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House targets drunk drivers at bordersSenate may not act on measure
From Kate Snow
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Question: What can U.S. Border Patrol agents do to prevent a bunch of teenagers from San Diego who've been partying in Tijuana, Mexico, from re-entering the United States and driving drunk? Answer: Nothing. Because of a loophole in current U.S. law, Immigration and Naturalization inspectors and Border Patrol agents have no authority to take drivers who are under the influence of alcohol or drugs into custody, no matter how drunk they might be. But Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. House approved, 296-94, a bill meant to change that. The measure, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, would make laws about driving while impaired that apply in border states applicable at immigration checkpoints as well. It would allow INS employees to administer breath tests and authorize them to arrest drivers under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Support for the bill in the Senate is questionable. The extent of the problem is hard to quantify. One non-profit research group based in Calverton, Maryland that has studied the border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana estimated in 1998 that every Saturday night, nearly 400 Americans over the age of 21 were crossing back into the United States intoxicated. On average, 92 Americans under 21 were returning with some amount of alcohol in their blood -- illegal under California's "zero tolerance" law, according to the Pacific Institute of Research and Evaluation. The institute also found that drivers entering the United States at the San Diego-Tijuana border crossing were twice as likely to be driving under the influence than those driving in a northern part of San Diego County (7.8 percent compared to 3.2 percent). Officially, the Immigration and Naturalization Service hasn't taken a stand on the legislation, according to an INS spokesman. But the spokesman acknowledged the underage drinking issue is a big problem at border crossings near San Diego and Brownsville, Texas. Accidents involving drunken drivers who crossed U.S. borders have gotten a lot of local attention and prompted lawmakers to take a look at the issue. Flake cited two accidents in which he said California Highway Patrol Officers were killed by drunken drivers returning from Tijuana. According to the INS, agents at the border who spot potential drunken drivers sometimes call local police or authorities to flag them. But their priority is checking people's citizenship and protecting the borders, not stopping drunks. In fact, some members of Congress opposed the bill because they fear it could cause Border Patrol agents to divert their attention away from stopping terrorists. Others questioned whether the bill, which deals only with motor vehicle drivers, would really solve the problem. Many young people walk across border crossings to places like Juarez, Mexico, and walk back to their cars in parking lots on the U.S. side of the border. U.S. agents would not be empowered to stop drunken pedestrians, only drunken drivers. One other issue that could bog the measure down as it heads to the Senate is racial profiling. Ten prominent civil rights groups have come out against the bill because it does not contain language that would have required the government to report yearly on the racial profiles of those stopped for drunken driving by border agents. Democrats in the House, including Rep. John Conyers, D-Michigan, and Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Texas, are leading opposition to the bill because it does not contain that racial profiling language. A spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, said that issue could stop Democrats in the Senate from ever scheduling the measure for a vote in that body.
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