New INS security checks expected to cause delays

Wednesday, May 22, 2002 | 9:43 a.m.

A new security check required on most applications to the Immigration and Naturalization Service is expected to cause some delays in the Las Vegas office.

"It's a small roadblock, but a necessary step for the security of our country," Karen Dorman, local officer in charge, said.

The Las Vegas office received the order from INS Commissioner James Ziglar last week to run all applications through a database known as the Interagency Border Inspection System, which gathers information from a variety of law enforcement agencies on people entering the country. All regional service centers are now required to use the system.

Only four of the office's 11 employees who review applications are fully trained in the system, so delays may result in the coming weeks as others are trained and gain access to the system, officials said.

The system is considered reliable for 35 days, at which point a person must be screened again. That is good for security because it means that current information is used. At the same time, the information's short shelf life may pose a challenge at the INS office on Pecos Road, Dorman said.

"For instance, suppose I'm doing an interview on May 30 with someone who's applied for naturalization," Dorman said. "The IBIS check was done several days before. Then we find out that the applicant doesn't have all the documents he needs, so he has to get them and another interview is scheduled. If the whole process takes until the end of June, let's say, then we have to do the IBIS check all over again."

The order to use the system covers applications for becoming a permanent resident or citizen and for receiving a replacement green card when a card is lost or expires. The Las Vegas office handles an average of 1,000 applications monthly among the three categories.

Delays in receiving a replacement green card could pose problems for someone whose card was lost or stolen, said Peter Ashman, a local immigration attorney and head of the Nevada chapter for the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Normally, he said, people in this situation receive temporary green cards, which proves their status and allows them to work.

Now, however, they must be screened first.

"What happens if these people can't go back to work, or leave the country if some family emergency occurs?" he said.

Dorman said her office will try to expedite the screening process for such applicants.

"We're going to do our best to accommodate people with emergencies," she said.

The database is keyed by entering a person's name and date of birth. If the person has no record, the process can be completed in seconds. If there is a record, screening takes longer, but only two in 100 cases fit this description, INS spokesman Bill Strassberger said.

The system is already in use at 65 airports around the country, including McCarran International Airport.

Starting Tuesday an immigration inspector from McCarran will help screen applications at the Las Vegas office. The inspector's absence at the airport is not expected to cause any delays, Greg McConville, supervisory immigration inspector, said.

"If need be, we can always call him back to help out," he said.

"The important thing is, if using the system ferrets out people who shouldn't have benefits and helps with security.

"We're talking 9/11 here."