Summary

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has received considerable attention in recent years, especially as concerns have mounted over illegal immigration. From fiscal year 1993 to fiscal year 1997, INS' budget more than doubled, and its staffing level increased by about 45 percent to more than 26,000 positions. GAO reported in 1991 that INS was experiencing severe management problems. (See GAO/GGD-91-28.) This follow-up review discusses INS' progress in addressing these issues. GAO examines whether INS has (1) developed goals and priorities to guide planning and resource allocation, (2) revised its organizational structure, (3) improved its internal communications and updated its field and administrative manuals, (4) improved the process for allocating budgetary resources, and (5) improved its ability to monitor its financial status.

GAO noted that: (1) INS has made progress toward addressing some of its management problems, but much remains to be done and top management attention is still required; (2) INS issued a strategic plan in 1994 to guide its decisionmaking and policymaking and to set the stage for the implementation of a priorities management process; (3) INS developed annual goals and priorities and used them in fiscal years 1995 and 1996 to plan and allocate new resources provided by Congress; (4) in addition, in 1994 the Commissioner established a new organizational structure with four Executive Associate Commissioners (EAC) and regional directors who report to one of the executive associate commissioners; (5) the reorganization reportedly has improved oversight of district offices and Border Patrol sectors but has also created some internal communication problems; (6) a lack of clear guidance has also hampered internal communication and may be impeding front-line employees in carrying out their mission-related activities; (7) INS implemented several initiatives intended to improve upon its processes for allocating budgetary resources; (8) INS made improvements in planning resource allocation to be more consistent with agencywide annual priorities and workload demands; (9) furthermore, INS has contracted with a consultant to develop a software program that is compatible with existing staffing models; (10) in addition, the consultant is to review and refine the deployment planning process and the prototype automated software support; (11) INS has had long-standing problems with its financial management system and is in the process of acquiring a new one; (12) INS selected a financial management system in March 1997, even though it had not defined its business processes before it selected the new system; (13) to mitigate the risks associated with its approach, INS plans to analyze its business processes during implementation of the new system, finalize a detailed implementation plan, and develop a risk management plan; (14) GAO did not determine how successful each individual INS action has been in addressing management problems; and (15) however, GAO's survey of INS managers conducted in the fall of 1995, a year after the Commissioner's initial policy and organizational changes, and subsequent interviews with INS managers, indicated that although many managers perceived that some initiatives were having a positive effect, communications problems and other challenges remained.