[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 9353-9354]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



   H.R. 4489 IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE DATA MANAGEMENT 
                        IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2000

  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise today to express my strong support 
for H.R. 4489, the ``Immigration and Naturalization Service Data 
Management Improvement Act of 2000.'' Passage of this legislation will 
repeal Section 110 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant 
Responsibility Act of 1996 and prevent it from ever being implemented.
  Section 110 of the 1996 Immigration law was intended to track 
individuals who overstay their legally permissible visit in the U.S. 
However, to accomplish that well-intentioned goal, this law required 
all foreign travelers or U.S. permanent residents to be individually 
recorded at ports of entry. In practical effect, the provisions would 
bring traffic to a halt on the Canadian border for miles.
  Those of us who represent states along the Canadian border are well-
aware of the close bonds between the U.S. and Canada. The U.S.-Canadian 
border is the longest continuous open border in the free world and 
Canadians come into our country freely and easily under current U.S. 
policy. In Maine, our ties with Canada are particularly deep because 
many Mainers' extended families live across the border in Canada. Our 
current border-crossing policy allows these family members to quickly 
and easily cross the border every day in order to be with a husband, 
wife, a brother, a sister, cousin or even in-laws as the case may be.
  Canada is not only our friend and ally, but our largest trading 
partner--it is important to maintain and foster our relationship with 
our neighbor to the North by promoting U.S.-Canadian friendship and 
trade. The ill-thought out provisions passed as part of the 1996 
immigration law would grossly delay all those crossing the Northern 
border from Canada, and injure the Northern economy as critical trade 
and travel routes are slowed. In my State of Maine, this new border 
policy would have the most immediate impact on border communities such 
as Calais, Houlton, Madawaska, Fort Kent, and Jackman. Businesses in 
these communities rely on Canadians to cross the border each and every 
day in order to buy their goods and services. In addition, the impact 
on critical Maine trade, including lumber and tourism, would extend 
beyond these communities and reverberate across my State.
  The bill we consider today, H.R. 4489, the Immigration and 
Naturalization

[[Page 9354]]

Service Data Management Improvement Act of 2000, repeals Section 110 of 
the Immigration law. In its place, the bill directs the Immigration and 
Naturalization Service to amass data already collected at entrance and 
departure points in an electronically searchable manner. The 
legislation explicitly states no new documentary requirements or data 
collection can be directed as a result of the passage of this bill, 
ensuring that INS new database will rely on already available data.
  Those of us who represent the northern regions of our country have 
been working for over four years now to repeal Section 110. With the 
support of Senate colleagues, the deadline for implementation of the 
entry/exit control system for land and sea points of entry has been 
postponed until March 31, 2001. But until now, we have been unable to 
break the impasse that left Section 110 in place. I salute all the 
efforts which have yielded this ground breaking agreement today, 
particularly the hard work of Senator Abraham who has worked tirelessly 
on this issue. I look forward to passage of H.R. 4489, and a final end 
to the threat to the economy posed by Section 110 of the 1996 
Immigration law.
  Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

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