White House Yields on Border Fee, Lawmaker Says

Bowing to stiff opposition, the White House is backing away from a plan to levy a federal border fee on people entering the United States from Mexico and Canada, a San Diego congressman said Tuesday.

The Clinton Administration earlier this month had proposed a mandatory fee of $1.50 per pedestrian and $3 per vehicle to raise funds to battle illegal immigration and make border improvements. But the idea was swiftly criticized by officials in border communities as poorly conceived and out of touch with local views.

“It was unbelievable the lack of knowledge (the Administration) had behind their proposal,” said Rep. Bob Filner (D-San Diego), who represents a heavily trafficked immigration corridor with Mexico. “They literally knew nothing about the reality of the border and didn’t ask any of us (about our views on the border-crossing fee),” he said.

Filner said the White House told him it will issue a letter today detailing its change of heart.

But the Administration on Tuesday was trying to avoid the appearance of caving in to border-state officials. “It is simply unfair to characterize this as a retraction of the President’s proposal,” a senior Administration official told the Associated Press, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

“We have fleshed it out in such a way that we are in fact providing states . . . working with local communities an option of having the fee imposed in their jurisdictions and receiving the benefits of those higher revenues or, on the contrary, no fee and no additional benefits,” the official said.

The proposal first was raised in President Clinton’s fiscal 1996 budget. The fee was expected to raise $400 million annually if imposed nationally.

Critics contend that the fee would amount to an unfair levy on regions already hit disproportionately by the costs of illegal immigration. They suggest that it also would further depress trade and cross-border shopping.