An INS spokesman said yesterday, "Since Sept. 11, our primary focus has been on terrorist-related investigations and, contrary to belief, we are not in the business of detaining people without cause. These men posed no terrorist threat or, for that matter, any threat to the community."
Just for the record, fellas, this is the quote that killed it. Totally unbelievable--nobody's judgement is THAT bad. Your guy should have said something like, "Look, we're doing the best that we can. But we're really stretched thin right now and we've got to prioritize. Your guys may not be legal, but we've got others that look a lot more dangerous right now. Let them go and we'll check it out whenver we can." That would have been believable.
Then you have had no exposure to the INS.
I've been assisting a legal immigrant with INS matters for the last five years. This is the way they operate, day after day after day. It is not a joke. It's SOP.
There is in fact one telephone number for the Vermont Service Center (which handles the entire northeast United States). It is not a PBX number. It is one telephone.
Perhaps you also don't know that INS Commissioner James Ziglar has been repeatedly stating since 9/11 (in public and in print) that the INS will continue its previous policy of NOT pursuing illegal aliens.
The 320,000 names on the absconder list have still not been added to NCIC, as was promised SIX months ago.