Florida seeks federal INS powers for local law enforcement.

• Position: On First Reading

Citing long waits for Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) agents who are the only ones who can arrest suspected undocumented aliens, Florida wants to give local police limited INS powers to detain people on immigration violations.

Florida may be the first state in the nation to get limited INS authority for local law enforcement as part of an aggressive, multimillion dollar plan to guard against terrorism. Florida was a temporary home to at least 13 of the 19 WTC terrorists.

Local police have reported problems of getting INS agents, who have more cases than they can handle, to a scene to arrest suspected illegal immigrants. When foreign terrorists orchestrated the Sept. 11 attacks, says Steve Lauer, the state's new chief of domestic security, it became clear the problem of detaining illegal aliens...