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U. S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Corrective Action Report

Issue and Milestone Schedule

Date of Submission
First Quarter Update:
Second Quarter Update:
Third Quarter Update:
End of Year Report: 12/02/02

Issue Title

Alien Smuggling: Management and Operational Improvements Needed to Address a Growing Problem

Issue ID
1997-4801

Organization
Immigration and Naturalization Service

Date First
Initiated

05/05/00

Original Target for Completion

09/30/01

Current Target for Completion

Actual Date of Completion

09/30/02
(CLOSED)

Issue Type (Organization Rating)


Material Weakness

Source Title

GAO/T-GGD-97-154

Date of Source Report

05/05/00

Issue Type (DOJ Rating)

Material Weakness

Issue Description

Between FY 1997 and FY 1999 the number of apprehended aliens smuggled into the United States increased nearly 80 percent.  The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) predicts that the smuggling will continue to increase and that alien smuggling organizations will become more sophisticated, organized, and complex.  The General Accounting Office (GAO) studied both the domestic and international components of INS' anti-smuggling strategy, written in 1997, and in a report dated May 2000 (GGD-00-103), GAO listed the following impediments to the domestic component: 1) a lack of program coordination; 2) the absence of an agencywide automated case tracking and management system; and 3) limited performance measures to assess the effectiveness of the strategy.

Additionally, GAO stated that INS' Intelligence Program has been impeded by a lack of understanding among field staff on how to report intelligence information, a lack of staff to perform intelligence functions, and an inefficient and cumbersome process of organizing data that does not allow for rapid retrieval and analysis.  As a result, INS has limited ability to identify targets for enforcement and to help focus its anti-smuggling resources on efforts that would have the greatest impact.

GAO recommended that INS:
1.  Establish criteria for opening an anti-smuggling case.
2.  Establish a cost-effective case tracking and management system of alien smuggling investigations that is automated, agencywide, and readily available to investigative personnel and program managers to facilitate the sharing of case information and prevent duplication of efforts.
3.  Establish performance measures for the anti-smuggling efforts and intelligence program with which to gauge program efforts.
4.  Require intelligence reports be prepared using a database format so the information can be systematically analyzed.

What We Will Do About It

GAO Recommendation 1: Complete.  The Investigations Division established criteria for opening smuggling cases.

GAO Recommendation 2: Complete.  A national case tracking and management system, the Criminal Investigative Reporting System (CIRS), has been deployed to all District Offices and Border Patrol Sectors.  The CIRS is a Microsoft Access case tracking and case management software program that agents, supervisors, and program managers use to generate case reports, track the progress of investigations, and manage case work.  In day-to-day operations, the CIRS data is uploaded to INS' national Enforcement Integrated Database (EID) so other INS offices can review case reports and conduct link analysis functions.  Data from all INS enforcement systems resides in the EID and can be analyzed by personnel based on competency with analytical tools and level of access granted to the systems.  Interfaces with additional enforcement systems and other enhancements are being developed as part of the natural and on-going evolution of the system.

GAO Recommendation 3:  Complete.  INS is measuring success in the anti-smuggling effort by prosecuting, dismantling, or disrupting on-going criminal enterprises involved in that illicit activity.  This is accomplished through the criminal prosecution of a number of major investigations under the direction of INS Headquarters and with the support of partnered enforcement organizations.  These prosecutions are identified from a list of targets established by an intra-governmental group of specialists in the smuggling and trafficking of migrants.

INS intelligence has a set of measures of program effectiveness which are defined as:  the number of personnel trained in intelligence processes; the number of new transnational smuggling cases identified; the number of investigative leads disseminated; and the number of "special operations" driven by intelligence.  Additionally, a report on alien smuggling shifts within defined corridors along the southern border is produced annually.  Measures using the data collected in the automated systems cited below are under consideration, yet there are some cultural hurdles yet to be bridged in gaining 100 percent usage of the available systems.  Currently, a measure is being initiated which provides a count of the numbers of reports submitted into the system; this methodology will help reinforce the mandate issued by INS Headquarters requiring usage of the system.

GAO Recommendation 4:  Complete.  All Intelligence Reports (G-392) filed in accordance with outstanding instructions are in the national database and can be researched or mined via INS' analytical tool (NetLEADS) using the INS Intranet.  Through use of the analytical tool individual officers and intelligence analysts can make comparisons among intelligence reports, active case information, INS databases, and other law enforcement information.

Milestones

Original Target Date

Current Target Date

Actual Date of Completion

1.  Deployment of automated tools.  (Deploy intelligence collection and analysis information.)

09/30/02

09/30/02

09/30/02

2.  Creation of interfaces to enforcement databases.  (Deploy intelligence collection and analysis infrastructure.)

09/30/02

 

09/30/02

3. Measurement of corridor shifts.  (Develop measurement of alien smuggling "shifts.")

09/30/03

 

03/12/02

How We Will Know It Is Fixed

An anti-smuggling strategy is in place, an interagency workgroup to identify specific targets for action has been established, and an annual priority for these targets that has been very successful has been established.  INS has deployed systems that are capable of meeting the requirements established in the GAO recommendations to all investigative offices.  There have been significant successes as a result of this deployment, and use of the systems is rapidly expanding.  INS now can track individual criminal cases as they progress and can record measures of success from the tracking system.  All intelligence reports are in a database and are searchable using analytical tools that can produce a matrix of linkages between the various data sources.  Smuggling fee and load size information are being used as measures of changes or shifts in smuggling activities within a set of corridors along the southern border.