Border Security, Visa Screening Bill Gains

Tamper-proof passports and tighter monitoring of foreign students are among the provisions of legislation the House passed to improve border security and visa screening.

The bill, passed by a voice vote, would also boost the pay of border patrol agents and allow the Immigration and Naturalization Service to hire 200 new investigators and another 200 inspectors.

The Sept. 11 attacks, said House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), taught the country "how deeply vulnerable our immigration system is to exploitation from aliens who wish to harm Americans."