[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 20 (Monday, May 20, 2002)]
[Pages 820-822]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Signing the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform 
Act of 2002

May 14, 2002

    The President. Thank you all. Please be seated. Thank you all for 
coming. I'm honored today to sign a bill that is an important step in an 
effort to secure our border, while promoting trade and commerce. It's a 
good piece of legislation. It's bipartisan legislation. And I want to 
thank the members of both parties who have worked hard to get this bill 
to my desk.
    I want to thank Tom Ridge, who's here. Where are you, Tom? Oh, 
you're Tom Ridge, yeah. [Laughter] At least that's what some of the 
Members are saying. I particularly want to thank Senators Kyl and 
Brownback and Kennedy, Feinstein, and Hatch for being here--fine, fine 
Members of the United States Senate. I want to thank you for coming. I 
also want to appreciate Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner and George Gekas as 
well. These Members worked hard on this legislation. I want to thank the 
members of my administration who are here.
    I also want to say hello to Arlene Howard. Ms. Howard, it's good to 
see you. A lot of folks might remember--you can stand up. [Applause] 
Thank you for coming. Arlene gave me her son, George's, badge and--as a 
reminder of the evil that had been done to our country. You look great. 
I remember when I went over to Yankee Stadium to throw out the ball 
there at the World Series, Arlene's--one of Arlene's other sons was 
there. Where is he? Oh, there he is. Thanks for the advice--aim high. 
[Laughter]
    I want to thank Peter Johnson, who was George's partner for 12 
years. Peter, thanks for coming. It's good to see you. I appreciate you 
being here. Thank you, sir.
    I want to welcome you all. I was looking at Arlene and the brave 
folks here; it reminds me of what was done to us there on September 11th 
and how important it is that we remain tough and strong and diligent as 
we seek justice, as we chase down these killers, one by one, and bring 
them to justice.
    And that's a major responsibility of all of ours, and it's a 
responsibility we take seriously. The country is united in our drive for 
justice. This Nation is determined, and we're patient, much to the 
chagrin of the enemy. It must make them really worried to know that we 
don't have a calendar that says, on such and such a date we're going to 
quit, that when it comes to our freedoms--defending our freedoms and 
securing our homeland and protecting our innocent Americans and never 
forgetting what happened on September the 11th, we are some kind of 
tough. And that's the way it's going to be.
    We've got responsibilities here at home as well, and it starts with 
our borders. Our borders process an incredibly huge number of people. It 
may come as a surprise to some of you, but there's--over 500 million 
people a year enter America, and half of those are our own citizens that 
may have been traveling. We have 11 million trucks come across our 
borders. We have 51,000 foreign ships call into our ports. It reminds us 
that no nation can be totally secure or more secure, unless we're well-
protected and unless our borders are well-screened. We must know who's 
coming into our country and why they're coming. We must know what our 
visitors are doing and when they leave. That's important for us to know. 
It's knowledge necessary to make our homeland more secure.
    America is not a fortress; no, we never want to be a fortress. We're 
a free country. We're an open society. And we must always protect the 
rights of our law--of law-abiding citizens from around the world who 
come here to conduct business or to study or to spend time with their 
family. That's what we're known for. We're known for respect.

[[Page 821]]

    But on the other hand, we can do a better job of making our borders 
more secure and make our borders smart. We must use technology and be 
wise about how we use technology, to speed the flow of commerce across 
our borders and to identify frequent travelers who pose no risk. We 
should be directing resources to risk. We ought to be routing out 
smugglers and focusing on criminals and, of course, stopping terrorists 
from coming into the country.
    The bill I sign today enhances our ongoing efforts to strengthen our 
borders. The purpose of this bill is to help our country do a better job 
of border security. It authorizes 400 additional inspectors, 
investigators, and other staff on the INS over the next 5 years. We're 
adding manpower, obviously. It makes it easier for the INS and other 
Federal agencies to get better information about people and products 
that come into America. It requires every foreign visitor desiring 
entrance into the United States to carry a travel document containing 
biometric identification--that would be fingerprints or facial 
recognition--that will enable us to use technology to better deny 
fraudulent entry into America.
    It strengthens the requirements that all commercial passenger ships 
and airplanes entering the United States provide a list of passengers 
and crew before arrival, so that border authorities can act immediately 
to prevent someone from entering the country if he or she poses a threat 
to our citizens. It makes a lot of sense to do that. We should have 
probably been doing it a long time ago.
    These new measures will only be effective if Federal authorities 
have access to important information. One of the things we've learned is 
how to better share information. Right now, the FBI and the CIA do a 
good job of sharing information. Information is getting better shared 
from the Federal to the State to the local levels. But we've got to do a 
better job of sharing information and expanding information to the INS 
and the State Department and Customs agents and throughout the 
intelligence community. We've just got to do a better job.
    This bill enables us to modernize our communication, so the 
information flows freely and quickly. The legislation requires law 
enforcement and intelligence communities to continue to develop a list 
of suspected terrorists and to maintain that list and to make it readily 
available, so that nobody is granted entry into the United States that's 
on the list.
    In other words, we're beginning to gather information overseas in a 
much better way. We've got a vast coalition of nations that are still 
with us. They heard the message, either you're with us, or you're not 
with us. They're still with us. And we're sharing information, and we 
can use that--better use that information with our own agencies here at 
home, to make sure that we really button us up, that we do our job, the 
job the American people expect.
    The bill didn't have everything I wanted. I wanted a temporary 
extension of 245(i) in the bill, which basically allowed certain 
immigrants, sponsored by their families or employers, to become legal 
residents without having to leave the country, so that families can stay 
together. I thought that made sense. It's not a part of the bill. I 
intend to work with Congress to see if we can't get that done here 
pretty quick.
    Yet, the commonsense measures will help us meet the goal, and that's 
important. It will help us meet the goals of legitimate commerce and 
important travel. And at the same time, it will help us keep the country 
secure. Basically what we're saying is, this is part of a--legislative 
part of a national strategy. Tom's worked on the national strategy. He's 
worked with our respective agency heads. And Congress has been a great 
partner in this strategy. This is good work.
    You know, sometimes in Washington we actually are able to put our 
political parties aside and focus on what's best for the country. And 
we're able to say, let's make sure America comes--is the first priority 
of all of us. And this has happened in this bill.
    So it's my honor to welcome both Republicans and Democrats from the 
legislative branch of Government here as I sign this important 
legislation.
    Thank you all for coming. God bless.

 [At this point, the President signed the bill.]

    The President. Thank you all very much.

Note: The President spoke at 3:29 p.m. in Presidential Hall in the 
Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he 
referred

[[Page 822]]

to Officer George G. Howard, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, 
who was killed in the World Trade Center collapse on September 11, 2001, 
and his mother, Arlene; and Officer Peter Johnson, Port Authority of New 
York and New Jersey. H.R. 3525, approved May 14, was assigned Public Law 
No. 107-173.