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END OF YEAR ARRESTS SHINE NEW LIGHT ON NORTHERN BORDER
The arrests of numerous suspected terrorists attempting to enter the US from Canada during the weeks leading up to the New Year have reinvigorated debates over whether there is a need for a more controlled entry-exit system.  Section 110 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 called for such a system, an automated mechanism to track all entries and exits to and from the US.  However, implementation of the section has been repeatedly delayed, and is currently not to take effect until 2001.  Also, the US Senate has voted three times to repeal the section.  Most opponents of Section 110 argue that it would stifle cross border traffic, causing delays of up to 24 hours at busy ports of entry. 
Some statistics might give an idea of the traffic between the US and Canada.  Every day, over  billion in trade occurs between the two countries.  Forty-five percent of this trade occurs through the Michigan-Ontario port of entry.  The bridge connecting the US and Canada at this point carried 11 million vehicles in 1997, of which 2.5 million were commercial trucks.  Each year there are over 80 million entries through Detroit, Buffalo and Seattle alone.  
Despite the unpopularity of the measure, it does have supporters, including Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the Chair of the House Immigration Subcommittee and one of the principal authors of the 1996 law.  He has taken the arrests as an opportunity to criticize the idea of repealing Section 110, calling the them “the best wake-up call that either Canada or the U.S. are going to get about our porous shared border.” 
To Smith’s argument that Section 110 is necessary to prevent terrorism in the US, the bill’s opponents point out that the recent arrests were made under the law as it currently is, and the provisions of Section 110 would have made no difference.  Because Section 110 is designed primarily to provide a way of determining whether a person has overstayed their visa when they leave the US, it would have little impact on an arrest for unauthorized entry, attempting to bring weapons in, or using false documents.