Sergeant-at-Arms of Senate Is Bush's Choice as INS Chief

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 28, 2001; Page A09

President Bush yesterday named the Senate's sergeant-at-arms to be the next commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, a long-troubled agency that GOP leaders have vowed to overhaul.

James W. Ziglar, 55, is a boyhood friend of Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.). He has served as the Senate's administrative manager and chief law enforcement officer since 1998.

Ziglar, a lawyer, has also been an investment banker, an assistant Interior secretary and a law clerk to then-Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun. A native of Pascagoula, Miss., he was a staff assistant to Sen. James O. Eastland (D-Miss.) from 1964 to 1971.

Bush and Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, who oversees the INS, said Ziglar will be central to their efforts to reform the agency. Bush wants to split the INS in two, with one arm focused on enforcing immigration laws and the other centered on providing services to immigrants.

"His post is a crucial one," Ashcroft said. "While we must guard our nation's borders with vigilance, we must also remember that the greatness of our nation comes from generations of immigrants. Legal immigrants should be greeted with open arms, not endless lines."

Ziglar could not be reached for comment late yesterday.

Angela M. Kelley, deputy director of the National Immigration Forum, an advocacy group, said: "We would have liked to have seen someone who has experience and background in immigration. He's a blank slate, but we certainly want to give him a chance."

The INS, with 32,000 employees, has long been plagued by backlogs, sloppy record-keeping and allegations of mistreatment of some immigrants.

© 2001 The Washington Post Company

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2001