Panel Discussion, Wednesday, March 3^rd, 9:30 a.m.
National Press Club's Zenger Room

WASHINGTON (March 1, 2004) -- One year ago today, the Immigration and Naturalization Service was disassembled and its pieces were incorporated in the new Department of Homeland Security.

How have the 30,000 INS veterans settled into the new bureaucracy? What institutional priority has Secretary Tom Ridge given to enforcement of immigration laws within the new agency? How has the transition impacted the needs and expectations of people seeking legal residency, including the longstanding backlogs?

To assess these questions, the Center for Immigration Studies is sponsoring a panel discussion featuring leading observers of the INS transition on Wednesday, March 3, at 9:30 a.m., in the National Press Club's Zenger Room, 14th & F streets, NW, 13th floor.

Panelists will include:

* Russ Knocke, director of Public Affairs for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security

* TJ Bonner, President of the National Border Patrol Council (the union representing Border Patrol agents)

* Brenda Neuerburg, president National INS Council (the union representing all other former INS employees now in DHS)

* Shawn Zeller, staff correspondent, Government Executive magazine

* Steven Camarota, Director of Research at the Center for Immigration Studies. (Moderator)

The panel discussion is free and open to the public.  For more information, or to RSVP, contact John Keeley at the Center at (202) 466-8185 or jmk@cis.org.

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