Gary Hart: “I rise in support of this immigration reform. It is a long overdue immigration reform. This, however, is the one reform…”

“I rise in support of this immigration reform. It is a long overdue immigration reform. This, however, is the one reform that will work. The INS has a well-documented history of being an unworkable bureaucracy despite the fact that there have been billions of dollars poured into the agency in the name of reform over the last several years. On a regular basis, my district offices received more complaints for help on immigration issues than on health care issues or Social Security issues combined. Other congressional offices have found that the complaints about the INS outnumbered IRS complaints six to one. That is hard to believe. Everyone expects that we are going to get calls about the IRS, but the INS? Six to one. Backlogs are the issue, undocumented aliens are the issue, expired visas are the issue. In fact, everything is the issue. Still, it seems that the problems our constituents face are not unique regarding this troubled agency. It is just a troubled agency. In fact, the problem goes beyond the everyday operations of the INS and, as we know, has now risen to the level of national security. The INS currently has a massive backlog. The recent approval of visa extensions for two of the deceased September 11 hijackers only serves to highlight the severe nature of this problem. At the end of fiscal year 2001, the INS had a backlog of 4.9 million applications.”