Review of the Immigration Control
Officer Network – Final Report

Appendix A - Comparable ICO Network Models

A comparison with other countries was completed to determine how other countries are dealing with issues related to immigration control abroad. The following appendix briefly describes the approaches of the United Kingdom (U.K.), Australia and the United States (U.S.).

Many of these countries have looked favourably at the Canadian ICO experience and have attempted to emulate its positive elements in their comparable networks.

United Kingdom

The U.K.’s comparable ICO network is the Airline Liaison Office (ALO).

Airline Liaison Office Responsibilities

The ALO is responsible for the following:

  • establishing and maintaining links with airlines;
  • establishing and maintaining links with the immigration authorities, police and other relevant official bodies;
  • establishing and maintaining links with consular staff regarding U.K. passport and visa requirements, passenger profiling and forgery awareness;
  • offering on-the-spot advice to carriers on authenticity of documents held by passengers seeking to travel on their flights;
  • keeping abreast of trends relating to inadequately documented passengers;
  • helping local authorities identify facilitators and racketeers involved in the organized movement of inadequately documented passengers;
  • acting as a liaison with authorities regarding arrangements for the reception of failed asylum applicants removed from the U.K.;
  • preparing regular reports for the Carriers Liaison Unit on all the above activities; and
  • maintaining records and accounts of expenditure and evaluating the value for money of the posting.

Reporting Relationships

The ALO reports on a line basis to the mission for performance appraisal purposes, as well as for guidance when the ALO’s activities might lead to embarrassment in U.K. bilateral relations or have security implications for the mission as a whole. Day-to-day operational management, support and guidance are provided by the staff at the Control Liaison Unit in Headquarters. Given the constant growth of the ALO network, the U.K. is currently in the process of establishing a regional manager, so that all ALO officers do not have to report to one individual in Headquarters. Once this position is established, some officers will continue to report directly to the Headquarters Carrier Liaison Unit, while others will report to the regional manager.

Australia

The Australian model is a tiered model. Specifically, based on the issues in various countries, a determination will be made as to which of two types of overseas compliance officers will be required:

  • principal migration officers-compliance (PMO(C)s) concentrate on organized fraud and irregular movements. given the scope and scale of the problems being experienced; and
  • airline liaison officers (ALOs) concentrate on establishing partnerships with airlines and border control authorities at airports and training them in Australia’s entry and travel document requirements, to counter the arrival of inadmissible passengers at their airports.

Roles

Overseas compliance officers have three core functions aimed at enhancing border integrity and maintaining program integrity:

  • to identify and report on irregular people movements, including the activities of people smugglers;
  • to identify and counter organized malpractice in the case load, particularly where this may involve elements of criminality or migration agents; and
  • to help identify and counter isolated instances of fraud in the case load.

Responsibilities

PMO(C)s are responsible for the following:

  • advising post managers on issues related to detecting and combating organized immigration malpractice within the region, and training immigration staff in these techniques;
  • acting as a liaison with border control, law enforcement and intelligence organizations and representatives of other countries, and establishing partnerships to obtain and exchange information on
    • immigration malpractice generally, but specifically people smuggling, to enable such activities to be countered and to prosecute those involved,
    • inadmissible passengers, to enable them to be interdicted offshore, and
    • persons of concern, so that they can be included on the Movement Alert List, and controversial visitors;
  • collecting and disseminating intelligence on all aspects of organized fraud in visa applications, people trafficking, and fraudulent travel to and entry into Australia and other countries of interest;
  • reporting on immigration malpractice and related matters affecting other countries of interest represented within the PMO(C)’s region;
  • establishing partnerships with airlines and border control authorities at airports and training them in Australia’s entry and travel document requirements, to counter the arrival of inadmissible passengers at Australian airports (where ALOs are located in the region, they will undertake this role, but PMO(C)s may be required to help monitor flights);
  • conducting multi-agency interdiction exercises at strategically located airports;
  • conducting special investigations into major incidents, high profile incidents or immigration malpractice, as required; and
  • providing advice on the implications of immigration fraud for policy development.

ALOs are responsible for:

  • establishing partnerships with airlines and border control authorities at airports and training them in Australia’s entry and travel document requirements, to counter the arrival of inadmissible passengers at their airports.

Reporting Relationships

The day-to-day supervision and tasking of PMO(C)s is the responsibility of regional directors, in consultation with the director, overseas compliance and liaison. ALOs report directly to Headquarters in Canberra.

United States

The U.S. has two departments involved in immigration:

  • the Department of State; and
  • the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).

Department of State

The Department of State comprises civil service and foreign service (FS) employees. Overseas FS officers represent America; analyse and report on political, economic and social trends in the host country; and respond to the needs of American citizens abroad. In the U.S., professional, technical and administrative civil service employees work alongside FS officers serving a stateside tour, compiling and analysing reports from overseas; providing logistical support to posts; consulting with and keeping Congress informed about foreign policy initiatives and policies; communicating with the American public; formulating and overseeing the budget; and issuing passports and travel warnings.

Immigration and Naturalization Service

The INS is a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Justice that administers the nation’s immigration laws. The INS is responsible for the key immigration control activities, such as interdiction and intelligence on smuggling and illegal movements. The INS mission involves a variety of interrelated functions, as follows:

  • conducting immigration inspections of travellers entering (or seeking entry to) the U.S. as they arrive at officially designated ports of entry;
  • regulating permanent and temporary immigration to the U.S. (including movements of legal permanent residents, non-immigrants such as tourists and students, and naturalized Americans);
  • maintaining control of U.S. borders; and
  • identifying and removing people who have no lawful immigration status in the U.S.

The INS has many kinds of field offices throughout the U.S. and the world. There are 33 INS district offices in the United States and three district offices overseas, with 32 offices reporting to them. Overseas district offices are located in Bangkok, Mexico City and Rome. INS responsibilities overseas include deterring alien smuggling rings and other illegal entry into the U.S.; supervising pre-inspection offices in several airports overseas; working with host country immigration and other law enforcement officials; and coordinating the adjudication of refugee status for individuals identified for possible refugee resettlement to the U.S.

While offices are configured differently, the INS has dedicated resources to investigations (smuggling and counterfeiting of travel documents), interdiction and intelligence. It works with ICOs in many of ICO locations, as well as with the RCMP, on investigations concerning Canada.

Reporting Relationship

The director of international affairs at INS Headquarters in Washington, D.C., directs and coordinates the work of overseas offices. The overseas employees have a line reporting relationship to the ambassador.

FS officers also have a line reporting relationship to the ambassador and a functional reporting relationship to INS Headquarters.

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