United States. General Accounting Office
Published: 1998
Total Pages: 109
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A 1996 immigration reform law established new procedures for dealing with aliens entering the country with false or improper documents and for deciding who may be eligible for asylum. Known as "expedited removal," the new process gives Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) officials, rather than immigration judges, the authority to formally order these aliens removed from the country. The process also limits the rights of aliens to appeal a decision of exclusion. Aliens who fear being persecuted or tortured if they are returned to their home country are to be granted an interview, known as a "credible fear interview," to determine if their claims of asylum stand a reasonable chance of success. This report discusses (1) how the expedited removal process and INS procedures to implement it differ from the procedures used to exclude aliens before the 1996 act; (2) the implementation and results of the process for making credible fear determinations during the seven months following the implementation of the expedited removal process in April 1997; and (3) the mechanisms that INS established to monitor expedited removals and credible fear determinations and to improve these processes. GAO discusses estimates by INS and immigration judges of the costs to implement the expedited removal process and the time needed to adjudicate expedited removal cases and credible fear determinations.
