[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 93 (Wednesday, May 14, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26570-26572]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-12545]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Immigration and Naturalization Service
[INS No. 1846-97]
RIN 1115-AD06


INS Immigration User Fee Review

agency: Immigration and Naturalization Service, Justice.

action: Bi-yearly Notice of User Fee Account Status.

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summary: The Attorney General is required to submit a report to the 
Congress concerning the status of the Immigration User Fee Account 
(IUFA), and to recommend any adjustment in the prescribed fee. The 
report is to be submitted to the Congress following a public notice 
with the opportunity for comment. This notice accordingly publishes the 
status of the IUFA as of September 30, 1996, and presents an 
opportunity for the public to comment and propose regulatory changes.


[[Page 26571]]


dates: Written comments must be received on or before July 14, 1997.

addresses: Please submit written comments, in triplicate, to Director, 
Policy Directives and Instructions Branch, Immigration and 
Naturalization Service (INS), Room 5307, 425 I Street NW., Washington, 
DC 20536-0002. To ensure proper handling, please reference INS No. 
1846-97 on your correspondence.

for further information contact: Michael T. Natchuras, Chief, Fee 
Policy and Rate Setting Branch, Office of Budget, Immigration and 
Naturalization Service, 425 I Street NW., Room 6240, Washington, DC 
20536-0002, telephone (202) 616-2754.

supplementary information: Section 286(d) of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act (Act) specifies that, as of December 1, 1986, the 
Attorney General shall collect a fee per individual for the immigration 
inspection of each passenger arriving at a port-of-entry in the United 
States aboard a commercial aircraft or commercial vessel, or for the 
pre-inspection of a passenger at a location outside the United States 
prior to such arrival. Passengers arriving from Canada, Mexico, the 
adjacent islands and territories, and possessions of the United States 
by means other than aircraft, are exempt from the fee. Also exempt from 
the fee are persons who meet provisions delineated in 8 CFR 286.3 The 
1994 Appropriations Act for the Department of Justice, P.L. 103-121, 
raised the IUFA fee from $5.00 to $6.00 per passenger inspected.
    The fees deposited in the IUFA are used to reimburse the INS' 
Salaries and Expense (S&E) Appropriated Account for expenses incurred 
in: (1) Providing inspection and pre-inspection services for commercial 
aircraft and sea vessels; (2) detaining and deporting inadmissable 
aliens arriving on commercial aircraft and sea vessels; (3) providing 
exclusion and asylum proceedings at air and sea ports-of-entry for 
inadmissable aliens arriving on commercial aircraft or sea vessels; (4) 
funding the detention and deportation, removal and asylum costs for 
aliens seeking to illegally enter the country by avoiding inspection at 
air and sea ports-of-entry; (5) administering debt recovery; (6) 
establishing and operating a national collections office; (7) 
expanding, operating, and improving information systems for 
nonimmigrant control and debt collection; and (8) detecting fraudulent 
documents presented by passengers traveling into the United States.
    Section 286(h) of the Act requires the Attorney General to submit a 
bi-yearly report to Congress concerning the status of the IUFA. This 
report assesses whether an adjustment in the prescribed inspection fee 
is required to ensure that receipts collected under the IUFA for the 
succeeding 2 years equal, as closely as possible, the cost of providing 
the services listed above. Before this report is submitted, the 
Attorney General must present a summary of the IUFA's status for review 
and public comment.
    As of September 30, 1996, the status of the IUFA was as follows:

                                          IUFA Financial Summary ($000)                                         
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                    Fiscal year     Fiscal year     Fiscal year 
                                                                    1995 actual     1996 actual    1997 estimate
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Start of year balance...........................................         $40,368         $43,109         $80,080
Collections*....................................................         303,475         351,622         359,389
Obligations.....................................................         303,409         317,470         376,964
Recovery of prior year obligations..............................           2,675           2,819  ..............
End of year balance.............................................         $43,109         $80,080         $62,505
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* Includes passenger fees, inspector overtime billings, liquidated damages, and one-third of Sec.  271 and Sec. 
  271 enforcement fines as prescribed by law.                                                                   

    Collections: Collections totaled $303.5 million for FY 1995 and 
$351.6 million for FY 1996, marking a 16 percent increase of FY 1996 
collections over FY 1995 collections. Collections for FY 1997 are 
projected to be $359.4 million, which is 2 percent higher than 
collections realized in FY 1996.
    Obligations: The United States Government records orders for goods 
and/or services which require payment as ``obligations.'' More 
specifically, Office of Management and Budget Circular A-34, 
Instructions on Budget Execution, defines obligations as purchase 
orders placed, contracts awarded, and services received by a Federal 
agency which require it to make cash outlays during the same or future 
periods. Obligations incurred by the IUFA during FY 1996 totaled $317.5 
million, representing a 5 percent increase over FY 1995. Obligations 
for FY 1997 are estimated at almost $377 million, which is 
approximately 19 percent over the spending level for FY 1996. Five 
factors contribute to the increase in FY 1997 obligations: (1) Staffing 
increases from 2,426 authorized inspectors in FY 1996 to 2,624 
authorized inspectors in FY 1997; (2) systems infrastructure 
enhancements, such as expanding automation and providing for improved 
data and communications networks; (3) opening a new contract detention 
facility; (4) implementing a departure management pilot; (5) initiating 
a shared database initiative with the State Department; and (6) the 
automation of the Service's I-94, Arrival/Departure Record.
    End-of-Year Balances: The increase in the FY 1996 balance over the 
1995 balance resulted from the following factors: (1) Collections from 
two major carriers projected to be received in the first month of FY 
1997 were actually received in the last month of FY 1996, resulting in 
an overstatement of collections for FY 1996; (2) the annual volume of 
international air travel, which is the primary catalyst and determinant 
of fee collections, exceeded expectations; (3) program spending for FY 
1996 was lower than planned levels; and finally, (4) a large volume of 
fourth quarter receipts due by the close of FY 1995 were not actually 
received until FY 1996 which resulted in the collection of more than 
four quarters' worth of fees in FY 1996.
    Program Highlights: An important mission of the INS is to control 
the borders of the United States. The INS inspects persons seeking to 
enter the United States at air and sea ports-of-entry to determine 
admissibility. The following discussion presents major program 
highlights of the IUFA. Three program activities--Inspections, 
Detention and Deportation, and Data and Communications--comprise almost 
90 percent of the total operations of the IUFA for FY 1997.
    Inspections, the largest program, is allocated $233.5 million for 
FY 1997, which is approximately 60 percent of total IUFA resources. The 
function of

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this program is to enforce and administer immigration and nationality 
laws with respect to the inspection of all persons seeking admission 
into the United States at air and sea ports-of-entry. Applicants for 
admission are inspected to determine if they qualify for admission and, 
if so, under what conditions. This process is a cooperative partnership 
among the Department of State, U.S. Customs Service, the Department of 
Agriculture, and local port authorities. Determination of admissibility 
is based on the examination of the applicant, relevant documents, or 
prior information. Inadmissible aliens are denied entry. A total of 75 
million passengers were inspected at air and sea ports-of-entry and 
pre-inspection sites during FY 1996.
    Due to the increasing volume of passengers, INS has dedicated 
itself to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of its inspections 
processes. Currently, there are 2,426 authorized inspector positions 
worldwide. Inspections are located at 112 ports-of-entry and 12 pre-
inspection sites. For FY 1997, Congress approved staffing plans for 198 
additional inspectors who will be stationed at ports and pre-inspection 
sites to improve the efficiency of its inspections processes.
    Detention and Deportation, the second largest program, is allocated 
$73.5 million for FY 1997, representing approximately 20 percent of 
total IUFA resources. Functions of this program include detaining, 
removing, paroling, and deporting aliens. Currently, a total of 154 
detention and deportation officers are authorized to be stationed at 
detention facilities near major air and sea ports-of-entry. In 
addition, 1,542 bed spaces are funded and housed at these facilities to 
detain, until removal, those aliens subject to inadmissibility 
proceedings who are likely to abscond, or whose freedom at-large could 
pose risk or danger to public safety and security.
    The third largest program, Data and Communications, is allocated 
$36.9 million for FY 1997 and comprises approximately 10 percent of 
total IUFA resources. This program supports program initiatives through 
infrastructure enhancements, automation, and innovation. Infrastructure 
enhancements include deploying new computer equipment, developing 
interfaces among existing INS information systems, and acquiring new 
management information systems.
    One innovation being implemented in Data and Communications is the 
Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) which saves time in 
performing inspections by enlisting carriers to collect biographical 
information on passengers before departing. The collected information 
is then electronically transmitted to the INS and checked against 
criminal lookout databases before the carrier arrives at its intended 
port. Over 20 million passengers were processed using APIS during FY 
1996.
    Another innovation is the INS Passenger Accelerated Services System 
(INSPASS). This system expedites the inspection of frequent business 
travelers using biometric information such as hand geometry. Passengers 
also must insert their INSPASS card into a machine that compares data 
magnetically stored on the card to the biometric information. Passenger 
information is checked against criminal lookout databases before entry 
into the United States is permitted. Nearly 50,000 INSPASS inspections 
were performed in FY 1996 and the INS expects to expand this program to 
six additional sites in FY 1997.
    Proposed Exemption Removal: The INS is proposing the removal of the 
current fee exemption for commercial vessel passengers (cruise line 
passengers) arriving from Canada, Mexico, the adjacent islands and 
territories, and possessions of the United States. This legislative 
proposal was submitted to the Congress as part of INS' FY 1998 Budget 
Request. Currently, the costs of performing inspections and other user 
fee activities for fee-exempt passengers must be absorbed by the 
program. The fee is proposed to be established for currently exempt 
cruise line passengers on October 1, 1997.
    By this notice, the public may provide any proposals to revise 8 
CFR 286 on matters that may be changed by regulation, and may provide 
comments on the status of the IUFA before a report is submitted to the 
Congress.

    Dated: April 18, 1997.
Doris Meissner,
Commissioner, Immigration and Naturalization Service.
[FR Doc. 97-12545 Filed 5-13-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-10-M