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90–465 DTP 2003

S. HRG. 108–195

CONFIRMATION HEARING ON THE NOMINATION

OF EDUARDO AGUIRRE, JR. TO BE DIRECTOR,

BUREAU OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION

SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

HEARING

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY 

UNITED STATES SENATE

ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

JUNE 6, 2003

Serial No. J–108–14

Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary

(

(II)

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY 

ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah, Chairman 

CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa 

ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania 

JON KYL, Arizona 

MIKE DEWINE, Ohio 

JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama 

LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina 

LARRY E. CRAIG, Idaho 

SAXBY CHAMBLISS, Georgia 

JOHN CORNYN, Texas 

PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont 

EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts 

JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., Delaware 

HERBERT KOHL, Wisconsin 

DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California 

RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin 

CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York 

RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois 

JOHN EDWARDS, North Carolina 

BRUCE ARTIM, Chief Counsel and Staff Director 

BRUCE A. COHEN, Democratic Chief Counsel and Staff Director 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

STATEMENTS OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS 

Page

Chambliss, Hon. Saxby, a U.S. Senator from the State of Georgia ..................... 1

Kennedy, Hon. Edward M., a U.S. Senator from the State of Massachusetts ... 2

prepared statement .......................................................................................... 44

Grassley, Hon. Charles E., a U.S. Senator from the State of Iowa ..................... 3

Hatch, Hon. Orrin G., a U.S. Senator from the State of Utah, prepared 

statement .............................................................................................................. 42

Leahy, Hon. Patrick J., a U.S. Senator from the State of Vermont .................... 9

prepared statement .......................................................................................... 49

PRESENTERS 

Cornyn, Hon. John, a U.S. Senator from the State Texas presenting Eduardo 

Aguirre, Jr., Nominee to be Director, Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security ............................................. 5

prepared statement .......................................................................................... 40

Jackson Lee, Hon. Sheila, a Representative in Congress from the State of 

Texas, presenting Eduardo Aguirre, Jr., Nominee to be Director, Bureau 

of Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security ......................................................................................................................... 6

STATEMENT OF THE NOMINEE 

Aguirre, Eduardo, Jr., Nominee to be Director, Bureau of Citizenship and 

Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security ............................... 11

Questionnaire .................................................................................................... 13

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 

Responses of Eduardo Aguirre, Jr. to questions submitted by Senator Kohl ..... 33

Responses of Eduardo Aguirre, Jr. to questions submitted by Senator Feingold ........................................................................................................................ 35

(1)

NOMINATION OF EDUARDO AGUIRRE, JR., OF 

TEXAS, NOMINEE TO BE DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION 

SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 

SECURITY 

FRIDAY, JUNE 6, 2003

UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, Washington, DC. 

The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:41 a.m., in room 

SD–226, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Saxby Chambliss 

presiding. 

Present: Senators Chambliss, Grassley, Cornyn, Leahy, and Kennedy. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. SAXBY CHAMBLISS, A U.S. 

SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF GEORGIA 

Senator CHAMBLISS. The hearing will come to order. 

We are pleased to have Eduardo Aguirre before this Committee 

as the nominee to be Director of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services at the Department of Homeland Security. I 

would like to welcome his daughter, Tessie, who is with him this 

morning. 

Mr. Aguirre’s nomination is significant because he brings extensive management experience to a brand-new Bureau. He has held 

top-level positions in the banking industry for over 30 years and 

most recently served as Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer 

of the Export–Import Bank. 

Mr. Aguirre will bring much needed management skills and 

qualifications to the Bureau. We all know the problems of the old 

INS, some of which were institutional as a product of an agency 

with competing demands. For years, Members of Congress declared 

the INS was broken and must be reformed. Now that opportunity 

is at hand, and I am confident that Mr. Aguirre is up to the task. 

As a young immigrant from Cuba, Mr. Aguirre has experienced 

the American dream through hard work in both his business success and his community service. And he will surely work with Congress and the various agencies to make that dream a reality for 

others seeking opportunities in the United States. I commend the 

President for his nomination, and I look forward to Mr. Aguirre’s 

statement and responses to our questions. 

At this time I will turn to my friend, the Senator from Massachusetts, Senator Kennedy. 

2

STATEMENT OF HON. EDWARD M. KENNEDY, A U.S. SENATOR 

FROM THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS 

Senator KENNEDY. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and I 

want to express my appreciation to you and to the Chairman of the 

Committee for arranging the hearing today. You and I were both 

in attendance at the Rules Committee yesterday dealing with some 

extremely important matters relating to the procedures in the Senate, and I am personally appreciative of having this hearing this 

morning when we can do justice to our nominee and to the importance of this office. 

It is a privilege to participate in the nomination of Eduardo 

Aguirre to be the first Director of the new Bureau of Citizenship 

and Immigration Services. As you mentioned, he brings an impressive background to this position. He has served as the Acting Chair 

of the Export–Import Bank, where he produced an organization 

more oriented to customer service and positive results. In the private sector, at the Bank of America, he made customer and employee satisfaction his highest priority. And with respect to the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Service, he has said he intends to make integrity, respect, and ingenuity the core values of 

the Bureau. 

Mr. Aguirre is also sensitive to the plight of immigrants and refugees. He came to the United States at the age of 15, a Cuban refugee with no family, no money, and no ability to speak English. 

His plight was very similar to the plight of many of today’s immigrants and refugees. With the help of charitable organizations—the 

same organizations that help today’s new arrivals—he overcame 

many obstacles to become the inspiring success story he is today. 

His refugee roots will serve him well and the Nation well as Director of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. 

Overseeing immigration affairs is a major challenge. More than 

500 million citizens, permanent residents, lawful visitors, students, 

and temporary workers cross our borders each year. Hundreds of 

thousands of applications are processed for citizenship, permanent 

residence, asylum, and other matters. 

As the Director of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration 

Services, Mr. Aguirre will have a major role in influencing immigration policy, including long-needed improvements in the services 

of the Bureau. It is obvious that we can do more to serve citizens, 

our visitors, our immigrants, by reducing unacceptable backlogs 

and making the customer service functions more helpful and efficient. 

The Bureau will need a strong Director to lead this transformation and guide the Bureau’s integration with the Department 

of Homeland Security. The most important responsibilities of the 

position are to see that the service and enforcement functions are 

well coordinated and that the service functions are not given short 

shrift. Without strong leadership and the insistence on close coordination, the officials in the various immigration bureaus of the Department of Homeland Security are likely to issue conflicting policies and legal interpretations and generate even more disarray. 

The Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services must be 

adequately funded to make this transformation possible. Reliance 

on application fees to fund the processing of immigration applicaVerDate 0ct 09 2002 16:14 Nov 20, 2003 Jkt 090465 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\90465.TXT SJUD4 PsN: CMORC
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tions has not worked, as we know from the long backlogs and 

delays facing immigrants who apply for permanent residence or 

citizenship. 

We also need to make progress on other important areas of immigration reform. We must find a way to maintain security and still 

enable refugees to find safe haven in our country. 

We must return to the issue of immigration reform. Earlier this 

week, Secretary of State Powell said that we must ‘‘move forward’’ 

on immigration policies that provide legitimate ways for persons to 

enter the country and that legalize hard-working immigrants. 

The status quo is unacceptable. It must be replaced with sensible 

reforms that create a manageable and orderly system where legality is the prevailing rule. We need immigration policies that reflect 

economic realities, but also respect our heritage and history as a 

Nation of immigrants. 

Finally, we must act on the recent findings of the Office of the 

Inspector General and the ‘‘significant problems’’ he found in the 

way that the Justice Department treated September 11 detainees. 

Although immigration detention is not the responsibility of the Bureau, many of the persons detained are eligible for immigration relief and must be allowed to consult with their families and attorneys. 

I look forward to today’s hearing and to working closely with Mr. 

Aguirre to achieve these important goals. Immigration is an indispensable part of our Nation, and we must do all we can to see that 

our immigration laws are fair and consistent with the Nation’s fundamental values. 

I thank the Chair. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Kennedy appears as a submission for the record.] 

Senator CHAMBLISS. I now turn to the Chairman of the Finance 

Committee and a member of this Committee, Senator Grassley. 

STATEMENT OF HON. CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, A U.S. SENATOR 

FROM THE STATE OF IOWA 

Senator GRASSLEY. I will be with you just a short period of time 

because of a hearing I have on prescription drugs. But I do want 

to take the opportunity to congratulate Mr. Aguirre as well as expressing some concerns, as Senator Kennedy did, about the issues 

of immigration. 

Every member of this panel is concerned about the services that 

we provide new residents of our United States. We strive to welcome immigrants in a timely and efficient manner. We are frustrated, of course, by reports of backlogs and mistreatment. We have 

pressured the old Immigration and Naturalization Service for reforms, and we will continue to monitor the new Bureau’s ability to 

serve newcomers. 

Today, I want to express my strong belief that superior attention 

to customer service is necessary despite the Bureau’s mission and 

functions under a new Department. I would encourage the Department and the Bureau to bring enthusiasm and dedication to the 

duty of providing quality service to our country’s newcomers. The 

Bureau must be acutely aware of the demands facing our Nation’s 

4

newcomers. Such demands necessitate the highest standard of customer service and professionalism. 

First, I would commend the service for making individual case 

statuses available online and allowing the public another avenue to 

learn about their applications. I know that improvements to this 

electronic system will come, and I will continue to support new efforts to assist the Department’s clients. 

Second, complaints about the Bureau’s employees have been 

passed along to me that I find unacceptable. For example, some 

employees find it acceptable to threaten those who are subject to 

our confusing laws, and obviously new laws to new people coming 

to this country. I hope that the new administrator will appropriately investigate and address these issues and any others where 

the conduct of the new Bureau’s employees is called into question. 

Before closing, I would like to mention that I have been working 

to obtain more service personnel in the eastern part of my State 

of Iowa. Last year, I wrote to Attorney General Ashcroft and this 

year I have written to the new person of responsibility, Secretary 

Ridge, to request that additional immigration employees be placed 

in the Quad Cities of the Iowa and Illinois area where they have 

seen such an increase in immigrants. I am glad that your Bureau 

has responded by announcing immigration service hours being held 

in Davenport, Iowa, on June 24th. However, this first step must 

not be the last. 

Mr. Aguirre, you have had experience in shaping organizations, 

leading hundreds of employees, and managing millions of dollars. 

I hope that your expertise will help the Bureau of Citizenship and 

Immigration Services to get off on the right foot, and I welcome 

you, as I am sure you welcome that challenge, and we obviously 

wish you all well in your new job, not only to you personally but 

to the service that you bring to our new immigrants to this country. 

Thank you very much. 

Senator CHAMBLISS. Thank you, Senator, and you have been a 

busy man the last few weeks, and we appreciate all the great work 

you have been doing and all the positive legislation you have been 

shepherding through our great institution. 

Senator GRASSLEY. You keep talking that way, I will stay awhile. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator LEAHY. I think you have too many people waiting in the 

hall for you, Chuck. 

Senator CHAMBLISS. We are now joined by the distinguished 

Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, our friend 

from Vermont, Senator Leahy, for any comments he might have. 

Senator LEAHY. Mr. Chairman, I will have a couple comments 

about the nominee, but I see both Senator Cornyn and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee here, and I would be happy to let them 

go ahead. But then I would like to make a couple comments about 

the nominee. 

Senator CHAMBLISS. All right. We will move to the first panel, 

which is two of our distinguished colleagues from the great State 

of Texas: my former House colleague, Sheila Jackson Lee, and my 

good friend and classmate, Senator Cornyn. 

5

Senator Cornyn, we look forward to hearing from you any comments you have about Mr. Aguirre. 

PRESENTATION OF EDUARDO AGUIRRE, JR., NOMINEE TO BE 

DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION 

SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, BY HON. 

JOHN CORNYN, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF TEXAS 

Senator CORNYN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is good to be here 

today on this side of the table here in this Committee hearing, of 

which I am a member, a proud member, and I appreciate your calling this hearing today and providing me an opportunity to testify 

on behalf of a great American, a great Texan, and, I am pleased 

to say, a great friend. 

It is my pleasure to introduce to the Committee Mr. Eduardo 

Aguirre, Jr., nominated to serve as the first Director of the Bureau 

of Citizenship and Immigration Services in the new Department of 

Homeland Security. 

Mr. Aguirre understands deeply how important a role immigrants have played in our Nation’s history. As a fellow Texan, I am 

proud of his contributions that he has made to the State of Texas 

and to this country, and that he will continue to make if confirmed 

by the Senate for this position, as he surely should be. 

As Senator Kennedy has already noted, at the early age of 15, 

Eduardo Aguirre fled Cuba in search of a better life. His life story 

is a success story and a valuable reminder to all of us that immigrants epitomize the hard work, entrepreneurial spirit, and thirst 

for liberty that embodies the American dream. 

As you know, the Department of Homeland Security’s Bureau of 

Citizenship and Immigration Services provides the services to immigrants that were once provided by the former INS. The BCIS has 

a daunting mission in front of it: to eliminate substantial backlogs, 

and to improve immigration services for all who come to this country in search of a better life. As Acting Director of BCIS since February, Mr. Aguirre is already aware of the daunting challenges 

faced by this new Bureau, and he has done an excellent job in leading and managing it. 

Mr. Aguirre has already enjoyed an impressive career in management, both in the private and public sectors, and, of course, management experience is precisely what is called for, especially at this 

particular agency and at this particular time. 

He comes to the Department of Homeland Security most recently 

from the Export–Import Bank of the United States, where he has 

served as Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer. He was confirmed to that post in December 2001 by the unanimous consent of 

the United States Senate. 

Mr. Aguirre served as the Bank’s Acting Chairman until December 2002. In that capacity, he guided the Bank through its most 

recent 5-year Congressional reauthorization and shaped it into a 

more customer service and results-oriented organization. 

Before moving to Washington, Mr. Aguirre enjoyed a 24-year career with the Bank of America, including service as president of 

International Banking. He has also served as Chairman of the 

Board of Regents of the University of Houston System, where he 

6

brought clarity of purpose and direction to the four-university system and its approximately 50,000-student body. 

Mr. Aguirre is not only a leader in Government and business, but 

also a civic leader. 

He is the founding Chair of the Houston Livestock Show and 

Rodeo–Go Tejano Committee, further empowering Houston Hispanics with access to college scholarships. He has served on numerous professional and civic boards, including the Texas Children’s 

Hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospital, the Center for Excellence in Education, the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade, and the 

Houston chapters of the American Red Cross and the Salvation 

Army. 

Named ‘‘one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in the Nation’’ 

by Hispanic Business magazine, Mr. Aguirre has traveled extensively in Latin America, Europe, and Asia, promoting economic 

growth, international trade, and business opportunities. He has 

represented the United States in meetings with heads of state, cabinet ministers, and other high-ranking government officials and 

private sector executives in discussions related to trade financing. 

If confirmed, Mr. Aguirre will face important and challenging responsibilities. As Director of the BCIS, Mr. Aguirre will build upon 

his excellent record of leadership, management, and service on behalf of all of our Nation’s immigrants and, indeed, on behalf of this 

entire Nation. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Cornyn appears as a submission for the record.] 

Senator CHAMBLISS. Thank you very much for those great comments. 

Congresswoman Jackson Lee, we are pleased to have you with us 

and look forward to hearing from you. 

PRESENTATION OF EDUARDO AGUIRRE, JR., NOMINEE TO BE 

DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION 

SERVICES, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, BY 

HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TEXAS 

Representative JACKSON LEE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is a 

pleasure to see you and be reminded of the work we did on the 

CDC, and all I can say is we are trying to continue that work for 

the Centers for Disease Control and continue to work on the issue 

of homeland security. In fact, as we speak, the House Select Committee on Homeland Security is meeting, of which I am a member, 

so I would ask the Committee’s pardon after I hopefully share with 

you my thoughts and feelings about this great nominee, if you 

would allow my departure for that hearing. 

Senator CHAMBLISS. Certainly. 

Representative JACKSON LEE. I thank Senator Kennedy as well 

for his leadership in this Committee and certainly Ranking Member Leahy for his leadership on these very important matters. And, 

of course, I am very pleased to be able to not only speak of a great 

Texan and American, but might I say, a great Houstonian that we 

are also very proud of. And I stand here representing the constituVerDate 0ct 09 2002 16:14 Nov 20, 2003 Jkt 090465 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\90465.TXT SJUD4 PsN: CMORC
7

ency of the City of Houston that appreciates the leadership of 

Eduardo Aguirre, who has served us in our community. 

I believe the Committee will answer several questions this morning during this confirmation proceeding. The question will include 

what is an American and who can be an American, actually will 

be aspects of the job that Mr. Aguirre will be taking on. I think 

there could not be a better nominee to represent that question. 

I am proud to call him an American, a Houstonian, a Texan, and 

certainly a friend. And I come today to support his nomination and 

to encourage the Senate to confirm him as the Director of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. It will not be an 

easy assignment. While the enforcement side of the old Immigration and Naturalization Service came under most of the scrutiny, 

the service and benefit side also has had its major problems. I am 

most familiar with Houston, which historically has been one of the 

most overburdened offices. For instance, immigrants who filed an 

application for permanent resident status would have to wait some 

3 years before they would even begin to process the application. 

But I am confident that we have the right person, the right man 

for this challenge. 

I know that this gentleman, along with his family members, has 

always had a can-do attitude in our community. I have seen his 

work throughout the years, and now as he serves the President of 

the United States and the people of the United States, he brings 

to us that can-do attitude. 

I also believe that he understands the concept that this Nation 

was built on the hard work of many, including immigrants, those 

who seek access to legalization, and I think even after 9/11, he realizes that immigration does not equate to terrorism. I believe that 

because when Mr. Aguirre spoke at the University of Houston commencement ceremony in May of this year, he described himself as 

a little kid from Havana who ended up in the administration of the 

United States President. He told the graduates that America is a 

country where there are no barriers to what an individual can accomplish. He certainly represents that, and I agree completely. 

His experiences are illustrations of the opportunities for social 

equality and economic independence that attracts immigrants to 

this Nation. I know, however, that it is not easy to succeed even 

in this great country. It requires character, ability, and persistence 

to overcome the obstacles that immigrants face when they establish 

lives or seek to establish lives for themselves in the United States. 

Again, who is an American and who can be an American are 

questions that I believe Mr. Aguirre can answer very aptly. 

Mr. Aguirre comes to this position with the skills and experience 

that are needed to complete the reorganization of the service and 

benefit operations from the former Immigration and Naturalization 

Service. During his tenure as head of the Export–Import Bank, he 

guided the Bank through its most recent 5-year Congressional reauthorization. In fact, he got a successful vote in the House on the 

reauthorization of the Export–Import Bank, even with those who 

desire to express their opposition to that particular entity. 

I am particularly pleased to relate to you that he shaped the 

Bank in a more customer service and results-oriented organization. 

The Aguirre transformation of the Bank included the implementaVerDate 0ct 09 2002 16:14 Nov 20, 2003 Jkt 090465 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\90465.TXT SJUD4 PsN: CMORC
8

tion of streamlined customer procedures, the implementation of 

quality assurance standards, oversight, and initiatives designed to 

facilitate customer interaction—the very skills that will be needed 

for this new Bureau to focus on immigration services, but also to 

encourage those who are seeking legalization, doing the right thing, 

attempting to be documented, to have the process effectively utilized. 

I look forward to seeing him apply his experience and expertise 

to the customer relations area, to the management of the Bureau 

of Citizenship and Immigration Services. His intentions in this regard were expressed in a recent newspaper article which conveys 

a message from Mr. Aguirre to the dozens of immigrants who line 

up outside of the old Immigration and Naturalization Service office 

in Houston at 5:00 a.m. every morning and then wait hours for the 

chance to spend a few minutes talking to a Government officer. His 

message is he is on your side. He is very conscious of the fact that 

the lines have to be reduced. He is also good at listening to the immigrants who waited years to get their applications processed and 

the thousands more who have written letters to the old INS that 

were never answered. 

The same focus on customer service can be seen in the record of 

his employment prior to joining the Export–Import Bank. As you 

have heard, he served as president of International Private Banking for the Bank of America, and during his 24-year career with 

the Bank of America, he led the integration of new teams and corporate cultures into a unified structure responsive to customers, 

shareholders, and the community at large. 

In addition to running a highly profitable unit of this 50,000-employee world-class bank, his team was consistently ranked in the 

areas of customer and employee satisfaction, and I expect him to 

do the same here. 

We have served together on the State Bar of Texas where he was 

the first non-attorney. That is a great credit to him. We all know 

the bias of attorneys, but he was a breath of fresh aid amongst us 

in serving the Texas State Bar. 

As I see Judge Eric Endel here in the audience, I know that he 

can attest to the importance of civilian work, working with attorneys and making sure that we follow our rules of ethics and, of 

course, serve our customers, our clients. 

He was a wonderful leader of the Texas Bar Foundation, a nonprofit agency, and under his leadership, thankfully we raised 

$500,000. He has been named three times by Hispanic Business 

magazine one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in the United 

States. He has traveled extensively. He knows the importance of 

relationships internationally. And I think he will be a good friend 

to not only the Nation but the world in working to show the world 

of our concern about those who immigrate to this Nation. 

I work with him on the Houston Livestock Show, and if any of 

you are aware of what goes on in February every year in Houston, 

Texas, everyone is a cowboy. But what the Houston Livestock Show 

stands for is raising scholarship dollars for young people. And it 

was the leadership of Mr. Aguirre on the Go Tejano Committee 

that inspired me to help found the Go Black Texan Committee that 

9

helped to raise scholarship funds for inner-city youngsters. And we 

have worked together. 

He has done great work for the Texas Children’s Hospital, St. Joseph’s, and many other organizations. But, frankly, I believe this 

gentleman comes to you with that can-do attitude and a love and 

understanding of the values of America that we all can be proud 

of. We all represent one great Nation loving democracy and sharing, and so it is with great pleasure that I hope that this Committee will certainly confirm initially his seeking the position of the 

Director of this Bureau and that he will move quickly to the United 

States Senate. 

I thank you for giving me the opportunity to provide this insight. 

Senator CHAMBLISS. Well, we appreciate very much and I know 

Mr. Aguirre appreciates very much you being here showing a bipartisan spirit in support of his nomination. Thanks for all you do 

with our colleagues on the House side, and we appreciate your 

leadership. Again, thanks for being here and thanks for your comments. 

Representative JACKSON LEE. Thank you, Senator. 

Senator CHAMBLISS. Before we ask Mr. Aguirre to come up, I will 

turn to my friend from Vermont, the ranking member, Senator 

Leahy. 

STATEMENT OF HON. PATRICK LEAHY, A U.S. SENATOR FROM 

THE STATE OF VERMONT 

Senator LEAHY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I might to say to the nominee, you ought to just sit there. You 

are doing okay so far. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator LEAHY. Here in the Judiciary Committee, it isn’t always 

this way, so enjoy it, luxuriate in it. The sun is shining, and I think 

you have got all of it in here. You are not doing too bad so far. 

Even the 101st Senator under the table here, Senator Kennedy’s 

dog Splash, is wagging his tail every time your name is mentioned. 

And he doesn’t always do that. 

I am glad that we are having this nomination. I am glad also, 

to be serious for a moment, that the nomination was referred to the 

Judiciary Committee which continues to have jurisdiction over immigration legislation and oversight. We had not considered the 

nomination of Asa Hutchinson as Under Secretary, but it is fitting 

that Mr. Hutchinson has testified before the Committee since his 

confirmation and has made himself available to us. 

With this hearing on immigration, I suspect we will have more 

as the year goes on. I think that is an important thing to do. A 

number of us on both sides of the aisle called for a hearing on the 

report released on Monday by the Justice Department’s Office of 

the Inspector General concerning the treatment of those aliens who 

were detained as part of the investigation into the September 11th 

attacks. 

I think it would be important that we hold that hearing as 

promptly as possible because the Inspector General report shows 

the severe consequences that can be faced by those immigrants 

who fail to maintain their lawful status. Of course, the responsibility to remain here legally falls upon immigrants, but there are 

10

occasions when immigrants live up to that responsibility, do all the 

paperwork, but are sometimes failed by errors and backlogs on the 

Government’s part. And we want to prevent that because I think 

that you especially as an immigrant know the same thing that my 

grandparents knew: that this is a wonderful country and it beckons 

us. But also when immigrants come to our shores, we also want to 

show them the best face of America, and not make them think, 

whether intentionally or otherwise, that we don’t want them here. 

I wouldn’t be here if my stonecutter grandfather hadn’t come 

here and earned enough money in Vermont to then send for his 

wife and children. And I have always remembered that. I still go 

back to Italy where all my family is from to meet with them. 

So I hope that you especially will use your position to battle the 

perception in many of the immigrant communities that the war on 

terrorism has become a war on immigrants. 

Now, we are justified to go after terrorists, but we shouldn’t 

make immigrants think that we are going after them as a class. 

We are going after terrorists, not after immigrants. 

You have a distinguished career in business. I have talked with 

my friends at the Export–Import Bank. They have said wonderful 

things about you, and as the Chairman said, we have two distinguished Members of Congress who have come here and spoken for 

you. 

You are going to have a demanding portfolio. You have gotten 

letters from Members of Congress, including myself, with concerns 

about immigration policy. Yesterday we read in the New York 

Times how backlogs have stranded 20,000 refugees in what are described as ‘‘desolate camps in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.’’ 

I have been in some of those camps, and they are awful. We can 

do a better job. 

As Director of BCIS, you are going to supervise many constituents of mine at the Service Center in St. Albans, Vermont. They 

are excellent employees, and I want to commend you for having already made a trip up there in your acting capacity. I can tell you 

from what I have heard from the men and women there, they appreciated that. They appreciated the fact that you actually cared 

because, boy, they are working hard. You know, they are dedicated 

Americans, and they want this Service Center to work. 

So keep them in the loop, via me or—I mean, I would be happy 

to bring you up there anytime. I would be proud to bring you up 

there anytime—again, assuming you are going to be confirmed, 

which, of course, you will. 

And I think what you are probably going to hear as you have 

gone around, many of the former INS employees have been left in 

a state of flux as each DHS branch makes its own reorganization 

plan. As you reorganize BCIS, I urge you to make assessment unrestricted cohort use as possible of these Vermonters with immigration backgrounds. They have a great deal of expertise and can be 

available to you, and I would hope you would consider making 

Vermont a regional center for your agency. I am not asking for a 

commitment, of course. But I hope you would consider it because 

these people have so many years of experience that you couldn’t 

replicate anywhere else. 

11

On the national level, it was a priority for many of us that immigration services not be overlooked at the Department of Homeland 

Security. As I said, immigration is so important to us, and immigration has to be handled in a fair and orderly way. So I look forward to hearing your views on that, about the backlogs in our immigration system. We want to talk about that. 

The President has pledged to reduce the average backlog for immigration petitions to 6 months by 2006. I certainly agree with 

that and want to hear your plans on that. 

I am heading off to Vermont today, but I delayed my departure 

because I wanted to be here to welcome you. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Leahy appears as a submission for the record.] 

Senator CHAMBLISS. Thank you, sir. 

Mr. Aguirre, we will ask that you come forward to be sworn. I 

will ask that you stand and raise your right hand. Do you solemnly 

swear the testimony you are about to give before this Committee 

shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so 

help you God? 

Mr. AGUIRRE. I do. 

Senator CHAMBLISS. For the record, will you state your name, 

please? 

Mr. AGUIRRE. Eduardo Aguirre, Jr. 

Senator CHAMBLISS. You are going to need to press that button 

there. 

Mr. AGUIRRE. Senator, my name is still Eduardo Aguirre, Jr. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator CHAMBLISS. Well, we are pleased to have you here this 

morning. And Senator Leahy is right; it is not always this freeflowing and complementary in this room, and that says a lot about 

you. And we certainly appreciate the great work you have done for 

our country to this point, and we look forward to hearing from you 

this morning, and we will accept any opening statement, and if you 

would like to tell us about any family or friends you have with us, 

it is always our pleasure to hear about that, too. 

STATEMENT OF EDUARDO AGUIRRE, JR., NOMINEE TO BE DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION 

SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY 

Mr. AGUIRRE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Senators. I am very 

pleased to come before you today as you consider my nomination 

to be the first-ever Director of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services in the newly created Department of Homeland Security. At the onset, I would like to thank my wife of 35 years, 

Maria Teresa Aguirre, for her continued support in my quest to 

serve my country through public life. Representing our family and 

with me today is my daughter, Tessie Aguirre, who is a senior at 

Texas A&M University and is studying in Washington, D.C., this 

summer, and my daughter is right behind me. 

Should the Senate act favorably on my nomination, this would 

mark my second Senate-confirmed Presidential appointment service to my adopted country. Almost 42 years ago, I came to this land 

of freedom and opportunity as a 15-year-old Cuban refugee without 

12

my family or money or working knowledge of the English language. 

Along the way I was sheltered and taught by Catholic Charities, 

cared for by the United Way, and helped by many, many, many 

others. Later, a very affordable U.S. Government student loan program allowed me to attend college and eventually earn a degree 

from Louisiana State University. I have overcome real and imagined obstacles on my journey to realize my version of the American 

dream. And I am grateful beyond words. I am extremely proud and 

humbled to have been selected by President George W. Bush to 

serve the United States in his administration. 

The Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services is responsible for providing the right immigration benefits, in the right 

amount of time, to the right applicants; and to prevent the wrong 

ones from accessing our benefits. The United States always has, 

and continues to be, a Nation of immigrants. On a personal level, 

I share President Bush’s vision of ‘‘welcoming immigrants with 

open arms...not endless lines.’’ If confirmed, I look forward to working with Secretary Ridge, Deputy Secretary England, and the rest 

of the Homeland Security leadership and staff, in addition to others 

in President Bush’s administration, to advance our country’s immigration agenda, including a serious focus for the scrutiny and security responsibilities within our scope. Also, as demonstrated in my 

position as Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of the Export–Import Bank of the United States, I welcome the opportunity 

to work with the Senate and the House of Representatives. 

I am confident that one and half years in a leadership role at the 

Ex–Im Bank, 34 years in commercial banking, and a number of 

hands-on civic leadership roles have prepared me to accept this 

considerable challenge. Beyond my inherent sensitivity to immigrant issues, I hope to bring to the job my proven management and 

leadership skills, my customer service background, my broad risk 

analysis experience, a respectful awe for the trust placed in me, an 

open mind, and some measure of common sense. These skills 

should be particularly important to the Bureau of Citizenship and 

Immigration Services as we face the unique challenges of the 21st 

century. My vision is to lead a world-class Bureau that will excel 

in customer service and effective risk management. During my tenure, integrity, respect, and ingenuity will be our core values. 

In closing, I want to acknowledge my family as the bedrock of my 

value system. We hard-working, God-fearing people who recognize 

and treasure our immigrant roots as we strive to give back some 

of the many blessings that have come our way. 

Mr. Chairman, Senators, I respectfully ask for your favorable 

consideration of my nomination and stand ready to respond to your 

questions as you may have them. 

Thank you very much for your attention. 

[The biographical information follows:]

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Senator CHAMBLISS. Well, thank you very much, and you sure 

bring a great story and a great background, personally as well as 

professionally, to this position, and we appreciate your willingness 

to serve in a public capacity. 

I have been to Tigers Stadium on Saturday night, and you all are 

not always very kind to my Bulldogs down there. But I promise you 

we are not going to hold that against you this morning. 

Mr. AGUIRRE. Well, thank you, Senator. The bipartisanship includes our schools. 

Senator CHAMBLISS. Let me start off with a question regarding 

our visa system. One problem that has certainly been publicized 

following September 11, but all of us as Members of Congress knew 

that this problem existed well in advance of that, is the way we 

track individuals in this country once a lawful visa has been issued 

to them, particularly when those visas expire, whether it is a student visa or just a normal visa for somebody seeking to come in the 

country for a particular valid reason. 

How do you envision that you are going to be able to improve the 

system of tracking these individuals who are here legally? And how 

are we going to make sure that when their visa expires that they 

do what is correct, either extend it or go back to where they came 

from? 

Mr. AGUIRRE. Thank you, Senator Chambliss. The issue of people 

who visit our country can be broadly described as immigrants and 

non-immigrants, and perhaps you’re referring to the non-immigrant capacity of many, many of the people that come to this country with either a visitor’s visa, a tourist’s visa, if you will, or student visas, which comprises really the majority of the 500 million 

visitors that we receive in this country. 

The other side of the equation is the immigrant population which 

comes here either on a permanent or semi-permanent capacity. 

The reason I make that distinction is because our Bureau actually makes that distinction. Our responsibility in the Bureau of 

Citizenship and Immigration Services is to deal with the immigrant population, and the other parts of our Government have to 

deal with the non-immigrant population. And I just want to make 

sure I’m responsive to your question. 

Many of the non-immigrants that come to this country are channeled through or handled by either our State Department or the 

Bureau of Transportation—the Border and Transportation Security 

that Under Secretary Asa Hutchinson handles. Below him, of 

course, we have the Bureau of Customs and Immigration, BTPS, 

I’m not sure, Border Protection, as well as immigration enforcement. And they are more the ones that are going to be tracking the 

immigrants that perhaps you’re referring to. 

We, of course, will do our part to cooperate and communicate 

with them and make sure that we’re adding our value to the immigrant community that would be mostly those who have either permanent residency or asylum status or some of the work permits 

that also we handle. 

Senator CHAMBLISS. Is there going to be interfacing between your 

department and those departments, particularly with respect to 

computerized information that might be available on these individuals? 

24

Mr. AGUIRRE. Yes, sir. We will coordinate with them to the extent that it’s practical and necessary. It’s, I think, proper to note 

that post–9/11 many strides have been made to make different 

computer databases to interface with each other and communicate 

with each other. And we have not reached the end of the line. I 

think we have a long ways to go to improve our background checks 

and things of that nature. 

On our side, sir, as we consider the extension of benefits to those 

who apply for us, we work with a number of databases to do the 

background check to ensure that we’re dealing with the individual 

as they should and to check on their background check to make 

sure that there’s no security risk there. So we do interface with 

other parts of the Government. 

Senator CHAMBLISS. There is some backlog of about 5 million 

cases, I believe, that has built up over the years at the former INS. 

The President said he wants to reduce that time lag down to 6 

months. Can you tell us sort of where we are with respect to a reduction of that backlog? 

Mr. AGUIRRE. Yes, sir. I can tell you that I am as dismayed as 

I’m sure our President is and most everyone should be on the backlog that we are experiencing right now. The President’s goal, as 

stated, brings us to a 6-month turnaround time sometime in 2006. 

I am confident that we will reach and hopefully improve on that 

particular goal. 

We were making great strides a couple of years ago or so, and 

then 9/11 came about. And I would say that instead of having a 

steady growth in terms of completing the cases, we have had a dip 

because we have to—we, meaning the INS, had to rechannel some 

of the resources that they were using towards the backlog to deal 

with the issue of background checks and other things that we were 

doing. 

I can tell you that we have created a group that will return to 

me within the next 90 days with a recommendation with specific 

timelines and action items that will establish a more orderly decision on the backlog. And that is definitely one of the three priorities that I have in the big overall sense. 

Senator CHAMBLISS. Okay. Senator Kennedy? 

Senator KENNEDY. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

As you know, you have to depend, particularly with regards to 

those that are coming into the country and those we have to follow 

in this country because of potential threats to the Nation, on the 

CIA sharing the information on that watch list, and the FBI. And 

we are in the process of trying, with our border security legislation, 

to coordinate with the INS. I believe your computers are supposed 

to be up in 2004. Theirs come earlier. But I would be very hopeful 

that you would monitor that and watch it very carefully because 

that will have an enormous impact in your ability to track and 

trace and follow these. And I would hope that you would let us 

know on the Committee any areas where you do need help and assistance as this moves along. I am sure the Department of Homeland Security wants it to be done well and done right; the President does. We want to give you all the help and support. That is 

extraordinarily important. 

25

In the areas of the backlog, I am glad that the Chairman mentioned it because, as you mentioned, you have 500 million cases 

and naturalization applications numbering over 650,000. What 

happened, of course, as you are familiar with, is that some of the 

immigrants detained and placed in removal proceedings during the 

NSEERS registration program had pending benefit applications 

and would have actually—had their applications processed—had 

regularized status here. Because they weren’t able to do that, a lot 

of them were both detained and some were deported. 

I would hope that as you shorten that time frame, you would be 

sensitive to what the penalties would be to some of these people 

that are trying to play by the rules, play by the game, so that while 

you are trying to catch up so that they are not unfairly penalized. 

Because that has happened in the past through no fault of their 

own. We don’t want that to happen to them. As you are getting a 

handle, we want to try and make sure that you get that job done. 

But if you could take a look at that to make sure that they are not 

unfairly penalized during that process, that would be important. 

And I hope during the period of time as well, if you need additional kinds of resources—we know you are committed to whatever 

the budget says—we can ask you questions about what you would 

do if you had additional resources in terms of speeding up the applications, and we can make some independent judgments on this. 

And the Immigration Service has never been one that has been 

overly funded, quite frankly, over a period of time on this. 

One of the matters I just might mention in the budget and resources, when they had the NSEERS program, they took a lot of 

staff from working on naturalization and other immigration applications, and they were diverted to enforcement functions. So not 

only do the diversions of the staff and resources result in delays in 

applications but also confusion. Personnel is being shifted. 

Also, we are hopeful that you are going to get a recovery of resources from the Department so that you are not taking a whack 

both ways, extending in terms of not being able to move ahead on 

naturalization and not being reimbursed for the personnel. I don’t 

know how that works, but I imagine that you might just comment 

about whether you intend to try and gain that reimbursement. Do 

you have a plan to try and do that? Are you going to talk to those 

in the Department to try to get reimbursement for funding in that 

area? 

Mr. AGUIRRE. Yes, Senator. If I may start at the last and work 

my way up, we have—we are towards the end of our negotiations 

with basically three parties: the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which was the one that mostly drew on our resources for the NSEERS program, and the OMB folks, and I believe we will reach a fair and equitable assessment of the monetary 

exchange that needs to take place. I have no reason to doubt that 

we are going to get that done in an orderly fashion. 

Of course, this has to do with an appropriation that has yet to 

be completed in the Congress, so we are actually dealing with dollars that are hopefully coming our way but not there yet. 

I thank you for your offer of assistance in the resources and accept it gladly. We will be happy to share that with you. 

26

It is premature for me to determine whether or not we are where we need to be. I feel that our budget of almost approximately $1.8 

billion seems to be just about right at this particular time, but we 

are working on our 2005 fiscal year budget, and we will be including there some things that, in fact, are not there today which I 

know are of interest to you, the Refugee Corps and things of that 

nature. And we’ll see when the dollars are added up that we would 

fit well within the Homeland Security structure and then, of 

course, count on the President to feel comfortable with it as well. 

In terms of the backlog, I mean, clearly, it is one of our high priorities, and we will get to work with them and are working on 

them right away. 

And, lastly, in terms of our coordination with CIA and actually 

the FBI, we are working with them. We do a number of background checks through them depending on the level of benefit applied to. But I must tell you that really the future in terms of resources and where we need to go is biometrics because right now 

when you’re using names and other types of data to identify individuals, it is faulty, at best. And we will have to work our way into 

the future of technology so that biometrics becomes more the standard rather than the exception. 

Senator KENNEDY. Well, I am glad you mentioned that. I think 

in years past, when we were looking at how you are going to deal 

with the falsification of documents, it basically comes down to the 

birth certificate. If people can falsify the birth certificate, it is all 

over. There is no way in the world that you are going to be able 

to get a handle on it. And the only way to try to do it is to try to 

have a tamper-proof birth certificate. This is something Senator 

Simpson understood very well, and for a while he tried to do it. But 

the idea that the Federal Government was going to require tamperproof birth certificates in every community, every church, every 

synagogue, is completely unrealistic in terms of this country at this 

time. It just isn’t going to go. He made a very bold attempt at trying to do it, but once you get beyond that, it is extremely difficult 

to ever get tamper-proof. And now we have got new technology, biometrics, which really gives us a new avenue to try and sort of deal 

with these areas. That is enormously important. 

Just a couple of other areas. I want to mention what you already 

understand, and that is, immigration involves both the enforcement and adjudicatory components. That is going to be enormously 

important. And the integration with the new Department and coordination among the three Bureaus are, I think, two of the biggest 

challenges that you have. I don’t know if there is anything that you 

want to tell us about how that is proceeding and give us any sort 

of reaction there. And then I just have, Mr. Chairman, one other 

question. 

Mr. AGUIRRE. Yes, Senator, I think the issue of coordination begins at the top, and I can tell you unequivocally that Secretary 

Ridge is ensuring that all of us in Homeland Security, in fact, are 

coordinating and cooperating with each other, but, most specifically, I can point towards Asa Hutchinson and I, who are peers reporting to Deputy Secretary England, as talking frequently and 

very specifically and congenially in terms of making sure that we 

are working with each other. 

27

Beyond that, two of his direct reports, Mike Garcia and Rob 

Bonner, are individuals with whom our Bureau interfaces with on 

a frequent if not daily basis. And my communication with them is 

also frequent. And I have yet to discover an opportunity where we 

have not come to some agreement, even when we’re dealing with 

issues that could be difficult. 

So at the leadership level, I can tell you that we are going to 

work together, but, more importantly, we have shared some of the 

resources. At our Bureau we have identified an individual that 

will—that is actually a liaison with BICE. Asa Hutchinson and I 

actually yesterday were meeting on this, and we are actually going 

to identify a liaison as well for his super structure. In fact, our 

legal counsel, the legal counsel for BICE and for my Bureau, at 

this particular time wears both hats. So we are sharing some resources. We’re making sure that we’re coordinating with each other 

and nothing falls through the cracks as we try to disengage the old 

INS into the new Bureau of—our Bureau and the other Bureaus 

as well. 

I hope that satisfies your question. 

Senator KENNEDY. We again want to help you in every way that 

we can. 

Just last two items briefly. On refugees and asylees, you know, 

the President had the figure of 70,000. A year ago—we only let 

27,000 in. A little over a year ago, we had a conference with Secretary Powell. I think all of us understand the complexities and the 

difficulties immediately after 9/11. And he was saying that we 

ought to look at the 2-year period, thinking of last year’s 70,000, 

what we might be expecting this year and thinking of it policywise. 

But I am most interested in how you are going to work through 

that. It is ambitious, clearly, but this is the number—we have got 

the greatest number of refugees now—that has created enormous 

kinds of needs. And the ceiling has been established and has been 

approved by Congress. I am wondering whether you intend to give 

that a priority as well. 

Mr. AGUIRRE. Thank you, Senator. In fact, refugees is one of our 

priorities, as stated by the items that we need to discharge. As a 

former refugee myself, I have a special sensitivity to this issue, and 

I have actually taken quite a bit of interest in it. 

I feel very proud to say that our Bureau and our Nation will continue to work the issues of refugees to make sure that we maintain 

the doors open to those who seek to come here. 

Clearly, a number of different factors have come into play here 

in terms of our refugee population today. Some geopolitical changes 

such as Eastern Europe and the old Soviet Union are no longer 

bringing refugees to our shores in the numbers that used to come. 

Our most two recent wars have changed the dynamics, and certainly 9/11 has changed the dynamics in terms of the background 

checks that we have to do of refugees, which, as you very well 

know, are precisely the population where a background check is 

particularly difficult to do. 

We are working with the State Department, and we’re working 

with other organizations, whether multinational organizations or 

NGOs, nongovernmental organizations, to see what we can do to 

28

alleviate the problem. I feel that this is a year which hopefully will 

be an anomaly over the long-term period of time, and hopefully the 

number of refugees will increase and will bump up closer to the 

ceiling than they would be in this particular fiscal year. 

Senator KENNEDY. Thank you. Just finally, in the International 

Religious—I will send you a note on this because this is technical—

Freedom Act of 1998 required the GAO to study the effect of expedited removal on individuals, and they did that. They performed 

that. But it also authorized the U.S. Commission on International 

Religious Freedom to designate experts to study the same issue. 

That had not been done. The act provided the Commission with access to the expedited removal process and detention facilities as 

well as relative documents. 

I think it would be enormously useful, particularly in the wake 

of what the IG has had over at the Justice Department, to ensure 

that that study, which was authorized and recommended, is carried 

through. If you would look into that for me and let me know. 

That is a technical question, so let me write you a note on it, and 

you can give me an answer, unless you want to say something 

about that now. 

Mr. AGUIRRE. All I can say is I look forward to your note, Senator. 

Senator KENNEDY. Okay. Very good. 

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

Senator CHAMBLISS. Senator Leahy? 

Senator LEAHY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Incidentally, I am glad you have your family here and you introduced them. Someday when you look in the family archives and see 

the transcript of this that you will get, it will note the fact that 

they were there, and I know you—like I am with my family, you 

must be very, very proud of them. 

Mr. AGUIRRE. Indeed, Senator. Thank you. 

Senator LEAHY. One of the things I look forward to the most this 

weekend is being with my two grandchildren, who totally wear me 

out, and I will have a great time doing it. 

I talked a little bit before in my opening statement about the situation in Vermont, and as I said, I really appreciate and compliment you for taking the time to check that out. There are more 

than 2,000 Vermonters who work for the INS, either as permanent 

or contract employees. So the reorganization plans of the Bureau 

of Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection are having a substantial effect on our 

State, and, of course, everybody is interested about it. 

What organizational changes basically do you plan for BCIS? 

Mr. AGUIRRE. Thank you, Senator, for that. I’d just like to preface my comments by saying that—thank you for recognizing that 

I did go to Vermont. I went there not only because I wanted to visit 

that particular corner of our business, but because Vermont has 

been and will continue to be an important part of our structure. As 

you well know, it is the site in Burlington where we have the headquarters for our Eastern Region, and I wanted to get a sense of not 

only the leadership, but particularly the workforce that we have 

there. 

29

And I commend you, Senator, for the outstanding professionalism 

that I found there. I met with essentially every employee that I 

could, either in a one-on-one setting or in a town hall meeting setting, and I was very impressed with their commitment. I was very 

impressed with their professionalism and their determination to 

work in our Bureau. 

As such, I can say that it is my intention to maintain Vermont 

as an integral part of our structure. We have not finished determining how our regions are going to be structured, and I know that 

is inherent perhaps in your question, only because we want to 

make sure that we will blend well with the region structure that 

the Department of Homeland Security will roll out. And when 

that—we are part of that discussion, and we’re making sure—and, 

in fact, Secretary Ridge is making sure that our concerns are considered in the overall region structure. 

Vermont will be an important part in the overall structure going 

forward, simply because we’ve got the right people there, they’re 

doing the right job, and we want to leverage them more rather 

than less. 

Senator LEAHY. Thank you. After you get fully settled in, perhaps you and I could spend a little time together going over some 

of the direction. I appreciate very much what you said, and I will 

also pass on your words to them about their commitment. I know 

that will mean a lot. And I think it’s important that you continue 

and your office continue to talk to the people not only in Vermont 

but in other places, because you can imagine the basic concern that 

goes on. Here’s a major enormous shift in the organization of our 

Government, and you have dedicated professionals, and they will 

keep on doing their job, but they also want to know whether they 

are going to keep on paying their mortgage, too. So I appreciate 

that. 

I would also like you to look at the EB–5 Immigrant Investor 

Visa program. That is the one that promotes domestic job creation 

by encouraging foreign investment in the U.S. It has been around 

a little over 10 years now, and in the past, there seems to be some 

friction with INS on that. I think last year only 148 visas were 

granted, even though we see the jobless rate going up in the United 

States, and 148 visas were granted to those who wanted to create 

jobs here. 

You have had extensive business experience yourself, so I would 

hope you would work with us to make sure that program is working the way Congress intended. We want to create jobs here in the 

United States, and I know you do, too. 

Mr. AGUIRRE. Well, yes, Senator. Thank you. I have not really 

looked deeply into the numbers issue of the EB–5, but I have analyzed the alphabet soup of the many programs that we have, and 

there are so many of them that all really are geared towards bringing the right people to our country to participate in the creation of 

jobs and improvement of our economy. And, of course, I look forward to working with you on that to making sure that we’re maintaining that program strong. 

Just a quick comment, sir. You mentioned the fact that you hope 

I would visit with other parts of the country. I am proud to share 

with you that in the first 6 weeks of my tenure, I have traveled 

30

around the country and met with a third of our workforce, approximately 5,000 of our employees, just to take their pulse, to get a 

sense of their morale and their commitment, and as the leader of 

the team, to make my own assessment of whether or not the team 

was up to the task. 

I am pleased to tell you that we are. We have got a great group 

of professionals corner to corner. As much as I know you’re proud 

of your Vermonters, I am just as proud of all the other employees 

we have throughout the Nation, and we’ll do the job right, I promise you that. 

Senator LEAHY. I am extremely proud of all of them, and I have 

got to tell you, taking that kind of hands-on approach has to be the 

best thing you could possibly do right now. And I praise you for 

doing that. 

On the EB–5 program, we passed the Department of Justice authorization act last year, and in that it said the regulations were 

to be implemented on the changes within 120 days of enactment. 

Some others were supposed to take effect upon enactment. They 

have not been implemented, and that is something I would hope 

that you might take a look at. That was before your time, but if 

you could, because—

Mr. AGUIRRE. Yes, sir. 

Senator LEAHY. There is a lot of bipartisan interest in that program. 

Mr. AGUIRRE. Sure. 

Senator LEAHY. Now, one thing, I mentioned this concern that 

the war on terrorism has been perceived by many as being a war 

on immigrants. I know you don’t feel that it is a war on immigrants any more than I do. 

Mr. AGUIRRE. No, sir. 

Senator LEAHY. But with your own background—and I certainly 

feel with my family background—I would hope that you would do 

everything possible to address that perception. I think it is necessary. Our Nation, we can use all the statements that have been 

made for hundreds of years, ‘‘the melting pot’’ and everything else, 

but it is true. And our Nation is strengthened by the people who 

come from all these other countries. We offer a great deal. We offer 

the highest perceptions and realities of freedom—freedom of 

speech, freedom of religion. All these other basic rights in our Bill 

of Rights are things that are praised and honored throughout the 

world. 

You know yourself that in the number of countries that do not 

have our freedoms, people look to the United States and say that 

is a shining example. And I don’t want people in other countries 

to think somehow America is different. We have been attacked before. We have gone through world wars, and we have gone through 

civil wars, and we have always come out stronger for it. 

So make sure that torch held high in the New York Harbor is 

still what it stands for. 

Mr. AGUIRRE. Yes, Senator. I would like to just share with you, 

I feel very comfortable with the leadership that I look to in terms 

of President Bush and Senator Ridge—or, excuse me, Secretary 

Ridge. We have very much the same core values when it comes to 

immigrants, and that is that we need to welcome them. This is a 

31

Nation of immigrants. With the possible exception of Native Americans, if we all scratch our DNA, somehow or another immigrants 

are the core of our being. And that is what makes America great. 

And so it will be my high honor to maintain that standard and 

that tradition that we have. And when I first met with Secretary 

Ridge, then–Governor Ridge, I didn’t know him, and I told him that 

the only way I could discharge my responsibilities would be with 

respect and dignity, respect and dignity not only for the immigrants that come before us, but also my fellow employees. And, of 

course, he embraced that as very much his own value. 

So I can’t speak for how the rest of the world looks at us through 

their own historic glasses at times, but we will do our job to make 

sure that we can sleep well at night. 

Senator LEAHY. Well, thank you, and there is nothing more I 

could ask of you, and I want you to know that you will have my 

support, you will have my vote. 

Mr. AGUIRRE. Thank you, sir. Appreciate that. 

Senator LEAHY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Senator CHAMBLISS. Thank you, Senator Leahy. 

Just in closing, two things, Mr. Aguirre. First of all, I appreciate 

your response to both my question as well as Senator Kennedy’s 

question regarding the issue of making sure that we do follow people here and follow them in the right way. But there is one other 

aspect of that. You talked about information sharing within the 

agency and the constant dialogue that is going on. And I appreciate 

that, and very honestly, that is one problem that we saw following 

9/11. There was not the kind of information sharing, either 

vertically within our Federal agencies but, more significantly, horizontally across the agencies. 

As Secretary Ridge knows, I have harped on this for two and a 

half years now, and we are going to continue to do it. I know there 

is a plan in place out there to make sure that we are sharing this 

information with other critical Federal agencies. And there is no 

more important information to be shared than the information that 

you gather, because it is not just keeping the bad guys out that is 

important, but once they get here, anybody who has a suspicious 

background, once they get here we need to make sure that everybody is on the same wavelength with respect to sharing of that information on individuals in the right way. And I emphasize that. 

You know exactly what I mean by that. 

Secondly, my office, and I am sure Senator Leahy’s office, gets 

overwhelmed at times with immigration cases. In my Congressional office, Social Security was our number one issue. Now, without question, in my senatorial office, immigration is the number 

one caseload that we have. 

In the past at the INS, trying to get a status report on individual 

cases of constituents has been very, very difficult and very timeconsuming, and the response coming back from INS, frankly, was 

delayed in every instance. And I would hope you would give some 

concentration to that to make sure that your people at the lower 

level out there can be very responsive to Members of Congress who 

do make inquiries. Obviously, you have been there. You know how 

important it is to these individuals. And we just need to make sure 

that they are able to keep up with the status of their cases. 

32

Mr. AGUIRRE. Yes, sir. Clearly, our relationship with Congress 

will be one of the pillars of our administration. I will make sure 

that we are as responsive as we possibly can be to all Congressional inquiries. 

I don’t have necessarily a rearview mirror into the old INS as to 

why or how things happened, but I do know that some of our systems are tired and need to be refurbished and need to be improved. 

And perhaps that accounts for some of what appears to be inattention on my colleagues’ part, certainly not intentional. We will work 

very hard at being responsive, and hopefully as we improve customer service and reduce backlog, there will be less people coming 

to you, sir, looking for resolution of problems, that they all get resolved under the normal course of business. 

Senator CHAMBLISS. I am sure that will be the case, and I promise you my staff looks forward to your improving that turnaround 

time for these folks. 

Senator Leahy, do you have anything else? 

Senator LEAHY. No, I do not. 

Senator CHAMBLISS. I want to introduce Chairman Hatch’s statement for the record, and without objection, it will be included. 

We are going to leave the record open for 7 days. Any other 

members of the Committee wishing to submit any statement or information will have the opportunity to do so. 

Again, Mr. Aguirre, we appreciate your being here this morning, 

and we appreciate your great service to our country to this point. 

And Senator Leahy and all other members of this Committee, as 

well as all other Members of the Senate, look forward to continuing 

the dialogue and to working with you to make America a better 

country in which to live and give hope and opportunity to other 

folks the same way that we have all had, and particularly people 

like you. 

Mr. AGUIRRE. Thank you, Senator. 

Senator CHAMBLISS. Thank you very much. 

[Whereupon, at 10:52 a.m., the Committee was adjourned.] 

[Questions and answers for the record follow.]

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