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Second Amendment Passes Senate Extending WHTI

June 30, 2006

Second Amendment Passes Senate Extending WHTI
June 30, 2006 – Yesterday, the United States Senate Appropriations Committee adopted an amendment to the FY07 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill that would delay implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative until June 1, 2009. This is a different amendment then the one the Coleman/Dorgan amendment to the Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill that was passed by the Senate last month. This amendment also would require the Secretary of Homeland Security to certify to Congress that the following procedures are in place before WHTI moves forward:

    1. Ensure that the technology for any PASS Card meets certain security standards – and that DHS and State agree on that technology.

    2. Make that technology available to the governments of Canada and Mexico.

    3. Justify the fee set for the PASS Card, and submit a detailed justification for the amount agreed upon to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees.

    4. Accommodate groups of children traveling across the border under adult supervision with parental consent (consistent with U.S. child anti-trafficking laws) without requiring a government-issued identity and citizenship document.

    5. Install all necessary technological infrastructure at the ports of entry to process the cards and train U.S. agents at the border crossings in all aspects of the new technology.

    6. Make the PASS Card available for international travel between the United States and Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean and Bermuda.

    7. Establish a unified implementation date for all sea and land borders

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