Border-Crossing Fee

In response to “INS Plans Fee Lanes at Both U.S. Borders” (Part A, Dec. 30):

Now the Immigration and Naturalization Service wants to charge a toll for driving into the U.S. Officials, of course, are reassuring the skeptical that there will still be free lanes. This is being justified, says an INS spokesman, by the pressure for better service and the question “should the public pay for border inspection service or just the people who are users?”

How absurd! Those crossing the border into the United States are not users; at best, they are victims of one of the most inept government agencies in existence. Anyone who has sat in the continuous 1 1/2 to 2 hour lines at San Ysidro would gladly avoid using the INS.

The users of the INS are the general public. Supposedly, the INS is protecting their jobs, agriculture, welfare systems and a drug-free society. Just like the police, fire department, FBI, DEA, etc., we don’t charge the users, we, as a society, support the agencies for the general good.

The real reason for wanting to charge a toll at our borders is to raise money. Lobbyists for this idea say it will raise $600 million. The INS looks at this as a kind of tax for those wishing to go abroad.

I suggest the INS, with its hefty $900-million budget, start doing its job in a more efficient manner and stop trying to blame its woes on money. And, if all else fails, the INS should go to Congress, plead its case and receive extra funding from the general budget--not from toll booths at our borders.

TOM BARNUM

Laguna Niguel