CONGRESS ARGUES ABOUT RESTRICTIONS ALONG CANADA BORDER

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A showdown is mounting on Capitol Hill over new
immigration rules along the Canadian border. Advocates for stepped-up
checks argue that they're needed to stop terrorists from slipping into New
York, marijuana from showing up in Seattle and walleye disputes from
revisiting Minnesota.

Senators from northern border states, predicting horrendous traffic jams at
crossing points, won approval last week for rolling back the rules that are
intended to tighten U.S. borders against illegal drugs and aliens.

But House sponsors of the crackdown vowed this week to defend the rules
enacted in 1996. The rules require the Immigration and Naturalization
Service (INS) to document aliens entering and leaving the United States
starting Oct. 1. A key goal is to ensure that non-citizens who visit the
country leave when they're supposed to.

The INS has notified Congress that it can't meet the Oct. 1 deadline. The
agency is running a pilot program at its officer-training academy in
Georgia and plans to report the results in December.

Meanwhile, Canadian officials have worked feverishly to avert the rules.
Ambassador Raymond Chretien said Thursday after a meeting with Sen. Rod
Grams, R-Minn., that he has devoted one-third of his time in recent months
to lobbying Congress on the issue.

But even some of Canada's congressional allies are having second thoughts.
Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., cosponsor of a House bill that would rescind
the crackdown, said he now wants to hold out until Ontario agrees to
concessions in controversial restrictions it has imposed on anglers who
stay in Minnesota resorts.

"The best thing I could do is back the cars up 12 miles long in Detroit.
Then I could maybe finally get somebody's attention," Peterson said.

Delays predicted

People cross into the United States from Canada more than 100 million times
a year, almost always without registering documents. Officials from both
sides of the border predict that funneling everyone through document
checkpoints will create long lines and unacceptable delays at busy crossing
stations.

There are about 3 million entries a year into Minnesota from Canada, and
delays can be a problem under the existing rules at International Falls,
the state's busiest crossing station.

Grams said the fishing dispute should be resolved separately: "To tie these
two together at this time would probably be a big mistake."

Ambassador Chretien said the fishing issue "is not for the national
government to get involved with." But he also said that he will contact
Ontario's premier "to make sure he's aware of the increased tension caused
by these regulations."

The border crossing rules should worry both sides, Chretien said.

"You've got thousands of businesses on the American side of the border that
would be penalized," he said. "If you sell warm chickens and your warm
chickens are going to be stuck on a bridge somewhere for four hours you can
imagine that your customers on the other end will not be very happy."

North-South parity argued

The House has agreed to delay implementation of the rules, but not to
rescind them. Representatives of southern border states insist that the
northern border be subject to the same restrictions as those imposed
between the United States and Mexico, Peterson said.

Advocates for the crackdown cite other reasons.

"If we don't know who is entering the United States, we don't know what is
entering the United States, and right now we don't know," said Allen Kay, a
spokesman for Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House Immigration
Subcommittee.

Smith cites recent accounts of suspected terrorists slipping into the
United States from Canada. Gazi Ibrahim Abu Mezer, a Palestinian from the
West Bank, was arrested in New York last year and convicted of preparing to
bomb subways. U.S. authorities had apprehended him on three previous
occasions when he walked or rode a bus across the border from Canada.

Smith also circulated an excerpt from a report posted on the Internet by
the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. It says, "The threat to public
safety from international terrorism imported into Canada is a major concern
for the Service. Most of the world's terrorist groups have established
themselves in Canada, seeking safe haven, setting up operational bases, and
attempting to gain access to the USA."

To roll back the new rules would be to lay out "a welcome mat for
terrorists," Smith said.

Defenders of the rules also point to drug trafficking from Canada,
especially marijuana. The Associated Press reported in June that "U.S. and
Canadian officials believe marijuana harvesting now ranks as British
Columbia's most lucrative agricultural product," and that Canadian-grown
marijuana is so potent it sells for 10 times the typical price of marijuana
from Mexico.

Chretien said that far more drugs enter Canada from the United States than
vice versa, and that terrorists travel both ways. Canada is working with
the United States to fight terrorism and drug trafficking, but the proposed
exit-entry system is not the solution, he said.

"No terrorist will show up at the border and when asked, 'Who are you?'
give his real name and profession," he said. "Nobody would put 'terrorist'
there."

Sponsors of the rollback inserted it in a Senate appropriations bill and
hope House and Senate conferees will include it in the final bill expected
to come up for a vote in September.

Copyright 1998 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)