INS Drug Task Force Activities

The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force was created in 1982 to carry out a comprehensive, multiagency attack on drug-related and money laundering enterprises. GAO was requested to provide information on the Immigration and Naturalization Service's (INS) participation in the Task Force, especially with respect to INS implementation of a section of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, which directed INS to establish a Task Force pilot project and which authorized $8.2 million to increase the commitment of INS personnel to the Task Force. This report compares INS staffing and efforts concerning the Task Force in the cities involved in the pilot project to nonpilot cities.

GAO found that: (1) INS has increased its overall OCDETF staff years by about 25 percent; (2) other OCDETF participating agencies find INS agents to be knowledgeable and willing to participate in all aspects of OCDETF investigations and believe INS is doing its best with its available staff; (3) INS OCDETF officials prefer direct reporting to headquarters because it allows more efficient program management, makes INS staff more responsive to the task force, limits staff reassignment to non-OCDETF activities, and expedites decisionmaking; (4) INS district directors prefer the traditional reporting structure because they are not always aware of OCDETF activities; (5) INS district directors believe that INS could successfully participate in OCDETF activities under its traditional reporting structure if INS headquarters made OCDETF a priority and specified the level of resource commitment; and (6) INS headquarters officials believe that both reporting structures have advantages and weaknesses.