ATTORNEY GENERAL ASHCROFT STATEMENT
ON PRESIDENT BUSH’S INTENTION TO DESIGNATE MICHAEL GARCIA
AS ACTING INS COMMISSIONER

Michael Garcia To Serve As Acting Ins Commissioner

WASHINGTON, D.C.– President Bush today announced his intention to designate Michael Garcia as Acting Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) following the departure of INS Commissioner James Ziglar on November 30, 2002. Commissioner Ziglar announced in August that he planned to return to the private sector this fall.

Attorney General Ashcroft said, "I welcome the President’s choice of Michael Garcia to shepherd the INS into the new Department of Homeland Security, with its central mission to keep our nation safe from future acts of terrorism. Mr. Garcia is one of America's top terrorism prosecutors and will lead tough enforcement of our immigration laws to protect Americans from terrorism and secure our homeland."

Michael Garcia has served as Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement at the Department of Commerce since August 2001. Previously, Mr. Garcia worked as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York for nine years, handling terrorism-related cases such as the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and the prosecution of four defendants charged with conspiring with Osama bin Laden to kill Americans abroad with the bombing of two American embassies in East Africa.

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