N E W S   B R I E F I N G

The Immigration Reform Bill, Vermont,
And The Northern Border – Update

The Senate late Thursday (May 25) approved two more Vermont-related amendments, in addition to those adopted earlier, before passing the comprehensive immigration reform bill.  The bill now goes to conference with a House-passed border security bill, which does not include these provisions.  Senator Leahy will be the senior Democratic conferee from the Judiciary Committee.

ADD’L REFORMS TO THE BORDER-CROSSING CARD PROGRAM --

In addition to the amendment by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) -- approved earlier -- to delay implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative/PASS Card border crossing requirements by 17 months, the Senate late Thursday added several additional reforms to the WHTI program.  The amendment, offered by a coalition of senators including Sens. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), Leahy, and others, was included in the Specter-Leahy Managers’ Amendment to the immigration reform package and includes these additional changes to the program:

•         Directs the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of State to produce a North American travel card (a passport alternative) only good for use between the United States and Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean.

•         Consistent with the Leahy-Stevens amendment (#4018 approved by the Senate on May 17th), implementation of WHTI is delayed to June 1, 2009.

•         The amendment also allows the Secretaries of State and DHS to further delay implementation WHTI later than June 1, 2009, after notice of the delay is provided to Congress and “lays over” for 3 months.

•         Requires that before WHTI is implemented the following requirements are certified to Congress:  That travel cards have been provided to 90 percent of citizens who applied for a card; border agents have received training; border crossings are equipped with document readers; and an outreach plan has been implemented.

COST:

•         Recommends that the cost of the card be $24, and caps the cost at no more than $34; no fee for children under 18.

•         Requires a lower combined fee if a person applies for both the travel card and a regular passport at the same time.

•         Provides for short-term passes for up to 72 hours for travelers without passports or other documents (to especially meet the needs of daytrip travelers).

•         Requires State and DHS to develop a way to accommodate children traveling in school groups, or sports teams, without requiring the special cards.

OUTREACH:

•         Provides for significant outreach efforts to educate U.S. residents.

•         Requires U.S. cooperation with Canada in developing a mutually compatible card for Canadian citizens to travel to the United States.

•         Requires a feasibility study and demonstration program to determine if citizenship information can be incorporated into drivers’ licenses that comply with REAL ID (to make those serve as an alternative to the N. American travel card)

•         Requires GAO to conduct an oversight review of the cost of production and issuance of the card and the impact of WHTI on cross-border traffic and commerce.

TECHNOLOGY:

•         Directive to ensure that technology is integrated with existing expedited traveler programs (NEXIS, SENTRI, etc).

•         State and DHS must tell Congress by July 1, 2007, if the technology for the card is not developed by that date.

LEAHY DISTANCE LEARNING AMENDMENT --

This Leahy amendment, also added Thursday to the Specter-Leahy Managers’ Amendment, corrects a problem that has been experienced in recent years as foreign students seek to participate in distance learning programs, such as those offered at colleges such as Goddard College and Champlain College.  Distance learners enter the United States to study on a temporary basis, but current immigration law does not presently provide for a visa for this purpose. 

The Leahy amendment solves this problem by creating a new subcategory under the F visa program.  All other student visa requirements would apply to these applicants.  For example, students who apply for F visas are screened by DHS and the State Department through the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). 

The amendment would allow such visa holders to make brief trips of 30 days or less to the United States to meet with advisors and professors at their academic institutions. 

VERMONT-RELATED AMENDMENTS APPROVED EARLIER --

Key Vermont-related provisions of the package that Leahy earlier successfully worked to add to (or, in one case, subtract from) the bill include:

Leahy’s provision establishing special visas for foreign dairy workers;

H2B visa improvements, important especially to Vermont’s ski and tourism industries;

Leahy’s removal of the provision, in the House-passed version, that lays the groundwork for a barrier/fence/wall across the Northern Border with Canada.  This is no longer in the Senate bill;

Inclusion of the Leahy Amendment (with Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska) for a 17-month delay in implementation of the controversial Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative requirements for a new PASS Card system.  Leahy has called the plan “a train wreck on the horizon” that has been poorly planned, and with inadequate coordination among federal agencies and with the Government of Canada.  Leahy warns that WHTI, as now conceived by the Bush Administration, would mean major disruptions in commerce, tourism and social interaction across the Northern Border.

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