San Diego (special) -- Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the presumptive Republican nominee for President, recently told the National Council of La Raza that he wants to reform the Immigration and Naturalization Service. In response, HIAS, the nation's leading Jewish group dealing with immigration, applauded the direction of Bush's plan, but cautioned it may not go far enough.

Bush made a campaign appearance at the San Diego Convention Center on Wednesday, July 5, just two days after Vice President Al Gore, his likely Democratic rival for the presidency, spoke to the same Hispanic-interest group -- a clear acknowledgment by both parties of the increasing importance of the Latino vote in American politics.

Because the Texas governor's campaign stop came the day after American Independence Day and the day before the candidate's 54th birthday, NCLR President Raul Yzaguirre arranged for a red, white and blue birthday cake to be wheeled onto the stage by the Convention Center's Executive Chef Brett Lewis and Pastry Chef Daryl O'Donnell. Yzaguirre led conventioneers in singing "Happy Birthday" to "Mr. P --, er, Governor" then admitted his rendition of the popular song didn't have quite the appeal as the version once sung by movie star Marilyn Monroe to President John F. Kennedy.

"Family values do not stop at the Rio Grande River, which means that we have to have an INS that understands that," Bush told the delegates. "The current INS is too bureaucratic. It is too stuck in the past. It doesn't matter what party you are from: you've got to admit that when it takes 3 5 years to process paperwork in the INS, that is too long.

"It is time to reform the INS," he continued. "It should be divided into two separate agencies, one for border affairs, the other to serve and welcome new Americans." 

The governor called for ending "restrictions that say you can't come and visit a husband or a wife, or a mom and a dad, with a tourist visa. We must allow people to come and families to be reunited in America."

He pledged to "commit money to make sure that the INS works better and puts service into a service agency. I want to spend $100 million a year, for five years, to add agents and equipment so as to reduce the amount of paperwork required to process someone's form from the three-to-five years to six months. We can do a better job in America, and I intend to do so."

In New York, Rachel Zelon, associate executive vice president of program operations for the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, said Bush's broad statements were "fully consistent with the high value the Jewish community places on a fair immigration policy to promote family reunification, energize our economy and provide haven to the persecuted."

However, she said, Bush's plan to split the INS lacked necessary specifics. "Congress is now considering three plans which would split INS in such a way," she said. "In spite of the bills' underlying similarities, it is HIAS's position that two of these bills could facilitate the cultivation of a more effective immigration service, while the third would only make matters worse. 

"Specifically, the Smith-Rogers-Reyes bill would split INS but would create a super-enforcement agency and a weak under-resourced services agency," Zelon said. "The two other bills, however -- the Abraham Kennedy-Hegel bill in the Senate and the Jackson-Lee-Conyers-Berman bill in the House -- would split the INS but provide for improved accountability and coordination, as well as for more secure funding mechanisms for the service branch, in order to better serve refugees and immigrants." 

The HIAS official noted that Bush did not say which plan he favored.

She said that she was encouraged by "the governor's understanding that INS needs adequate funding to address a serious and longstanding problem such as backlog reduction." However, she added, "while $100 million a year is very generous for naturalization backlog reduction alone, it will be insufficient for the INS to make all processing function well within a six month time limit.

"According to INS' own assessment, just to make a dent in its years-long Green Card and Naturalization backlogs would require $127.3 million for backlog reduction and infrastructure improvement in FY2001."

The HIAS official suggested that Bush's comments on INS backlogs "need to be further fleshed out. The governor must clarify whether he is referring only to backlogs in naturalization processing or all INS processing. HIAS is concerned about the backlogs in many areas of INS' work including applications for adjustment of status for lawful permanent residents -- Green Cards.

"These issues are addressed in backlog reduction legislation introduced in this Congress by Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, which HIAS supports. We encourage Gov. Bush to aid this important legislation."

Finally, Zelon expressed a hope that Bush "will address such issues as enhancing the United States' protection activities for refugees and asylum seekers. HIAs also supports the resolution of labor shortages across many tiers of the economy via legalization of the status of workers who have lived in the United States for many years."

Summarizing, she said, "Governor Bush's public statements on immigration are encouraging, but lack the detail necessary to ascertain whether his proposed policy changes would be consistent with the pro immigrant agenda that HIAS has long endorsed."