Friday, 19 April 2002
http://www.azstarnet.com/star/today/20419NBorderSecurity-dt2fjm.html
By Jesse J. Holland
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The border security bill:
* Authorizes an increase of at least 200 Immigration and Naturalization Service inspectors, INS investigative personnel and associated support workers in each of the fiscal years 2002 through 2006.
* Gives the INS an additional $150 million to improve its border security technology.
* Requires consular officials to electronically transmit visa applications so immigration officials have the information before the applicant arrives.
* Requires the issuance of machine-readable, tamper-resistant travel documents with biometric identifiers, and requires all U.S. ports of entry to have equipment able to read those documents.
* Bans people from countries on the terrorist watchlist from getting nonimmigrant visas unless the secretary of state and the attorney general certify that they pose no security threat to the United States.
* Requires that the INS check the terrorist and criminal watchlist before an alien is approved to participate in the visa waiver program.
* Requires that all arriving flights from a foreign country send passenger lists in advance of arrival.
* Repeals the 45-minute time limit in clearing passengers on international flights coming into the United States.
* Requires the State and Justice departments to collect any foreign student's date and port of entry into the United States, and the degree program or field of study. Also requires the university to report to the INS if the student has not shown up for class a month after the classes begin.
- The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - After a months-long deadlock, the Senate approved
security legislation Thursday evening that would allow officials
to more closely track foreign students and check the passenger
lists of planes flying to the United States.
Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., had been blocking the far-reaching bill since December, saying senators needed to debate its measures more. He also was upset that the White House and Senate Republicans had blocked his request last year for more money to fund programs like those addressing border security.
But after being allowed to testify against the bill at a subcommittee hearing and negotiating minor changes with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., Byrd relented and allowed the bill to move quickly through the chamber. The Senate approved the bill 97-0, sending it back to the House for final approval.
The legislation, which has been endorsed by the White House, is expected to pass the House quickly and head up to the president's desk for his signature.
"Today the Senate approved landmark legislation to improve our border security and fix a visa-entry system shown to be inefficient, inadequately enforced, and riddled with loopholes that have allowed suspected terrorists to enter the United States with little difficulty," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who was one of the bill's sponsors.
"This bill will not solve every problem confronting border security, but it takes giant steps in the right direction."
House members earlier passed two versions of the bill, one with the border security provision and one with a popular immigration bill that would allow some illegal immigrants to stay in the United States during processing of their residency paperwork along with the border security provisions.
Senators passed the version without the immigration bill in hopes to get it through the chamber quickly.
The border security bill would boost the pay of Border Patrol agents and allow the Immigration and Naturalization Service to hire 200 new investigators and another 200 inspectors.
It also would require the INS to establish a foreign student tracking system that records the acceptance of aliens by educational institutions, the issuance of student visas and the enrollment of aliens at schools. Several of the hijackers involved in the Sept. 11 attacks were in the country on student visas.
The bill would also require that passports issued after 2003 be tamper-resistant and that visitor documents be machine-readable with biometrics, such as face-recognition technology.
The Senate made some modifications to the House bill at Byrd's request, including requiring even more frequent government checks of the visa waiver and foreign student programs.
Byrd still wasn't completely happy with the bill, saying it's not enough to just pass the legislation telling security officials they have to make these changes. "There is a great difference between authorization and appropriation," he said. "It's the money that counts."
Byrd has been angry since last year because Republicans and the White House last year would not agree to his request for extra funding for domestic and border security after Congress approved $40 billion in the days following the Sept. 11 attacks.
Republicans have promised to fight for the funding for that measure.
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