Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Contact:  http://www.chron.com/ 
Pubdate: Fri, 2 Oct 1998

CONGRESS DELAYS BORDER LAW VOTE

Lawmakers fear stricter checkpoints would lead to traffic
gridlock

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress voted Thursday to delay a law that
lawmakers from states bordering Canada feared could create a traffic
nightmare by requiring new, stricter checks at border crossings.

Sen. Spencer Abraham, R-Mich., author of the stopgap legislation, said
he wanted to "provide several more days for Congress to pass a
legislative fix and prevent gridlock at our borders."

The legislation to delay the law until Oct. 15 passed the House by
voice vote and sailed through the Senate without dissent about an hour
later. President Clinton is expected to sign it.

In the next few weeks, lawmakers hope to reach a consensus on a plan
to fix the situation, but there is disagreement over how to accomplish
that.

The provision of the 1996 immigration law requiring stricter border
checks was to go into effect earlier Thursday, but federal officials
said there would be no changes in border inspections in the near
future because it requires massive new systems and staffing.

"Nothing will change with our inspection process," said Elaine Komis,
a spokeswoman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. "We
don't even have the infrastructure to begin to do this."

The law, known as Section 110, requires use of a computer system that
automatically collects records of all foreigners arriving in and
departing the United States so it can identify those overstaying their
visas.

The INS has done limited testing of a system with several airlines
involving cards with magnetic strips, but the agency is nowhere close
to being able to implement it nationwide. Such a system also would
require large staffing shifts at INS to closely monitor not just
entries into the U.S. -- as is currently done -- but all departures of
non-U.S. citizens.

There are 250 entry points in the United States -- either airports,
sea ports or land crossings, and hundreds of millions of people use
them each year.

While Abraham, head of the Senate immigration subcommittee, pushed to
get the stopgap bill on the Senate floor, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San
Antonio, his counterpart in the House, indicated he favored moving it
quickly through the House.

The sticking point has been getting Senate and House lawmakers to
agree on the details of the more permanent legislative fix. Some are
pushing to repeal the law.

"With just a 30-second inspection required for every border-crosser,
backups at the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit would immediately exceed
24 hours. That would be unbearable, and the border would be
effectively closed," Abraham said.

Smith, on the other hand, has called any repeal a "welcome mat" for
terrorists.

"We can have both better border security and less traffic congestion
at the borders with a one-year delay in putting new border checks into
effect," he said last week.

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Checked-by: Rich O'Grady