Head of INS Defends Plan to Dig Disputed Border Ditch

Alan C. Nelson, the embattled Immigration and Naturalization Service commissioner, Wednesday vigorously defended his agency’s record and its plan to dig a border ditch near San Diego, calling opposition to the ditch “ludicrous.”

Nelson said the four-mile-long ditch, designed to impede the smuggling of aliens and contraband in the area, is little different from a smaller one already in place in Nogales, Ariz., that has caused no controversy.

Nelson, testifying before a House subcommittee that is reviewing his agency’s proposed $1-billion budget, also hailed the INS’ performance in implementing the landmark immigration reform law and in making drug seizures that he said are “essential” to the war on drugs.

Sharp criticism of the agency’s management practices in a recent Justice Department audit was “blown out of proportion,” Nelson said. He vowed to submit a detailed response to it soon.

Nelson turned aside concerns from members of the House Appropriations Committee’s judiciary subcommittee that budget constraints would adversely affect the agency’s anti-drug effort and other programs.

The Bush Administration’s fiscal 1990 budget requests a reduction of 1,501 INS positions, including 552 in the Border Patrol. “We’re all under tough times” because of the federal budget deficit, Nelson said, but noted that INS officials realize they must be “team players” in the deficit fight.

Nelson’s testimony came only days after disclosure of the Justice Department audit, which charged that INS management was riddled with inefficiency, and after confirmation by Administration sources that Nelson will not be reappointed to the top INS post he has held since 1982.

Mounting controversy about the ditch has also increased the pressure on it.

“I hope the United States has enough determination” to go ahead and dig the ditch this summer as planned, Nelson said. He said the ditch “makes sense for drainage” and that “we certainly have the right to stop vehicles from crossing our borders illegally.”

Since the plan was publicized in January, immigrant rights groups have charged that the ditch would become an onerous symbol, like the Berlin Wall, and the Mexican government has lodged a protest.