WASHINGTON, Feb. 16: The US Congress has agreed to allocate $362 million for the INS registration programme which requires visitors from Muslim countries to be registered with the immigration officials. The Bush administration had asked for that amount to cover the costs of the programme for the fiscal year which began Oct 1 last.

While approving the registration programme, the Congress asked the Bush administration to submit a detailed explanation of its origins, efficacy and the reasons for a large number of resulting detentions.