The House and Senate have agreed, and President Bush has signed, legislation to continue funding the NSEERS special registration program. The program, which calls for nationals of certain Arab and Muslim countries, as well as North Korea, to report in at the INS for fingerprinting and questioning, has been controversial particularly since it has resulted in a great many detentions. The Senate recently stripped funding for the program, but agreed to re-authorize funding for the program after negotiations with the House.

But while Congress will provide the entire $362 million requested for the program, it is being provided on the condition that the Department of Homeland Security develop a strategy to replace the INS' "current paper-based system and stovepiped databases."

The INS will be required, as part of the agreement, to deliver by March 1st a number of documents on the NSEERS program to the Senate and House Appropriation Committees. The documents are supposed to offer information on why so many people with pending green card applications have been detained.

House and Senate leaders also reached agreement with the White House to restore the surcharge for refugee and asylee applications. That means INS filing fees will rise again to the amounts that existed prior to the fee drop in January. Whether that fee increase will be retroactive remains to be seen. It is also not clear when the fee increase will occur.