IMMIGRATION: 3/13/92 March 13, 1992 PRESIDENT BUSH ON IMMIGRATION "Immigration reform began in 1986 with an effort to close the back door on illegal immigration. And now as we open the front door to increased legal immigration, [the Immigration Act of 1990] provides long-needed enforcement authority. It also credits the special role of immigrants to America, and it will promote a more competitive economy, respect for the family unit, and swift punishment for drugs and crime." President George Bush November 29, 1990 The President is committed to insuring the full and fair enforcement of this Nation's immigration laws. At the same time, the President understands the United States' historic role as a land of opportunity and a haven from political oppression. His Administration has acted deliberately to ensure both of these immigration objectives, fostering legal immigration of productive workers and political refugees and aggressively combatting illegal immigration. To this end, the Bush Administration has compiled an impressive record of action in enforcing the provisions of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. In terms of fostering productive immigration, the Immigration Act of 1990 will make it easier for exceptionally talented immigrants such as scientists, educators, and engineers to put their talents to work for America. Recent Initiatives The President's FY 1993 Budget and recent initiatives by the Justice Department would significantly increase security along U.S. borders. Under these proposals: o 500 new investigators and border patrol agents will be hired to interdict illegal drugs and illegal entrants along the Nation's borders including: o 150 new investigators will be hired to locate and deport criminal aliens. o 50 new investigators will be hired to help deter illegal immigrants by bolstering enforcement of laws against hiring illegal workers. o An additional $3.6 million will be spent by the INS to detain excludable aliens denied entry in New York City. o Lawful immigration will be made more efficient; the INS will add 250 temporary workers to process applications and streamline the application process. In addition, to reduce lines at INS District offices, 100 information officers will be added and 240 new airport inspectors will be hired to reduce immigration lines at airports. All told, the Border Patrol will increase to 4,473 agents, an increase of 8 percent. For the INS as a whole, the new hires at the Border Patrol and in INS processing staff will represent a personnel increase of 7 percent. This year, the President is increasing the total INS budget by $174 million to a level of $1.5 billion. On November 29, 1990, the President signed the Immigration Act of 1990, which raises annual immigration quotas from the 1989 level of 540,000 immigrants to 700,000 immigrants per year until 1995. The Immigration Act of 1990 includes measures to broaden the diversity of our immigrant pool and facilitates the immigration of entrepreneurs who invest at least $1 million (or $500,000 in certain circumstances) in a new commercial enterprise and create 10 jobs. Immigration / Interdiction Accomplishments The number of illegal aliens apprehended by the INS Border Patrol increased from 891,146 in 1989 to 1.13 million in 1991. During FY 1990, the Border Patrol seized $1.6 billion worth of illegal drugs in 5,000 individual seizures, an increase of more than one-third over FY 1989 seizures. Earlier this month, the INS levied its largest fine in history -- $1.1 million -- against a Georgia peach harvester for smuggling aliens into the U.S. and providing them with jobs. INS officials concluded that the bust of such a major smuggling ring would put "a major dent" in employment of illegal aliens in the Southeast. The $1.1 million fine is almost double that of the previous record, a $580,000 fine against a South Carolina firm in 1989. In September 1991, INS agents scored a major victory against illegal immigration, shutting down a California counterfeiting ring that was providing fake documentation to illegal aliens in eleven states. Agents seized two high-capacity printing presses and over 250,000 phony identification cards that caused the dismantling of the largest immigration counterfeiting operation known to date.