About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

GGD-96-25R 1 (1995-11-29)

handle is hein.gao/gaobackzp0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 



United States
General Accounting Office
Washington, D.C. 20548

General Government Division





B-266067


November 29, 1995



The Honorable Duncan Hunter
The Honorable Brian Bilbray
House of Representatives

This letter responds to your request for information on border
crossing cards (BCC) issued by the Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS). Specifically, you asked that we
(1) summarize the sequence of events leading up to the June
1995 changes in INS policies and procedures for processing BCCs
at INS' San Ysidro, CA, port of entry and other ports of entry;
(2) provide data on the number of BCC applications received and
the percentage approved and denied at San Ysidro; and (3)
present any observations on improving the BCC process that we
might make while developing information in response to the
first two objectives. To address these-objectives, we (1)
interviewed INS headquarters, Western Region, and San Diego
district officials; (2) reviewed relevant legislation,
regulations, and INS documents related to BCCs; and (3)
analyzed, but did not verify, San Ysidro port of entry BCC
statistics. We did our work between June and September 1995 in
accordance with generally accepted government auditing
standards.

BACKGROUND

The Immigration and Nationality Act establishes documentary
requirements for nonimmigrant entry into the United States and
makes border crossing identification cards an acceptable
alternative to nonimmigrant visas.' INS issues the Nonresident
Alien BCC, INS Form 1-586, to eligible Mexican citizens who
reside in Mexico and wish to visit the United States frequently
on a temporary basis for business or pleasure. Mexican
visitors may use their cards indefinitely for visits of up to
72 hours within 25 miles of the border. INS can also issue
cardholders additional documents that allow them to stay longer
or travel farther.2 State Department consulates along the


18 U.S.C. 1182(a) (7) (B) (i).
28 C.F.R. 212.1, 212.6; 235.1(f) and (g).

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most