Immigration and Naturalization Service

The Immigration and Naturalization Service's (INS) mission is twofold. First, the agency seeks to prevent aliens from entering the United States illegally and remove those who succeed in doing so. Second, INS provides services to facilitate the entry, residency, employment, and naturalization of legal immigrants. This testimony summarizes GAO's work on management and program challenges at INS. These challenges involve INS' strategic planning process, organizational structure, communications and coordination, financial management, and program implementation.

GAO noted that: (1) GAO and others have identified management and program challenges that have troubled INS for years; (2) GAO's management reports in 1991 and 1997 and related reviews have indicated that urgent attention should be given to INS' management challenges; (3) GAO pointed out significant issues related to INS': (a) strategic planning process; (b) organizational structure; (c) communications and coordination; and (d) financial management processes; (4) specifically, GAO noted that INS': (a) strategic planning required sustained management attention and commitment; (b) reorganization had created some uncertainty about organizational roles and responsibilities; (c) internal communications and coordination were problematic, as evidenced by outdated policies and procedures on how to implement immigration laws; and (d) financial management processes were weak, including outdated accounting systems, weak internal controls, and a lack of management emphasis on financial management; (5) in addition to these management challenges, program implementation issues at INS have been the focus of much of GAO's work; (6) GAO's reports on these issues have been related to INS' efforts to: (a) stem the flow of illegal aliens across the Southwest Border; (b) identify and remove criminal aliens from the country; (c) process applications for naturalization; (d) enforce workplace immigration laws; and (e) process aliens for expedited removal; (7) GAO recognizes that addressing these management and program challenges can be difficult; (8) in carrying out its mission, INS has to contend with issues of foreign policy, domestic policy, and intergovernmental relations; and (9) sustained top-level management commitment and monitoring are necessary to ensure that these challenges are addressed appropriately.