 SENATE AGAIN VOTES TO REPEAL ENTRY-EXIT LAW
For the third time since 1996, the US Senate has voted to repeal section 110 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), which calls for checks on all people entering and exiting the US. This provision, like so many others in IIRIRA, has been controversial. Even though its effective date has already been postponed until 2001, Senators from border states do not believe the provision can be implemented without grinding border traffic to a halt.
Meanwhile, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the driving force behind the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), is busy defending section 110. Two of Rep. Smith’s colleagues, also representing Texas, doubt whether the plan is currently feasible.
Reps. Ciro Rodriguez and Henry Bonilla of Texas worry that any extra steps at the border, where a truck carrying cargo already has to wait about four hours, would stifle commercial activity between the US and Mexico. Each thinks there are areas that need to be addressed before section 110 is implemented, such as ensuring the INS is able to check everyone who enters, and improving the efficiency of the US Customs Service. Unlike the Border Patrol, whose budget has exploded in recent years, the Customs Service has had the same budget for ten years. Customs seizes far more contraband entering the US than the Border Patrol.
Section 110 was originally scheduled to go into effect in October 1998, but opposition from US legislators from states along both the Canadian and Mexican borders has delayed its implementation until at least March 2001. Even Lamar Smith has no idea how much his planned system of a fully automated exit-entry system at each of the 250 points of entry into the US would cost.
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