Keeping track of foreigners is essential

A long-neglected, 50-year-old law is being revived by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service -- and, we would say, none too soon.

The INS recently announced a policy that will require all non-citizens to report changes of address within 10 days of moving or risk financial penalties, jail or even deportation. The plan will apply to 10 million people older than 14 who are living in the United States legally but not as American citizens.

The new policy also covers illegal immigrants -- said to number 8 to 9 million nationally -- but few are expected to step forward.

Immigration lawyers and other spokespersons for immigrants criticize the measure as an unwarranted intrusion into the affairs of these people. Said one such attorney: "It's definitely punitive."

Most Americans will disagree and are much more likely to applaud the INS for taking needed action to at least try to get a handle on foreigners in our midst.

The new policy comes as the INS and U.S. colleges are racing to complete a computerized system to monitor foreign students by next year.

In a free and open country of nearly 280 million people, such efforts will never be perfect. But the INS is to be encouraged for attempting to restore some sanity to our handling of the non-citizens in our midst.