With the support of
both the Clinton White House and Congressional Republicans, funding
for the Immigration and Naturalization Service has ballooned.
Both parties also backed a toughening of the immigration laws.
The result, documented on TRAC's INS web site, was a massive toughening
in the federal effort against illegal immigrants. From 1992 to
1998, prosecutions recommended by the INS had doubled. During
the same period, the median sentence resulting from an INS conviction
had undergone a six-fold increase. On July 26, 1999, Andres Viglucci
covered the story for the Herald, noting the curious fact that
the national surge in immigration prosecutions had not been matched
in the Southern District of Florida. Marjorie Valbrun did the
story for the Wall Street Journal. The reporter at the San Antonio
Express-News was Maro Robbins.
