Senators Ban Border Fee at US Land Crossings CBC News
go to original May 10, 2013

The U.S. won't be introducing border crossing fees at land ports of entry.

The Department of Homeland Security had wanted U.S. Congress to authorize the study of a fee that could be collected from everyone entering the U.S. at land crossings bordering Canada and Mexico.

But the Senate's judiciary committee on Thursday voted to amend the Immigration Reform Bill to ban the fee all together.

Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, who chairs the committee, said a fee would stop Canadians (and Mexicans) from visiting the U.S. and could threaten trade and the economy ... would make U.S. border patrol agents “toll collectors instead of law enforcement.”

"There are many steps remaining [before it becomes law], but this was probably the most important step," Leahy's spokesperson David Carle said in an email to CBC News.

The bill still has go to the senate floor. If passed there, the House will have to act on its own immigration reform bill, Carle said.

Read the rest at CBC News

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