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LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
H.R. 3732, introduced by Rep. Patsy Mink (D-HI), would make foreign students studying in the US responsible for paying the foreign student-tracking fee that was created in 1996.  Students are not yet required to pay the fee and the amount of the fee has not yet been determined. 
H.R. 3767, the Visa Waiver Permanent Program Act, introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), and co-sponsored by Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), Rep. Bill McCollum (R-FL), Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Rep. Charles Canady (R-FL), Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), and Rep. Joe Scarborough (R-FL), all of whom are members of the House Immigration Subcommittee, would make the Visa Waiver Pilot Program permanent.  It would also create a few new requirements for the program.  These include a requirement that those entrants seeking a waiver of the visa possess a machine-readable passport by October 1, 2002, and that the entrant to submit to an identity check.  It would also change the procedure for designating a country for waiver status – currently a country is designated after the Attorney General determines that such designation will not compromise US law enforcement.  This bill would require this determination to be made by both the Attorney General and the Secretary of State, and requires a written report on the designation be submitted to Congress.  The designation would have to be reviewed every five years.  Finally, it would require carriers who participate in the waiver program to collect and transmit data on entrants to the automated entry-exit system called for in section 110 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. The bill’s bipartisan support means that it is very likely the bill will pass. So far, a matching bill has not been introduced in the Senate. 
H.R. 3771, introduced by Howard Berman (D-CA), would eliminate the annual cap on the number of asylees who are allowed to adjust status to permanent residence.  Currently only 10,000 asylees each year can become permanent residents.  About 13,000 people are awarded asylum each year.  
This week, the House Immigration Subcommittee reviewed H.R. 3244, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, and made several substantial changes.  Originally the bill would have allowed anyone who claimed that they were brought to the US for sexual slavery would be allowed to stay in the US if they met certain conditions.  On the suggestion of Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the subcommittee adopted an amendment that limits this provision to those under 16.