Immigration officials request more tech funding

The failure of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to link its top biometrics border-control program to the FBI's data systems has hindered effective management of immigration policies and protection of U.S. borders, INS officials told Congress on Thursday. The INS's biometrics probgram, called IDENT, is just one of numerous information technology gaps in the agency, the officials told the House Judiciary Immigration and Claims Subcommittee. In one particularly deadly result of the IT gap, Rafael Resendez-Ramirez, a Mexican national wanted for murder, was caught illegally crossing into New Mexico in early 2000. The border patrol, however, had neither access to the FBI database nor adequate training on how to use the IDENT system to identify Resendez-Ramirez as a felon. Police returned Resendez-Ramirez to Mexico, but he returned to the United States days later and murdered several other people. Part of the IT gap lies in the fault of Congress to provide adequate funding, but the problem also is related to mismanagement and lack of focus in agency-wide IT investments, said INS Commissioner James Ziglar. "It is clear that the core issue is that we have lacked the development of a plan that defined our mission and our goals ... and we lacked leadership." Since being confirmed this summer, Ziglar, in conjunction with Attorney General John Ashcroft, has developed a plan to align and improve management of the INS technology. Details are expected within the next several months, he said, and he hopes to have the plan fully implemented within a year. When pressed by lawmakers about when the INS will link IDENT to the FBI or when more effective border-patrol technologies will be deployed, Ziglar did not answer specifically. Ziglar said he has requested funding for new scanner machines at U.S. borders. The scanners would electronically monitor immigrants with legitimate visa cards as they enter the country, but so far Congress has not appropriated such funds. He also urged lawmakers to fund INS' bid to expand the number of IDENT machines throughout border-patrol offices. The IDENT system employs biometric technology to scan cards with images of immigrants' thumbprints to establish identity. Only about 800 of the machines are in use, and while the INS has asked to expand that number to 1,100, Congress has declined to provide funding. On a separate issue, Ziglar said the INS has tried to implement the database that would enable it to maintain limited information on foreign students studying in the United States Both Congress and people in the academic community have resisted the effort, but Ziglar said the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks may enable the INS to move forward.