Customs Service and INS

Dual Management Structure for Border Inspections Should Be Ended Gao ID: GGD-93-111 June 30, 1993

The Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) have a long history of interagency rivalry coupled with ineffective cooperation and coordination relating to border crossing operations. These problems still exist today, even though the agencies share responsibility for primary inspections at border crossings. These unproductive conditions appear to be deeply ingrained in the management of these two agencies, and GAO concludes that a single independent agency combining the functions of both Customs and INS is the most viable option to address the challenges posed by changing international business competition and increasing international migration flows.

GAO found that: (1) coordination problems persist despite interagency agreements providing for cross-designation of Customs and INS inspectors; (2) the agencies have not provided updated cross-designation training for inspectors, monitored inspectors' performance, or coordinated an approach to address staffing and traffic backups; (3) interagency rivalry is substantial at the headquarters level, which affects field relations between Customs and INS, particularly concerning drug interdiction; (4) inspectors often fail to enter data into the enforcement system's database, but supervisors cannot discipline inspectors from outside their own agency; (5) the dual management structure weakens operational accountability because no one is in charge of overall entry-port operations; (6) long-range planning is uncoordinated and performance measurement efforts are often duplicated; (7) dual operations increase operations costs; (8) options for improving operations include improving coordination within the joint-staffing framework, establishing one agency as the lead for primary inspections, and creating a border management agency by merging the INS border patrol and inspection functions with the Customs Service; and (9) Customs and immigration officials believe the three management options have insurmountable flaws and an independent immigration and customs agency should be created.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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