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NEWS BYTES
The INS has issued an internal memo to Regional Directors, reminding them of procedures to use in dealing with detainees who’s home countries will not accept them, so-called "permanent detainees." The INS regulations require that removal orders be reviewed before the expiration of the 90-day period of mandatory detention. At this review, the alien must be allowed to present evidence that he is not a danger to the community and would comply with the removal order. Furthermore, every six months the status of those in "permanent detention" must be reviewed to see if there are changed circumstances such that would warrant release. If the detainee is released, the release is to be supervised (like parole), and violations of the terms of release can be sanctions by placing the person back in detention. 
INS adjustment of status processing at INS offices remains largely stalled. A major backlog was created because of problems with name checks by the Central Intelligence Agency. The INS is currently only handling cases filed before June 1998. Headquarters is trying to develop plans to deal with lottery winners in order to ensure that they are not processed too late.
The INS Texas Service Center is reporting that they now expect processing times for adjustment of status cases to take an astounding 1000 days to process despite the fact that processing fees in such cases have recently been raised dramatically. 
The Texas Service Center is now encouraging applicants to file at its street address at 4141 St. Augustine in Mesquite, Texas when time is of the essence. Items delivered to the normal post office box will not receive a post mark on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday. But Federal Express and other courier services can deliver to street addresses on those days.
As a result of the continuing problems in processing citizenship applications, the acting Director of the INS Eastern Region, Michael Devine, has been demoted to his former position of deputy director. While the INS maintains it is routine practice for people to rotate in and out of such positions, others maintain it is part of an agency-wide effort to improve the procession of citizenship applications. New York and Miami, both in the Eastern Region, along with Los Angeles, in the Western Region, account for about 50% of the 1.8 million pending applications. 
INS Headquarters is directing INS service center directors to prioritize cases so that specific processing time targets can be achieved. The new priorities are the following:
I-129 30 days
I-765 75 days
C-8 asylee 21 days
I-130 (immediate relative or visa number available) 90 days
I-140 (visa number available) 60 days
I-526 60 days
I-131 30 days
The INS is beefing up its presence in North Carolina, a state not traditionally attractive to immigrants, but which, with a continuing high demand for construction, agricultural and farm workers, has seen its undocumented immigrant population more than double in the 1990s. The number of agents in the state will rise from 64 to 80, with the new agents being placed as quick response teams with the ability to address a variety of immigration related concerns, such as criminal aliens, smuggling, document fraud, and pursuing employer fraud. 
The INS is working with the State Department to develop a plan for US consulates abroad to take fingerprints for naturalization applicants abroad. No agreement has yet been reached on this issue. 
The INS is prepared to finalize a plan by which all undocumented Central Americans apprehended in the central U.S. would be sent to Dallas, Texas for court hearings. All Mexicans would be sent to El Paso, and all others would be sent to Denver or Chicago. This new "hubbing" plan is intended to maximize resources and minimize the time the immigrant has to spend in detention, but immigration advocates fear such moves may cause unnecessary separations in families and make it more difficult to receive representation from an attorney. The INS plans to speak with interested community groups before implementing the plan, which will take about two months to phase in. 
It appears that Digital Biometrics, Inc. will be the provider of fingerprinting services to the INS following the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by ANADAC, a rival corporation of Digital Biometrics, against the INS seeking performance of their contract for fingerprinting services. The suit attempted to force the INS to honor a contract with ANADAC.