INS Nominee Challenged on ‘Sensitivity’

Despite criticism from Latino groups that he lacks sensitivity and immigration experience, St. Louis, Mo., County Executive Gene McNary appeared Tuesday to be headed for confirmation as commissioner of the troubled Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Testifying at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his nomination, McNary, 54, cited his 2 1/2 years as a public defender when asked by Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.) “for something in your life” that demonstrated sensitivity to the “less fortunate.”

McNary also mentioned his seven years as a prosecutor and his work in Little League baseball, although he noted that “you’ll say this wasn’t the less fortunate.” When Simon did not respond, McNary added that he also had taught 5-year-old disabled children.

“You’ve answered my question,” Simon said, seeming relieved, “particularly when you talk of the disabled.”

McNary would succeed Alan C. Nelson, who headed the INS during most of the Ronald Reagan Administration. Nelson was passed over for reappointment after a highly critical Justice Department audit of the agency was given to Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh.

McNary’s selection by President Bush was opposed by McNary’s hometown newspaper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The paper said in an editorial in May that “his background shows little sensitivity to the kinds of people and issues involved in immigration.”

Those concerns were reiterated by Arnoldo S. Torres, national political adviser to the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), McNary’s sharpest critic at the hearing.

Troubled by Record

“We find very troubling that he has been alleged to have worked quite diligently to stave off efforts to develop low-income housing projects in his county,” Torres said.

Torres added that McNary “has not demonstrated much leadership and/or sensitivity in dealing with the problems of minorities as evidenced by his stagnant budgets” in St. Louis.

Cecilia Munoz, senior policy analyst of the National Council of La Raza, another Latino organization, said she was concerned about McNary’s lack of experience on immigration issues and with the communities most affected by the INS.

Sen. Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.), an architect of the sweeping Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, brushed aside such criticism, telling McNary that if confirmed, he “will find some (critics) who cannot be mollified. You solve problems, and they’ll find another.”

McNary pledged to be accessible to groups affected by INS activities. He broke with precedent by remaining in the Senate hearing room while panels of witnesses testified for and against him. Nominees traditionally leave the room when they finish their testimony, but McNary stayed to listen to the witnesses.

While McNary’s resume lists no immigration-related work, he has had an extensive public service career. He was elected to four terms as chief administrative officer of St. Louis County, beginning in 1975. He served two terms as the county’s prosecutor from 1967 to 1974.

McNary was an unsuccessful GOP primary candidate for Missouri governor in 1972 and 1984 and lost a U.S. Senate race in 1980. McNary served as Bush-Quayle chairman in St. Louis County last year.

Sen. Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.) said a 20-page internal INS report found the agency to be suffering from “major problems in leadership, management and debt collection.”

“There appears to be very little direction,” DeConcini said, coupled with severe “morale problems. You have a monumental job on your hands.”

McNary said he was not familiar with the report, which DeConcini characterized as “a very damning memorandum.”