Re: Pooky's Bar & Grill
Jean,
I couldn't find the section you were referring to, but I did find this before my eyeballs shut down and fell out.
REP. ROGERS: Thank you, Mr. Director. Now, let me quickly ask you some questions. We have a vote on the floor that we'll have to recess briefly for in a few minutes. The Citizenship USA debacle, a catastrophe at INS, highlighted the problems in the INS-FBI coordination and processing of fingerprint background checks of alien applicants for citizenship.
INS is establishing fingerprinting centers all over the country to take digital fingerprints and transmit them electronically to the FBI. At this subcommittee's insistence, frankly, the committee's provided funding for that equipment, to personnel, and the general operations of those fingerprinting centers so that INS will no longer contract out fingerprinting to places like Pooky's (ph) Bar and Grill in LA and places -- to do the fingerprinting for them.
And we've also provided you funding for automation of your fingerprint operations. Are those improvements that INS is making to their fingerprint process being coordinated with FBI?
MR. FREEH: Yes, sir, they are. And in their four regional centers and, I believe, several dozen of their field offices, the capacity to electronically transmit the prints is either online or to be online in the next few months. And I'm very satisfied with that progress. We've also, as you know, have substantially reduced the backlog, particularly the INS turn around time. It's now down to 19 days, with respect to the civil print checks.
REP. ROGERS: Well are they -- is, INS now submitting to you and getting from the FBI criminal checks before they grant citizenship --
MR. FREEH: Yes.
REP. ROGERS: -- to your knowledge?
MR. FREEH: Yes, they are, sir.
REP. ROGERS: Are you training INS fingerprint personnel?
MR. FREEH: We are not only training them, we are going out to the field. In fact, we have a team going out to the Southwest Border area, I believe, next week to not only study their protocols, but to implement the necessary techniques to get that stuff electronically sent to us collectively.
REP. ROGERS: So are you now ready to receive electronic --
MR. FREEH: Not from all of their centers, but they've told us that they will be online to do so over the next few months. We're doing it with some of their centers, but not a hundred percent.
REP. ROGERS: When can you be a hundred percent?
MR. FREEH: I have to ask the INS for their timetable, sir, because it's really their schedule, but I will get an answer for you --
REP. ROGERS: What improvements and response time can we expect when this is in --
MR. FREEH: I think they'll be fairly dramatic between '94 and '97. The increase in INS submissions was about 240 percent, which was astronomical. With the new electronic submissions, as well as the -- (inaudible word) -- maturity next year, we'll be able to turn around all of their criminal as well as civil inquiries within 24 hours.
Criminal inquiries have priority within two hours and, as I said, the delays have been cut down now to 19 days, I believe, for civil and 60 days for criminal. And that's a marked improvement from where we were a year ago. |
