The Immigration and Naturalization Service has received a 24% increase in funding over the past year and Attorney General Janet Reno has released information on how the INS is spending the money. In a February 8, 1996 announcement, Reno remarked that the funding increase has provided substantial funding for continued strengthening of border controls including significant resources for land border inspections and enforcement initiatives targeting US work sites, as well as for increased removal of criminals and other illegal aliens. Specifically, INS received funding to station 800 new Border Patrol agents on the Southwest border of the US and to relocate 200 officers there. 587 inspection officers have also been added at the Southwest border. The number of work site enforcement officers who investigate employer violations has also been increased from 317 to 701 agents and support staff. 1,406 new employees have been added in order to increase the INS’ capacity to detain and remove criminal and other deportable aliens. Many of those positions will be in the seven states with the largest number of foreign born prisoners – California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey and Arizona.
Of the 1 million increase in funding, only has been targeted at improving citizenship services, mainly in the four biggest immigration districts – Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago and New York. A further million will be used to speed up permanent residency processing and immigration information services.
Attorney General Reno noted the following areas of substantial change under the Clinton Administration:
- removed a record number of 51,300 criminal and other deportable aliens from the US;
- strengthened enforcement capabilities along the Southwest border by significantly increasing the number of Border Patrol agents as well as by applying new technologies and other equipment and support;
- cracked down on international alien and narcotics smuggling operations through increased investigations, apprehensions and prosecutions;
- reform of the US asylum and reduction by half of the number of new cases filed;
- increase in the number of criminal aliens deported immediately upon completion of their state sentences through expansion of the Institutional Hearing Program;
- processed and swore-in a record number of new citizens – more than 500,000.
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