Chamber Hails New Border Security Report

Report Outlines Challenges for Security and Cross Border Flow

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States Chamber of Commerce today hailed the first Congressional Report of the INS Data Management Improvement Act (DMIA) Task Force. The report looked at how to improve the flow of traffic at U.S. airports, seaports and land borders while enhancing security.

"This report provides useful, practical suggestions on how to meet the challenge of securing our borders and — at the same time — allow the flow of legitimate commerce and travel," said Randel Johnson, Chamber vice president for labor, immigration, and employee benefits and the Chamber's representative on the INS public/private sector task force. "The difficulties in meeting these challenges are particularly stark at the land borders, which see more than one million entries each day."

For the first report, the Task Force focused primarily on the government's plan to create an entry/exit system at ports of entry to track foreign visitors. The report outlines nine recommendations to policy makers that underscored the need to ensure that any new systems, to the extent possible, not further congest our borders. The Chamber supports a system that, among other things, incorporates provisions to expedite low-risk travelers and cargo.

"Any new system will need adequate resources to be effective," said Johnson. "Congress and the administration must not risk harming our economy with projects that are rushed into place without sufficient resources or testing."

In the coming years, the Task Force will look at other important border issues such as facilities and infrastructure, cooperation and coordination between the federal government border agencies, state and local governments and the private sector on border management, and information technology systems that can be used to improve security and efficiency at the ports of entry.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation, representing more than 3 million U.S. businesses. The Chamber also chairs the Americans for Better Borders coalition, a group of organizations representing manufacturing, hospitality, tourism, transportation, recreation and other industry sectors to work to ensure the efficient flow of travel and trade across our borders while addressing national security concerns.

>> Data Management Improvement ACt (DMIA) TAsk Force First Annual Report to Congress — January 2003 (PDF, 2.79 MB)

# # #

03-03