officials will not be charged with enforcing federal immigration laws. The QRTs, as their name implies, are designed to be a rapid enforcement unit to aid local law enforcement in dealing with illegal immigration. According to the INS press release announcing the deployment of the teams, "the QRTs will apprehend and remove illegal aliens encountered by state and local law enforcement officials in the regular performance of their duties," and will not be encouraging law enforcement officials to search for illegal immigrants.
The head of the Border Patrol did acknowledge, however, that the INS is having difficulty recruiting 1,000 new agents. In testimony before Congress, Border Patrol Chief Gus de la Vina estimated only 200 to 400 would be fired. Ironically, Vina blamed the tight labor market for the difficulties in recruiting. Several members of Congress have indicated that they will co-sponsor legislation to substantially raise the pay scales for Border Patrol agents to respond to the shortage.
Beginning in April, the INS will produce a television show entitled "Immigration Today" in the Miami-Dade County area. The weekly show, under the name, "Immigration and You," has been on the air for six months as a project of the south Florida chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, providing anonymous, free, immigration advice. This will be the only television show produced by the INS, which also produces a monthly radio program on immigration broadcast in Chicago. The INS says there will be no change in the anonymous format, and that the point of the program is to provide accurate information to the community.
The INS is re-evaluating how it treats academic credentials evaluations in H-1B and other cases in light of questions that have arisen regarding the credibility of some credentials evaluators.