FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JMD WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1996 (202) 616-2765 TDD (202) 514-1888 INS (202) 514-2648 DOJ and INS Announce New Initiatives To Improve U.S. Naturalization Process WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Justice Department (DOJ) and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) today announced the implementation of a series of initiatives to improve and strengthen the U.S. naturalization program. The initiatives include: * Implementation after November 29, of additional procedures to strengthen the current citizenship process, including an expanded effort to ensure that no individual is naturalized without the verified completion of a fingerprint check by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); * Hiring by DOJ of an independent management consulting and accounting firm, KPMG Peat Marwick LLP, to oversee an INS audit of naturalization cases from September 1995 through December 1996. The audit will also be monitored by the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General (OIG); and * Comprehensive re-engineering of the naturalization program by INS and an outside consulting group, which will begin in the coming months. INS Commissioner Doris Meissner said, "These efforts will further tighten our process for determining that every applicant meets the legal and administrative requirements for citizenship. INS is taking a series of steps -- including a method for verifying that FBI fingerprint checks have been completed and a standardized, Service-wide quality assurance program -- to ensure that Citizenship USA continues to enhance the integrity of the nation's citizenship process." INS created a naturalization initiative, Citizenship USA, in August 1995 following bi-partisan requests to address an unprecedented increase in the number of applicants for citizenship. INS initially focused its efforts in the five cities which accounted for 75% of all citizenship applications -- Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and San Francisco. In FY 1996, more than 1.3 million applications were processed through the program. Among the initiatives announced today is a new procedure, developed jointly by INS and the FBI, to ensure that no applicant can be naturalized before the FBI has finished checking its databases for information used by INS to determine if the applicant is eligible for citizenship. With the new procedure, INS will verify definitively that each applicant's FBI check has been completed before the applicant is scheduled for a naturalization interview. INS has instituted a series of additional Service-wide quality assurance steps to ensure that all procedures are being consistently followed throughout the naturalization process in all INS offices. These steps, which will be expanded pending the findings of the FY 1996 review, include: * The use of a standardized worksheet to document that all clerical processing and statutory eligibility determinations have been completed; * Mandatory supervisory review of every case involving a criminal history or other serious question of good moral character; and * Random quality assurance reviews in every office, conducted by knowledgeable INS officers who are not directly involved in the naturalization program. Under the terms of a contract approved November 18, KPMG will independently certify the procedures developed and implemented by INS to review naturalization cases from September 1995 through December 1996. In addition, the firm will monitor the audit of case files and verify the integrity of the INS review. The review will be conducted at the INS Nebraska Service Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. OIG will receive copies of all information generated by the review and will monitor the audit closely. OIG expects to initiate other reviews of the naturalization program as it deems appropriate. In the coming months, the Justice Department will select an expert consulting firm to work with INS to re-engineer the naturalization process. The effort will build on the improvements and independent reviews currently underway and will be conducted in conjunction with DOJ, the OIG, the FBI, INS headquarters and field personnel and outside consultants. ### 96-577