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PRESIDENT SIGNS BILL AMENDING SECTION 110 INTO LAW
On June 15, President Clinton signed H.R. 4489 into law.  This bill, which was introduced less than one month earlier, makes major changes to Section 110 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.  
Originally, Section 110 was to provide a tightly controlled entry-exit system for the US.  It was in large part prompted by the World Trade Center bombing and fears that foreign terrorists were entering the US on valid visas and never leaving.  However, it quickly became the subject of massive debate because of fears it would create gridlock at busy border crossing points.  For example, some studies showed that at the port of entry at Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario, one of the most traveled in the world, the wait to cross could stretch out to over 20 hours.  Almost every year, the Senate voted to repeal the bill, but until now the House took no action. 
This new bill, commonly known as the Immigration and Naturalization Service Data Management Improvement Act of 2000, creates a program in which the INS does not collect any additional information from those admitted to the US, but is required to create a computer database of the information currently collected by the INS, Border Patrol and Customs Service and make it available to law enforcement across the country.  
 
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