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

But while Congress will provide the entire $362 million requested for the prog ram , it is b eing provided on the condition that the Department of Homeland Security develop a strategy to replace the INS' "current paper- b ased system and stovepiped data b ases."

The INS will b e required, as part of the agreement, to deliver b y March 1st a num b er of documents on the NSEERS prog ram to the Senate and House Appropriation Committees. The documents are supposed to offer info rm ation on why so many people with pending green card applications have b een detained.

House and Senate lea ders 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 b e retroactive remains to b e seen. It is als o n ot c lea r when the fee increase will occur.