For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 15, 2002
Statement by the President
I have today signed into law H.R. 3525, the "Enhanced Border
Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002." The legislation
strengthens the ability of the U.S. Government to control the country's
borders, a top priority of my Administration. The Act will improve our
ability to screen aliens seeking to enter our country, facilitate the
sharing of border-related information among U.S. agencies, and improve
efforts to keep track of foreign students and foreign exchange visitors
in the United States.
Section 2(4)(G) of the Act defines as a Federal law enforcement
agency the "Coastal Security Service." Because no such agency exists,
and the principal agency with coastal security functions is the U.S.
Coast Guard, the executive branch shall construe this provision as
referring to the Coast Guard.
Several sections of the Act raise constitutional concerns.
Sections 2(6), 201(c)(2), and 202(a)(3) purport to require the
President to act through a specified assistant to the President or in
coordination or consultation with specified officers of the United
States, agencies, or congressional committees. The President's
constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch and
take care that the laws be faithfully executed cannot be made by law
subject to requirements to exercise those constitutional authorities
through a particular member of the President's staff or in coordination
or consultation with specified officers or elements of the Government.
Accordingly, the executive branch shall treat the purported
requirements as precatory.
Section 203 requires the President, in appointing the nine members
of the Commission on Interoperable Data Sharing, to appoint eight of
them from a list of nominees provided by the congressional leadership
acting jointly. Laws that provide for appointment in the Government of
individuals to exercise significant governmental authority must provide
for such appointment by one of the means specified in the Appointments
Clause of the Constitution, which includes appointment by the President
with Senate consent or by the President alone, but does not include
appointment by the President from a pool of persons selected by the
congressional leadership. Accordingly, to give effect to section 203
insofar as is constitutionally permissible, the executive branch shall
construe the Commission's functions as advisory only. Also, the
executive branch shall construe the Commission's responsibility to
make recommendations to the Congress in a manner consistent with the
President's constitutional authority to submit for congres-sional
consideration such measures as the President shall judge necessary and
expedient.
The executive branch shall construe section 404(a), relating to
U.S.-Canadian joint border inspection operations under an international
agreement, in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional
authority to conduct the foreign affairs of the Nation and to supervise
the unitary executive branch.
GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
May 14, 2002.
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