Director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services Eduardo Aguirre has indicated that the Bush Administration does not intend to introduce legislation embodying the President’s immigration reform proposal.  Aguirre stated that the purpose behind the President’s speech on January 7, 2004 was to outline broad parameters of the immigration reform debate and that it was up to Congress to form a detailed plan for immigration reforms.  He added that as bills are introduced, the President will work with the sponsors. Many see Aguirre’s remarks as signaling the President’s intention to back away from his January proposal, which has drawn considerable criticism from members of his own political party.

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Since 2003, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), an anti-immigration think-tank, has been a subcontractor on a project for the US Census Bureau evaluating the quality of immigrant data collected in the American Community Survey.  CIS has an 18-month contract with the Census Bureau for $220,000.

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An unnamed Amish man who went to visit his sick father in Ontario, Canada in December was not allowed to reenter the US because he had no photo identification with him.  The Amish, who do not allow pictures to be taken because of the Bible’s prohibition of graven images, have previously been granted photo waivers.  However, these waivers have been discontinued due to security concerns.

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Twenty-seven countries are expected to miss the deadline set by the US for countries to issue computer-coded passports, including Japan, Britain, Germany and Italy.  Only Congress can extend the deadline for this congressionally mandated anti-terrorism measure.

Visitors from the countries who are issued passports without the facial-recognition technology by October 26, 2004 will be required to apply for visas to travel to the United States.  This could result in the demand for tourist visas to increase to about 12 million in FY 2005 from about 7 million in 2003.  This could create significant visa backlogs by flooding consular staff in American embassies with visa requests, potentially disrupting tourism and business travel from the affected countries.

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A trend is affecting the nation’s motor-vehicle agencies as many undocumented immigrants and others ineligible for driver’s licenses are bribing employees to produce and issue fraudulent licenses.  Last year, 45 states considered legislation that would tighten security at their motor-vehicle agencies, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.