Changes Urged Along U.S. Borders
President Bush, responding to the terror attacks, is expected to ask Congress to remove the Customs Service from the Treasury Department and create a new agency in charge of securing America's porous borders.
His domestic security team recommended in a meeting Tuesday that Mr. Bush seek to merge the Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which includes the Border Patrol, according to senior administration officials.
CBS News Chief White House Correspondent John Roberts reports the INS will be split in half with the enforcement duties folded into a new agency under the Justice Department with the Border Patrol and the Customs Service. The INS' paperwork functions will be retained within a smaller INS.
The Justice Department would oversee the new agency, which would take over enforcement activities from the embattled INS.
In a sign that Mr. Bush is likely to endorse the plan, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer defended the concept of merging border security agencies.
"There is a school of thought that you can have better controls and more effective ways of welcoming people to this country, welcoming trade to this country, while keeping people out who would do us harm as a result of consolidation," Fleischer said.
Though he said Mr. Bush has not decided whether to accept the recommendation, other aides said the president is likely to do so. It is the first major overhaul plan presented by Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge.
The plan would require congressional approval. President Bush's lobbying team began consulting with Congress Tuesday, a step that aides said Mr. Bush wanted taken before he signed off on the plan.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-CT said, "(It's a) step in the right direction because it brings together agencies that are right now tripping over each other at our borders and they're not doing the job they should do to protect our security here at home. But it's not enough."
Sen. Lieberman has introduced a bill that would go further: consolidate all border agencies - the Coast Guard and FEMA and put Ridge in charge as secretary of a new Department of Homeland Defense - accountable to Congress.
"We need a Secretary of Homeland Defense! And ought to be as important in its way as the Secretary of Defense is," said Sen. Lieberman.
President Bush has balked at that idea, but there is agreement that something must be done to tighten the border. The Department of Justice believes the consolidation idea will fly, but the Attorney General couldn't say it would avoid last week's screw-up over visas for Atta and Al-Shehhi.
"This agency, pardon me, a variety of agencies are in a position to improve their performance and we'll be doing that," said Ashcroft.
The suicide hijackings over Washington, New York and Pennsylvania pointed out holes in the nation's border security procedures.
The government has acknowledged that four of the Sept. 11 hijackers had overstayed their visas, and a recent Justice Department review suggested the system has remained lax since then. That review found that even after the Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. immigration officials have been failing to consistently check terrorist watch lists when approving foreign visitors entering the United States without visas.
In addition, Mr. Bush was embarrassed by last week's disclosure that the INS issued paperwork relating to student visas for two of the hijackers six months after the attacks.
Tuesday's recommendation came as lawmakers considered trying to compel Ridge to testify about security issues. President Bush has rejected the request for Ridge testimony, saying presidential advisers traditionally do not testify before Congress.
Ridge has informally talked to lawmakers, a process aides say he is willing to continue.
The INS and Border Patrol are part of the Justice Department. Customs is part of the Treasury Department.
Aides said the merger plan was endorsed by Bush's entire homeland security team - including Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, whose department would lose control of the Customs Service.
O'Neill and his staff were not immediately available for comment. A White House official familiar with O'Neill's position said the secretary privately advocated more dramatic changes, but had not opposed the recommendation. INS Commissioner James Ziglar declined to comment on the proposal, saying only that he fully supports the president.
While INS and the Customs Service are the major immigration agencies in Washington, there are others involved in the issue that would not be part of Mr. Bush's proposal. The Agriculture Department, for example, checks plants, animals and food coming across borders.
President Bush begins a trip to Latin America on Thursday, stopping first in El Paso, Texas, where he is expected to discuss border issues.
Several attempts to merge the border agencies have failed in past years, but the president's advisers say they have political momentum in light of the attacks and an increased priority on protecting the nation's borders.
Ridge had hoped to make the merger part of Mr. Bush's State of the Union address, but was caught off guard by stiff opposition from both supporters and critics of the three agencies.