Finally, the stern facade of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Portland has crumbled under community demands for a more humane, respectful and open agency.

David Beebe, the district director ultimately responsible for the harsh, take-all-prisoners philosophy at the Portland office, announced his retirement to INS employees Tuesday.

Beebe's departure is certainly welcome, but it won't fix all that's wrong with the Portland office. In a news conference Tuesday, Johnny Williams, the INS Western regional director, pledged to repair what he called a "disconnect" between the immigration office and the citizens it serves. He also offered his "sincere apologies and sorrow" for the heartless and appalling treatment of some people by the Portland INS.

There's much to be sorry about. The terrified Chinese girl held in jail long after she had been granted legal asylum. The worst-on-the-West-Coast treatment of foreigners arriving at Portland International Airport; foreign visitors to Portland were rejected -- and sometimes jailed --at a rate four times that of those arriving in Seattle.

The Aug. 19 strip-search and jailing of a Chinese businesswoman later determined to be innocent by inspectors who thought her passport was doctored. And, in a story reported by The Oregonian's Richard Read on Tuesday, the infuriating case of a German mother abruptly separated from the baby daughter she was breast-feeding, handcuffed, chained and twice strip-searched before being deported.

Beebe, the district director, wasn't personally involved in all of these outrageous cases. Yet he was responsible for creating the rigid, impersonal, by-the-book culture in the Portland INS office that allowed every one of them to occur on his watch.

Williams didn't offer many specifics about changes coming to the Portland office, beyond a replacement for Beebe and likely a new public liaison designed to improve communication between the INS and the public. On that score, the agency could begin by releasing its report on a recently completed management review of the Portland office. A finished report was turned over to Williams, however an INS spokeswoman on Tuesday said it needed more "polishing."

Williams spoke a great deal Tuesday about the need for better, more open communication between the INS and the citizens it serves. That ought to start now, with the release of the management report, and full disclosure of the problems the agency discovered in its Portland office.