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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, July 23, 2002

INS sharpens alien watch

Advertiser Staff and News Services

The Justice Department said yesterday it would require all noncitizens to report changes of address within 10 days of moving or risk financial penalties, jail and even deportation.

The plan, which relies on a long-neglected 50-year-old law, would apply to 10 million people older than 14 who are living in the United States legally but not as American citizens. The new policy also covers illegal immigrants — said to number 8 million to 9 million nationally — but few are expected to step forward.

Attorney General John Ashcroft said the move would help secure U.S. borders by making it easier to track noncitizens.

"By clarifying the existing requirement that noncitizens report their address to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, we are able to increase our ability to locate quickly an alien if removal proceedings must be initiated," said Ashcroft.

The INS plans to enforce the regulation after a 60-day comment period. The action affects all legal permanent residents (immigrants who are not citizens) — at least 11 million people, according to an INS spokeswoman — and visitors and students who stay in the United States longer than 30 days.

It's unclear how many of them are untraceable now.

In Hawai'i, about 720 immigrants annually turn in change of address forms, and that number is expected to increase with the added enforcement on the address change law, said INS deputy district director Wayne Wills.

Wills said it has been difficult to track address changes in Hawai'i because immigration officials have been focused on higher priorities and criminal offenses, and it was "pretty difficult to keep up with the workload" with the amount of resources the INS has in Hawai'i.

INS officials in Washington say the law will be a valuable tool to fight terrorism. After Sept. 11, elected officials had blasted immigration authorities for their inability to know which immigrants were in the country and where they were.

"In light of 9/11, we want to make sure that we in the government are doing everything we can to ensure that terrorists are not getting the chance to undermine American interests," said Susan Dryden, a Justice Department spokeswoman.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service, which is part of the Justice Department, will update more than 30 forms to publicize the requirements. When an immigrant files other paperwork, the INS will mail the notification to the individual's address on file.

Immigration advocates denounced the plan as heavy-handed and unworkable, saying the INS will not be able to handle the paperwork.

"It's sheer fantasy to think the INS can handle the avalanche of information under this mandate," said Angela Kelley, deputy director of the Washington-based National Immigration Forum. "This initiative is going to leave a pervasive feeling in immigrant communities that they're all under suspicion."

Not all immigrants would be deported for failing to update addresses, Dryden said, but authorities would consider the option on a case by case basis. The penalty for not reporting an address change is a misdemeanor and punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a fine not to exceed $200.

It was unclear whether the measure would have allowed for better tracking of the terrorists in the Sept. 11 attacks. They failed to report their frequent moves and many had overstayed their visas. On the other hand, two who were on the CIA's "watch list" of suspected terrorists would have been easy to find. They listed their addresses and phone numbers in the San Diego phone book.

Because the regulation will affect all immigrants who are not citizens, some advocacy groups worried that the INS might use it to deport law-abiding immigrants merely suspected of terrorist connections.

"The people who are going to be caught up in (the regulation) are people who haven't done anything wrong," said Cecilia Munoz, a spokeswoman for the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group in Washington.

Judy Golub, a lawyer with the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the regulation would lead to more litigation, with immigrants and the INS blaming each other for losing paperwork.

Golub is advising all immigrants to send change-of-address notices by certified mail.

Kelley of the Immigration Forum said immigrants would fear harsh punishment for a minor offense.

"You could find yourself seeing jail time or proceeding toward deportation for the equivalent of not turning in a library book on time," she said.