{"id":167,"date":"2003-01-26T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2003-01-26T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/opendna.com\/?p=167"},"modified":"2003-01-26T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2003-01-26T13:00:00","slug":"from-the-senate-to-hq-to-you-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opendna.com\/blog\/2003\/01\/26\/from-the-senate-to-hq-to-you-i\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Senate to HQ to You & I"},"content":{"rendered":"

A little ammendment in a appropriations bill passed by the US
\nSenate has cut funding<\/a> to the INS’s ne w special alien registration
\nprogram. National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) has
\ncome under considerable scrutiny after a few of snafus<\/a> and
\ncomplaints by targeted communities. The program has had HREF=”http:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/cgi-bin\/article.cgi?file=\/chronicle\/archive\/2003\/01
\n\/19\/MN159150.DTL”>some
\nsuccess<\/a> in netting a few felons and terrorists, most of those detained
\nhad simple immigration complications. Leaving aside the details of how
\nunsimple immigration complications often are, I want state that generally
\nthey result from inconsistency at the top.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nSometimes it’s the State Department issuing visas to people the Justice
\nDepartment would never let into the country. Sometimes it’s the
\nAdjudications branch telling people they can stay while the Investigations
\nbranch is ready to bounce them over the border. Sometimes it’s an
\nincoherent memo from HQ on the Potomac being contradicted by a supervisor
\nwho doesn’t understand it either. And sometimes, it’s Congress being a
\nbunch of nutjobs.<\/p>\n

The main purpose of the amendment was to restore funding
\nfor a congressionally mandated program that by 2005 is designed to provide
\ninformation on the identity of all visitors to the United States and track
\nwhen they enter and leave the country.<\/i> [sfga
\nte<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nUh huh. This explains why NSEERS was cut out of it. Right.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for the sponsoring senator the amendment “cuts
\nfunding until Congress has the information it needs to assess whether this
\nis the most effective use of tax dollars in the war on terrorism.”<\/i> [sfga
\nte<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nThis just days after the INS announces a
\n>new
\nclass of Special Aliens [PDF] needing registration.
\nI don’t claim to understand how congressional funding links to department
\npolicy which gets passed down to me as port policy and memos. But I’m
\nquiet certain that I’d land in jail if I stopped doing the NSEERS
\nregistrations. I’m also certain I’m not going to do them pro bono. I
\nwonder where the money’s going to come from. I mean, we’re not just going
\nto suspend the program until Congress decides it’s efficient enough to
\ncontinue, are we? Someone, somewhere is trying to write a memo about this
\nand I really don’t want to read it. I can just see the look on an
\ntraveler’s face six months from now:<\/p>\n

“Yes I know you registered like you were supposed to. And I
\nknow you left when the program had been suspended. But it’s back now and
\nyou can’t come in because you didn’t register when you left. What? No,
\nthere wasn’t anyone to register you out, but that’s not the point…”
\n[groan]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nI suspect NSEERS is an inefficient program. But let’s be realistic here:
\nYou’re trying to track each person who enters and exits the country. The
\nhigher the accuracy you demand, the more it’s going to cost. You can rely
\non airline passenger manifests but… well, I wouldn’t.<\/p>\n

Reading the tea leave I conclude that budget cuts in staffing are on the
\nway: the port is scaling back outward assignments, the union is jokeying
\nwith management over increasing the workload, and USCS – which always gets
\nhit before us – has had overtime slashed. If I’m right we could see
\ndefections to local police departments flush out the port until staffing
\nshortages force overtime (and therefore the average paycheck) back up. The
\nInvisible Hand works even inside the Federal Government.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Expect longer lines at airports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A little ammendment in a appropriations bill passed by the US Senate has cut funding to the INS’s ne w special alien registration program. National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) has come under considerable scrutiny after a few of snafus and complaints by targeted communities. The program has had HREF=”http:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/cgi-bin\/article.cgi?file=\/chronicle\/archive\/2003\/01 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"webmentions_disabled_pings":false,"webmentions_disabled":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[20,21,39],"class_list":["post-167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-on-the-line","tag-immigration","tag-national-security","tag-terrorism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opendna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opendna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opendna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opendna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opendna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/opendna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opendna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opendna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opendna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}