WASHINGTON - A former prosecutor of headline terrorism cases began work this week as acting chief of the nation's troubled immigration agency, prompting a debate among advocates over whether enforcement will overshadow immigration services.
As acting commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Michael Garcia takes a job that will last less than a year. By September, the INS will be divided into its two functions - enforcement and services - with separate bureaus integrated into the new Homeland Security Department.
Garcia, as an assistant U.S. attorney, won convictions in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing cases and the trial last year in the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Africa.
"He has strong prosecutorial credentials, but that only addresses half of the agency's mandate," said Angela Kelley, deputy director of the National Immigration Forum, a nonpartisan advocacy group. "We're worried that basic immigration services won't get enough resources and attention."
Kelley and other advocates cite Attorney General John Ashcroft's emphasis last week on Garcia's record as a prosecutor who will "lead tough enforcement of our immigration laws to protect Americans from terrorism and protect our homeland."
The Federation for American Immigration Reform, which seeks to sharply curtail immigration, said Garcia's prosecution of terrorists "hopefully has given him an appreciation for the inherent connection between uncontrolled immigration and the threat to homeland security."
The INS received intense congressional criticism after the Sept. 11 attacks, which revealed major problems in border security and visa monitoring. Commissioner James W. Ziglar, barely a month into the job when the attacks occurred, announced his resignation in August.
Last week, the Justice Department's inspector general's office found in its annual INS review that a lack of adequate staff, equipment and support was hampering border security and visa tracking.
The Center for Immigration Studies, which favors some restrictions on immigration, estimates that the INS is behind on 4 million cases, from citizenship and green card applications to deportation hearings and asylum cases.
Advocacy groups such as the Immigration Forum and the National Council of La Raza say they have no major quarrel with Garcia but are more worried about how the Homeland Security Department will handle immigration services.
The department's bureau for immigration enforcement will report to the undersecretary of border and transportation security. President Bush nominated Asa Hutchinson, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, for that post.
The bureau for immigration and citizenship services will not have an undersecretary over it. The chief of that bureau will report directly to Secretary Tom Ridge's deputy, who will have many other responsibilities.
These changes may sound like bureaucratic reshuffling, but immigration advocates warn that the services and benefits side of immigration will not have a high-level official to push for adequate funding and resources.
And the separation of INS into two bureaus, each with its own legal staff and rules, may cause confusion.
"Think of when Haitians arrive in Florida, and first it's an enforcement matter but then it's a services function when asylum applications are handled," Kelley said. "The overlap is extraordinary, and you could have two general counsels from the two bureaus with different legal opinions."
Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, said there was a danger of oversimplifying the mission of the bureaus into "one says 'no' and the other says 'yes'" to incoming foreigners.
Krikorian said it was important that the services bureau, in screening applicants, also catch immigration fraud and aid enforcement.