[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book I)]
[May 14, 2002]
[Pages 795-796]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Statement on Signing the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform 
Act of 2002
May 14, 2002

    I have today signed into law H.R. 3525, the ``Enhanced Border 
Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002.'' The legislation 
strengthens the ability of the U.S. Government to control the country's 
borders, a top priority of my Administration. The Act will improve our 
ability to screen aliens seeking to enter our country, facilitate the 
sharing of border-related information among U.S. agencies, and improve 
efforts to keep track of foreign students and foreign exchange visitors 
in the United States.
    Section 2(4)(G) of the Act defines as a Federal law enforcement 
agency the ``Coastal Security Service.'' Because no such agency exists, 
and the principal agency with coastal security functions is the U.S. 
Coast Guard, the executive branch shall construe this provision as 
referring to the Coast Guard.
    Several sections of the Act raise constitutional concerns.
    Sections 2(6), 201(c)(2), and 202(a)(3) purport to require the 
President to act through a specified assistant to the President or in 
coordination or consultation with specified officers of the United 
States, agencies, or congressional committees. The President's 
constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch and 
take care that the laws be faithfully executed cannot be made by law 
subject to requirements to exercise those constitutional authorities 
through a particular member of the President's staff or in coordination 
or consultation with specified officers or elements of the Government. 
Accordingly, the executive branch shall treat the purported requirements 
as precatory.
    Section 203 requires the President, in appointing the nine members 
of the Commission on Interoperable Data Sharing, to appoint eight of 
them from a list of nominees provided by the congressional leadership 
acting jointly. Laws that provide for appointment in the Government of 
individuals to exercise significant governmental authority must provide 
for such appointment by one of the means specified in the Appointments 
Clause of the Constitution, which includes appointment by the President 
with Senate consent or by the President alone, but does not include 
appointment by the President from a pool of persons selected

[[Page 796]]

by the congressional leadership. Accordingly, to give effect to section 
203 insofar as is constitutionally permissible, the executive branch 
shall construe the Commission's functions as advisory only. Also, the 
executive branch shall construe the Commission's responsibility to make 
recommendations to the Congress in a manner consistent with the 
President's constitutional authority to submit for congressional 
consideration such measures as the President shall judge necessary and 
expedient.
    The executive branch shall construe section 404(a), relating to 
U.S.-Canadian joint border inspection operations under an international 
agreement, in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional 
authority to conduct the foreign affairs of the Nation and to supervise 
the unitary executive branch.

                                                          George W. Bush

 The White House,

 May 14, 2002.

Note: H.R. 3525, approved May 14, was assigned Public Law No. 107-173.