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CNN Live At Daybreak

President Bush's Anger Over INS Snafu May Finally Get Results

Aired March 14, 2002 - 05:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Federal investigators are scrambling to learn the reasons behind INS failures involving two of the September 11 hijackers.

As CNN National Correspondent Susan Candiotti reports, President Bush's anger may get some results.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president said he was so mad when he found out about the student visa snafu, he could barely get his coffee down.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I was stunned and not happy. Let me put it another way, I was plenty hot. And I made that clear to people in my administration.

CANDIOTTI: Attorney General John Ashcroft -- aides said he was furious -- issued a statement calling for a review by the Justice Department inspector general. "Individuals," he said, "will be held responsible for any professional incompetence that led to this failure." Just after the president spoke, the owner of the Florida flight school who received the hijackers' visas in the mail Monday was served a subpoena to turn them over. He did.

CNN broke the story that caused the furor, revealing a stunning government backlog. Six months after the September 11 attacks, the U.S. government sent notice to the Florida flight school that both men's student visas were approved last summer.

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MAJORITY LEADER: I, for the life of me, I can't understand how something like that can happen. It's a major embarrassment.

CANDIOTTI: Failures have dogged INS for years, including an antiquated computer system that fails to flag criminals crossing U.S. borders and inadequate manpower to track down aliens who've overstay their visas. But a long time critic of the INS said the agency is incapable of fixing itself.

REP. THOMAS TANCREDO (R-CO), IMMIGRATION REFORM CAUCUS: The agency is dysfunctional. I've called it the Mickey Mouse Club of federal agencies, but that's an insult to the Mickey Mouse Club. CANDIOTTI (on camera): Last November, Immigration made another promise to reform, breaking the agency into two parts, one specializing in services, paperwork, the other enforcement. The student visa snafu another indication, in the words of the president, the INS has a lot of work to do.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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