U.S. Studies New Crackdown on Immigrant Smuggling : Emigres: Details of the initiative could be announced today along with the nomination of new INS commissioner.

Responding to recent attempts to smuggle nearly 2,000 Chinese emigres into the United States, the government is moving to crack down on immigrant smuggling, using racketeering laws, intelligence data, expedited deportation and stiffer penalties for perpetrators.

The initiative, drawn up by the National Security Council with the assistance of several federal law enforcement and military agencies, could be announced as soon as today. It is likely to be coupled with the expected nomination of Doris M. Meissner as commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, officials said Wednesday.

The effort will involve the drafting of proposed legislation as well as enforcement actions that can be taken on the basis of existing authority, Administration sources said.

Congress will be asked to bolster the punishments provided under existing law for immigrant smuggling, officials said.

Authorities also want to make the crime subject to the severe penalties available to prosecutors under anti-racketeering laws and to add the offense to those justifying the use of wiretapping by federal agents. In addition, legislation will be proposed to provide for speedier exclusion of illegal immigrants who arrive without required papers.

Actions requiring no congressional approval include steps to shore up INS enforcement efforts with support from other federal agencies. Officials also intend to devote significant intelligence resources--including spy satellites--to the anti-smuggling effort, much as they have in the past to thwart drug trafficking and terrorism.

In addition, administrative reforms will be undertaken to move in the direction of summary exclusion, reducing the time required for deporting immigrants without proper papers to four months from the current minimum of 18 months. The cases will be “moved to the front of the line” of immigration matters and specific officials will be assigned to “ride herd” on them, one source explained.

“These are the kinds of things you would do to get at criminal syndicates--to stop their operations, to put them in jail,” one federal official said. “I don’t know how successful they’ll be, but we certainly mean to make it as hard for them (the smugglers) as we can.”

The National Security Council study was undertaken as the new Administration was confronted with a series of immigration crises soon after taking office.

In February, the Coast Guard--responding to a freighter that issued a Mayday signal about 1,500 miles southeast of Hawaii--found 527 Chinese nationals crammed in the hold of the U.S.-bound ship.

The freighter, which authorities said appeared to have been fitted out in Hong Kong, was towed to the Marshall Islands, where the Chinese were questioned by United Nations authorities and sent back to their homeland.

Next came the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York and the disclosure that the first suspect to be arrested, Mohammed A. Salameh, had overstayed his temporary visa and was in the country illegally. In addition, Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman, the militant Egyptian cleric whose New Jersey mosque was a site of worship for suspects accused in the bombing, had significant immigration problems and was ordered deported in March.

“We don’t have an adequate system for keeping track of immigrants in the United States,” an Administration official acknowledged.

The trade center bombing was followed by several incidents involving ships that were intercepted as they attempted to smuggle Chinese nationals into the country through a variety of entry points, including California and Mexico and culminating with the stranding of nearly 300 Chinese aboard a broken-down freighter off New York.

Working over the last six weeks on the immigrant smuggling proposal, the National Security Council pulled together officials from the departments of Justice, Transportation, State and Defense as well as the FBI, INS, Coast Guard, Customs Service and Federal Aviation Administration.

The smuggling issue encompasses a combination of criminal and security problems, an Administration source said, but the initial proposals will focus on criminal aspects. “We have not resolved all the terrorism issues,” one official said.

The proposal to make immigrant smuggling subject to prosecution under the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization law would permit prosecutors to seize and seek forfeiture of assets of accused smugglers, even if they were not used for the actual smuggling, an Administration source noted.

The Administration plan calls for placing a priority on intercepting illegal immigrants before they are able to set foot in the United States or its territory, which would make sending them to their homelands legally easier and less costly, the source said.