This report provides an overview of the immigration and naturalization service's budget during Fiscal Year 1999

Krouse, William J.

UNT Digital Library

Congressional Research Service  ̃The Library of CongressCRS Report for CongressReceived through the CRS Web98-269 EPWUpdated August 7, 1998Immigration and Naturalization Service’s FY1999 BudgetWilliam J. KrouseAnalyst in Social LegislationEducation and Public WelfareSummaryThe House-passed Commerce, Justice, State (CJS), and the JudiciaryAppropriations Act (H.R. 4276) would provide the Immigration and NaturalizationService (INS) with $4.1 billion, an increase of $340 million over the agency’s FY1998budget, while the Senate-passed measure (S. 2260) would provide the agency with $3.9billion for the upcoming fiscal year, an increase of $142 million over this fiscal year.  Bycomparison, the Administration’s FY1999 budget request for INS was $4.2 billion. Both the Senate and House Appropriations Committees earmarked $103 million toincrease the Border Patrol by 1,000 additional agents.  For interior enforcement ofimmigration laws, the House earmarked an increase of $49 million, while the Senateearmarked $13 million.  Both Committees earmarked a transfer of $5 million inimmigration fees from INS to the Department of Justice Management Division tocontinue efforts to revamp the naturalization process.  In addition, the House Committeeearmarked nearly $80 million in immigration examination fee receipts to continue effortsto improve the integrity of naturalization process.The Senate bill, S. 2260, includes a number of noteworthy provisions.  Oneprovision would remove a limitation Congress placed on adjustments of status forpotential immigrants who had either entered without inspection or overstayed the termsof their nonimmigrant visa (Section 245(i)).  The second provision would repeal arequirement of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996(Division C, P.L. 104-208) that requires the development of an entry/exit control systemto track non-citizen arrivals and departures.  The third provision would amend anotherprovision of P.L. 104-208 to provide for the replacement of border crossing cardsincrementally over a four year period, rather than in their entirety by the end of FY1999.A fourth provision, the result of a floor amendment, would provide for an expandedtemporary agricultural worker program.CRS-2IntroductionThe Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), a branch of the Department ofJustice (DOJ), is the principal federal agency charged with administering the Immigrationand Nationality Act.  Congress funds INS through the Commerce, Justice, State (CJS),and the Judiciary  appropriations bill.  From  FY1993 to FY1998, Congress has more thandoubled the INS budget, from $1.5 to $3.8 billion.  During these years, INS staffing hasincreased from just over 18,000 to nearly 29,000 permanent positions — a 60% increase.INS now makes up the largest corps of federal civilian employees (12,403) empoweredto make arrests and carry a firearm.  Table 1.  Immigration and Naturalization Service Funding(budget authority in millions)Sources of Funding FY1998 base request passed passedaFY1999 FY1999 Senate- House-bFY1999 FY1999Salaries & expenses appropriation $1,659 $1,688 $1,867 $1,169 $1,620 cViolent crime reduction trust fund 608 670 738 1,100 866 Examinations fee account 785 800 826 906 906 User fee account 427 444 486 444 486 Breached Bond/Detention Fund 235 145 145 202 170d d d d dOther off-setting fee receipts 8  8 8 8 8 Construction appropriation 76 20 118 110 82 Total INS fundinge $3,799 $3,776 $4,189 $3,940 $4,138 Sources:  H.Rept. 105-636 (H.R. 4276); S.Rept. 105-105-235 (S. 2260); Budget for the U.S. Government,FY1999; Department of Justice FY1999 Budget Summary; P.L. 105-119; H.Rept. 105-405 (H.R. 2267);H.Rept. 105-207 (H.R. 2267); S. Rept. 105-48 (S. 1022); INS FY1998 Congressional Budgets; Budgetfor the U.S. Government, FY1998; P.L. 104-208; H.Rept 104-863 (H.R. 3610); H.Rept 104-676 andS.Rept. 104-353 (H.R. 3814). Anticipated because of the uncertainties of projected fee receipts and future budget reprogrammings.a The base budget is the Administration’s estimate of the amount of funding necessary to carry this year’sblevel of activities and services next year. Reflects $1.28 million transfer from the Department of State.c Includes 245(i) penalty fee receipts.d Columns may not total due to rounding.eAs Table 1 shows, Congress appropriates funding for INS from several sources:appropriations from general revenues, a trust fund, and off-setting fee receipts.Approximately one-third of INS’s budget is derived from fees.  User fees are generatedprincipally by the $6.00 inspection fee included in the cost of an airline ticket for anarriving international flight with an international point of origin, and an assortment of fineslevied against airlines and other carriers for not complying with immigration regulations.In addition, examination fees are collected by INS for processing immigration andnaturalization claims.  INS has recently proposed raising examination fees (see FederalRegister, January 12, 1998, pp. 1775-97).  The proposed fee increases are calculated intoprojected examinations fee receipts for FY1999.CRS-3Regarding fee receipts, the Senate bill would repeal a limitation on a provision ofimmigration law, Section 245(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, that allowspotential immigrants who have either overstayed the terms of their temporarynonimmigrant admission or entered without inspection to adjust status to legal permanentresident provided they pay a $1,000 penalty fee.  Under current law, this penalty fee isdeposited into the Breached Bond/Detention Fund.  P.L. 105-119 limited eligibility tothose aliens whose sponsors had filed a petition by January 14, 1999.  By striking thisdate, the Senate bill would reopen eligibility under Section 245(i) (see CRS Report 97-946, Immigration:  Adjustment to Permanent Residence Status under Section 245(i)).In its annual budget submission, INS treats each funding source as a separate budget.Table 2 is a CRS analysis of the FY1999 INS budget submission in which total fundingfrom all sources was compiled by program allocation.  Congress does not appropriatefunding for INS by program, rather Congress earmarks increases for specific programs(usually in report language). Table 2.  Immigration and Naturalization Service Budget Allocations by Program(budget authority in millions)Programs actual anticipated base requestFY1997 FY1998 FY1999 FY1999a bENFORCEMENTBorder Patrol $730 $877 $898 $998Inspections 392 472 490 527Investigations 261 275 283 312Intelligence 12 14 14 21Detention & deportation 540 733 707 771SUBTOTAL 1,935 2,370 2,393 2,630CITIZENSHIP & IMMIGRATION BENEFITSInternational affairs 87 102 105 114Adjudication & nationality 310 392 390 389SUBTOTAL 396 494 495 503IMMIGRATION SUPPORTTraining 45 24 24 24Data & communications 361 366 356 393Information & records mgmt. 172 227 237 242Construction & engineering 31 77 21 119Legal proceedings 73 78 81 89SUBTOTAL 682 772 719 867PROGRAM DIRECTIONManagement & Administration 165 162 170 189Total $3,179 $3,799 $3,776 $4,189Source: Table prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) based on data from Immigrationand Naturalization Service 1999 Congressional Budgets. Anticipated because of the uncertainties of projected fee receipts and budget reprogrammings.a The base budget is the Administration’s estimate of the amount of funding necessary to carry out thisbyear’s level of activities and services next year.CRS-4As Table 2 shows, the INS budget is divided into four activities:  Enforcement,which includes the Border Patrol, Inspections, Investigations, Intelligence, and Detentionand Deportation programs; Citizenship and Immigration Benefits, which includes theInternational Affairs, and Adjudication and Nationality programs; Immigration Support,which includes the Training, Data and Communications, Information and RecordsManagement, Construction and Engineering, and Legal Proceedings programs; and,finally, Program Direction, which provides for overall agency management. Border Enforcement: Border Patrol and InspectionsPreventing illegal entry and facilitating legal entry of persons is largely theresponsibility of the Border Patrol and INS Inspections.  INS inspectors manage theadmission of both citizens and foreign nationals through air, land, and sea ports of entry.INS inspectors also intercept inadmissible persons, including those who seek to enter theUnited States with altered or fraudulent documents, or by making false claims of U.S.citizenship.  In FY1997, INS Inspectors conducted over 499 million inspections.  FromFY1993 to FY1998, the Inspections budget has grown from $249 million to $472 million.For FY1999, the Senate did not include funding to increase INS inspections staff.However, House report language earmarks an increase of $16 million in user fees to hire100 additional inspectors for airports, 60 asylum officers, and other staff to expedite theremoval of aliens who arrive with fraudulent documentation or willfully misrepresentthemselves at ports of entry. House report language also matches the Administration’srequest with an increase of $20 million earmarked to continue development of anautomated arrival-departure control system at airports of entry that will enable INS toidentify nonimmigrants (e.g., tourists and foreign students) who overstay their visas.Conversely, the Senate bill would repeal the statutory provision requiring that such asystem be developed — Section 110 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and ImmigrantResponsibility Act (IIRIRA; Division C of P.L. 104-208) —  and would amend Section104 of that law to phase in the replacement of border crossing cards (laser visas)incrementally by the end of FY2003, instead of requiring that they be replaced entirely bythe end of FY1999.  (For further detail on both these provisions, see CRS Report 98-89,Immigration: Visa Entry/Exit Control System.)The Border Patrol’s major objectives are to prevent illegal entry into the UnitedStates, interdict drug smugglers and other criminals, and compel those persons seekingadmission to present themselves legally at ports-of-entry for inspection.  Between FY1993and FY1998, the Border Patrol’s budget has more than doubled from $362 million to$877 million.  Both Senate and House report language earmarks $103 million (asrequested by the Administration) to increase the Border Patrol by 1,000 agents and 140support staff, bringing the total number of agents to over 8,700.  (See also CRS Report97-989, U.S. Border Patrol Operations.)Interior Enforcement:  Investigations, Detention, and RemovalINS investigators are  responsible for criminal alien cases, immigration-relateddocument and benefit application fraud, alien smuggling, and employer sanctionsviolations.  Employer sanctions prohibit employers from knowingly hiring aliens who areunauthorized to work in the United States.  In recent years, much of the Investigations’CRS-5budget increases were used to step up employer sanctions enforcement; however,identifying and removing criminal aliens from the U.S. accounts for the largest percentageof the Investigation program’s workload.  In FY1997, INS investigations staff (1,889investigators and 230 agents) completed 32,521 criminal alien cases, 4,648 employersanctions cases, 2,242 fraud cases, and 442 smuggling cases.  From FY1993 to FY1998,the Investigation program’s budget has grown from $149 million to $275 million.  For FY1999, Senate report language earmarks an increase of $10 million to hire 46new investigators, 15 new agents, and 39 detention, legal, and support personnel for anti-smuggling and interdiction operations along major highway corridors in the mid-west.Senate language also earmarks another $3 million for a law enforcement support centerin Nebraska.  Meanwhile, House report language earmarks increases of $25 million toprovide for the formation of 50 INS quick response teams and a 24-hour 1-800 numberto assist state and local law enforcement officers in identifying and transferring criminaland other removable aliens to INS custody, and $3 million to fund INS participation infederal antiterrorism task force operations. INS has come under intense criticism for not expeditiously identifying and deportingcriminal aliens.  At the end of FY1997, the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) estimated that outof approximately 113,000 inmates in federal and federally contracted correctionalfacilities, 27% were non-citizens — many of whom are subject to removal proceedings.From FY1993 to FY1998, funding for the Detention and Deportation program has grownfrom $193 million to $733 million — an increase of 280%.  In FY1997, INS  removednearly  50,165 criminal and 61,629 non-criminal aliens.  Senate report language directsINS to designate Salt Lake City, UT as a hub location for a criminal alien county jailremoval program and a future site for an INS detention facility.  House report languageearmarks an increase of $21 million to expand INS detention capacity.International Affairs, Adjudications, and NaturalizationUnder the International Affairs program, INS processes refugees and parolees, andconducts background and record checks related to immigration petitions at overseasoffices.  This program also oversees the Asylum Officer Corps, whose members interviewand screen political asylum applicants in the U.S.  In FY1997, INS processed over 91,000applications for asylum, granting that status in over 10,000 cases.  On the other hand,there were nearly 399,000 backlogged asylum cases at the end of FY1997 compared tonearly 454,000 cases at the end of FY1996.  From FY1993 to FY1998, funding for thisprogram has increased $39 million to $102 million.Under the INS Adjudications and Nationality program, INS adjudicates  applicationsand petitions for immigration-related benefits, e.g., applications and petitions fornonimmigrant visas, extensions of temporary stays, refugee travel documents, reentrypermits, family- and employment-based immigrant petitions, adjustments to legalpermanent residence, and naturalizations.  In FY1996, the last year for which thesestatistics are available, INS admitted over 916,000  immigrants, 67,000  refugees, and 25million nonimmigrant visitors to the United States.  INS also naturalized nearly 650,000  immigrants in FY1997 compared to 1.1 millionimmigrants in FY1996.  This decline was largely the result of DOJ/INS efforts torestructure the naturalization process after a number of serious problems were uncoveredCRS-6during congressional oversight hearings on the INS naturalization initiative, CitizenshipUSA.  Among other things, the agency failed to ensure that all fingerprint checks onapplicants were completed by the FBI, allowing some with criminal records to naturalize.As a result, INS is reviewing over 6,000 naturalization cases and initiated proceedings torevoke citizenship from nearly 1,500 people.  Meanwhile, the number of naturalizationapplications pending with INS increased to nearly 1.6 million at the end of FY1997. The FY1998 appropriation included an increase of $163 million to reducenaturalization caseloads and “restore the integrity of the naturalization process.”  FromFY1993 to FY1998, funding for the Adjudications and Naturalization program hasincreased from $137 million to $392 million.  This program is usually funded entirely fromthe examinations fee account.  The Administration’s requested total allocation for thisprogram is $389 million, more than $2 million under the FY1998 anticipated programallocation.  For FY1999, both Senate and House report language earmarks a $5 milliontransfer from the examinations fee account to the Justice Management Division tocontinue efforts to revamp the naturalization process.  In addition, House report languageearmarks nearly $80 million in immigration examination fee receipts to continue ongoingefforts to improve the integrity of the naturalization process. (For further detail, see CRSReport 98-190, Naturalization Trends, Issues, and Legislation.) During Senate floor consideration, there were a number of successful flooramendments.  Of these, the largest in scope would provide for an expanded temporaryagricultural workers program and farm-worker registry.  (For background, see CRSReport 97-714, Immigration: The "H-2A" Temporary Agricultural Worker Program).Other amendments would: eliminate potential for fraud in the investor visa program, waiveprocessing fees for laser visas, exempt orphans adopted by U.S. citizens from theimmigration-related grounds for removal, extend temporary protected status for Liberiansthrough FY1999, provide adjustment of status for certain Iraqi asylees, provide greateraccess to discretionary relief to noncitizen battered spouses and children, and provide fora temporary health care worker visa.   Immigration SupportUnder the Immigration Support budget activity, Data and Communications andInformation and Records Management are the two largest programs.  From FY1993 toFY1998, Data and Communications funding increased from $120 million to $366 million.For the same years, Information and Records Management funding increased from $89million to $227 million.  Nevertheless, INS has been criticized for backlogs in processingimmigration-related petitions and applications.  Although these difficulties reflect growinginformation management workloads, they have also been attributed to the agency’sslowness in fully automating information management.  Moreover, provisions included inthe IIRIRA and welfare reform act (P.L. 104-193) placed new demands on INS in theareas of verification of eligibility for social welfare benefits and employment.  

Immigration and Naturalization Service’s FY1999 Budget

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Immigration and Naturalization Service’s FY1999 Budget

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