INS Works on Sprucing Up Public Image

Ofelia Morales had arrived early in the morning at the Immigration and Naturalization Service office in Los Angeles to inquire about getting her parents admitted into this country from Costa Rica.

“They make you wait and wait and wait,” she complained later in the day when she still had not been helped.

“Home of the brave and land of the free? Ha! . . . Land of the forever patient,” she scoffed.

Described by some critics as the most discourteous arm of the federal government, INS officials have decided to try to spruce up their tarnished image under the slogan “How are we doing?”

Beginning as early as next week, visitors to any INS office in Southern California and the rest of the agency’s Western region will be encouraged to fill out forms evaluating immigration personnel and the information they received, officials said.

And if the need arises, visitors are free to file complaints alleging rudeness, unnecessary delays in getting assistance or other problems. These complaints will be thoroughly investigated, officials promised.

At the same time, INS district offices in the region--which includes California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and Guam--will be assigned community relations staffers to conduct outreach programs and work with local ethnic groups.

At first glance, the initiatives ordered by Robert M. Moschorak, who was recently named to temporarily replace Harold Ezell as INS Western regional commissioner, seem simple enough. Most federal agencies have public evaluation questionnaires and conduct outreach programs to publicize their efforts.

But for the INS, which enforces the nation’s emotionally tinged immigration laws, such efforts have been largely overlooked.

While INS officials for years pushed for more Border Patrol officers to fight illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border, few resources were sought for the agency’s front counters, where overworked staffers sought to deal with the deluge of routine requests, ranging from replacing a lost “green card” to how to bring a naturalized U.S. citizen’s parents into the country.

In some INS offices, critics contend, visitors routinely waited two and three days for information that could have been obtained in less than 10 minutes.

The ‘Black Hole’

At the INS’ large public-assistance office at the downtown Los Angeles Federal Building--dubbed the “black hole” by some critics--so many complaints were received that the INS in 1986 instituted an appointment system to handle the hundreds of people who jammed Room 1001, the INS’ public-assistance office, each day. The program met with some success but resources were eventually siphoned off when personnel were reallocated to handle amnesty applications.

Moschorak, aware of the bitter criticism, is determined to improve the agency’s standing with the general public.

“I think this program is absolutely necessary,” said Moschorak, an INS veteran of nearly 25 years. “That image of ours has to be cleaned up.”

Moschorak said courteous personnel can help reverse the bad image INS has with the general public, especially with Latinos. INS officials are fond of pointing out that despite the reservations many immigrants have about the agency, nearly 60% of the 3 million aliens who came out of the shadows and applied for amnesty were from the INS’ Western region.

He added that the evaluations could help influence pay raises and career advancements for INS office workers.

Other Efforts

The critiquing was one of four special areas of emphasis recently announced by Moschorak. In addition to assigning community relations specialists, he also ordered sustained efforts to apprehend and deport criminal aliens and to complete Phase II of the amnesty program.

Success for these initiatives may also enhance Moschorak’s chances of permanently succeeding Ezell, his former boss. At a recent gathering, Moschorak was surprised by 200 INS staffers who sported “Commissioner Bob Fan Club” badges. “I won’t soon forget the feeling in that room,” he said.

Justice Department officials have called Ben Davidian, chairman of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board, the leading candidate to succeed Ezell.

While Moschorak was optimistic about the public-critique program, visitors to Room 1001 late Wednesday were roundly derisive about it.

“These people don’t care about us,” said Felipe Soto, a Mexican immigrant who was there seeking to replace a stolen legal residency card. “I don’t even want to tell you what they told me . . . jerks.”