House votes to abolish INS and create two new agencies

Associated Press WriterWASHINGTON (AP) -- The House overwhelmingly agreed to abolish the embattled Immigration and Naturalization Service on Thursday and create two new agencies to handle enforcement and immigration services.

The bill passed the House 405-9 just hours after Attorney General John Ashcroft made a special trip up to the Capitol to endorse the legislation.

House Republicans and Democrats both got behind the bill. "I am convinced it is time for reform," said House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo. "We will have taken a big step in helping the federal government manage immigration," said Rep. John Linder, R-Ga.

However, Ashcroft said the White House would likely work with the Democratic-controlled Senate to get a plan more to its liking.

"This is not the end of the journey," the attorney general said. "This is an important first step essential to the journey's end, but not sufficient to get us there."

Ashcroft and the White House endorsed an INS breakup bill by the House Judiciary Committee chairman, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, just before the debate began on the House floor. The Wisconsin Republican called the bill "tough love."

"It is beyond time to restructure one of the worst-run agencies in the U.S. government," he said.

The overhaul would scrap the INS and create one agency to enforce laws and keep out unqualified people and another to smooth the way to possible citizenship for legal immigrants. The new agencies would stay under Ashcroft's control at the Justice Department.

"We are committed to ending the INS as we know it," Ashcroft said.

That is seen as vital by many in Congress because of a series of foul-ups. Notice of previously approved visa extensions for two of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers was mailed months after the attacks; a government aviation newsletter was still being mailed to another hijacker long after his death. Although all 19 came on valid visas, several were illegally in the country at the time of the attacks.

The Bush administration originally wanted to divide the INS functions administratively while keeping the agency intact. That plan has not been warmly received in Congress, and Sensenbrenner's committee approved the breakup plan two weeks ago on a 32-2 vote.

One of those "no" votes spoke out again against the bill Thursday, with Rep. Melvin Watt, D-N.C., calling the proposed two new agencies a "two-headed monster."

"You've got one inefficient unproductive INS now. It seems to me what you're going to end up with is two inefficient agencies," said Watt, who acknowledged he did not have enough votes to stop the bill.

The White House now supports Sensenbrenner's bill but says it needs some work. A Senate bill already is in the works and administration officials will likely talk to senators to get changes they want, Ashcroft said.

"I think all the parties here understand that the way you get laws done in the United States is that we all work together," Ashcroft said.

The administration wants the new immigration agencies' boss, who would be an associate attorney general, to have as much power as the current INS commissioner. The White House also wants Congress not to limit whom the president can appoint to run the agencies.

The House bill would require the new associate attorney general to have a minimum five years' experience running "a large and complex organization."

"There are several improvements we would like to see in the legislation, but we share a common goal and believe that Congress needs to get this done," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

The immigration service has been criticized for years because of huge backlogs of applications for benefits such as naturalization or permanent residence. In addition, critics say the service's dual missions conflict: to help immigrants enter and stay in the country and to identify and keep out those who try to enter illegally or may pose a danger.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., also is working on an INS breakup bill. His legislation also would split the service in two but would have an independent administrator, appointed by the president, overseeing the immigration bureaus rather than an associate attorney general.

------On the Net:

The bill, H.R. 3231: http://thomas.loc.gov

House Judiciary: http://www.house.gov/judiciary

INS: http://www.ins.gov

Administrative plan to restructure INS: http://www.ins.gov/graphics/aboutins/restruct/index.htm