INS Chief Opposes Use of Soldiers

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service Commissioner Alan Nelson said Thursday that he strongly opposes any effort to deploy military personnel along the U.S.-Mexico border, either to interdict drugs or to assist in curbing the flow of undocumented immigrants.

In comments in San Diego, Nelson criticized as “simplistic” and unworkable various suggestions that soldiers be posted along the notoriously porous, 1,952-mile border. Stretching from Imperial Beach to the Gulf Coast of Texas, the border has long been an entry point for contraband--from bootleg liquor to exotic birds and plants, to, more recently, drugs such as cocaine, heroin and marijuana.

“If you put the military on the border, you’re creating a lot of problems, and it’s going to cost a lot more,” said Nelson, whose comments echo those of other Reagan Administration officials, notably Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci.

Pressure Being Felt

The remarks of both Nelson and Carlucci, prompted by congressional proposals that the Pentagon play a greater role in combatting drugs, come at a time when concern about drugs is reaching new heights nationwide and a chorus of voices is calling for military action. Both the House and the Senate have approved measures calling for an enhanced military presence in drug enforcement, putting more pressure on the Reagan Administration, which has already been much criticized in this election year for its efforts in the drug war.

But Nelson cited legal restrictions on Pentagon involvement in law enforcement and the extensive training that would be needed to ready soldiers for border assignments. “There’s no free lunch,” said Nelson, who was in town to address the annual convention of the American Immigration Lawyers Assn., as well as the Center for U.S.-Mexico Studies at UC San Diego.

However, Nelson, like Carlucci, did leave the door open for a larger military presence at the border, providing equipment, training and other aid to the Border Patrol. The Border Patrol, a uniformed agency under the auspices of the INS and the U.S. Department of Justice, has had an increasing role in drug interdiction, although its primary responsibility remains the prevention of illegal entries into the United States. The Pentagon has long provided aircraft, ground sensors, night-vision scopes and other assistance to the patrol, which now has about 3,100 agents nationwide, almost a third of them in San Diego.

Manpower Increase

The patrol’s manpower is being increased by one-third along the border as part of the immigration law reforms of 1986. Apart from arresting more than 1 million undocumented immigrants in the most recent fiscal year, Nelson noted that agents also confiscated about $600-million worth of illicit drugs, a figure that has been rising annually. Patrol agents are often the only law enforcement presence in the wild, largely unpatrolled and often-unfenced gaps between ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border, a place where clandestine airstrips proliferate.

Defense Secretary Carlucci, although opposing direct military involvement at the nation’s borders, has suggested a limited expansion of the military’s role in drug enforcement. Carlucci cited the possibility of military exercises near borders, of planning and communication assistance for law-enforcement authorities, and expanded use of military radar.

The commissioner’s remarks were his most emphatic about the prospective role of the military in curbing drug traffickers. Nelson has previously expressed similar opposition to suggestions that soldiers be posted along the border in an effort to thwart the flood of undocumented immigrants.

Nelson’s comments about the military’s prospective role square with the Reagan Administration’s views. On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Carlucci said he remains “absolutely opposed” to giving the military a law-enforcement mission.