Let Me See Your Identification (USA)

[FSTargetDrone]

Papers, please:

Passports required today at U.S. borders with Mexico, Canada

By Brandon Lowrey, Staff Writer

Article Last Updated: 01/31/2008 11:19:22 AM PST

Bracing for lengthy delays as a new security law takes effect, officials said Wednesday that officers will be added at U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada to try to ease passport-inspection problems.

Beginning today, Americans returning from Mexico and Canada must show valid passports, a sharp departure from previous regulations that let U.S. citizens use only a driver license as proof of residency.

And while the new regulations have been widely publicized, officials said they still expect some travelers to be caught unaware - resulting in lengthy backups while officers investigate their citizenship.

Passport issuers said the new regulations - along with a $3 increase to take effect Friday in the cost of a passport - have boosted applications.

"We've seen a steady increase (in applications) over the past several years," said U.S. Postal Service spokesman Larry Dozier.

"We've had passport fairs at post offices all over California and across the nation because of the changes in passport regulations."

The new restrictions have drawn criticism from Congress, especially representatives of states bordering Canada who say it will hurt tourism and commerce.

But it's a necessary precaution for a dangerous time, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff recently said.

"I don't think in this day and age we can afford the honor system for entering the United States," Chertoff said. "Regrettably, we live in a world in which people lie sometimes about their identity."

Still, even with more border officers on duty, travelers could face delays, particularly at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in southernmost San Diego, where aging infrastructure is strained to cope with surging travel. San Ysidro has a 24-lane border station to inspect more than 40million people and 17million vehicles a year.

Despite the challenges, some border officers are welcoming the new regulations.

"We cannot abdicate our security mission," said U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Vincent Bond, who is stationed in San Diego.

"It's an important one. We've got to know who's coming into our country."

Bond said he also has faith that the new requirement will make the border-crossing process smoother - eliminating travelers' previous practice of using all sorts of documents, including baptismal records, to try to prove citizenship.

Now, any U.S. resident 19 and older will need to show border agents a passport, one of several forms of federal identification, or a combination of two documents, such as a driver license and a birth certificate, before entering the country by land or sea.

The new law, part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative approved by Congress in 2004, will not affect non-U.S. citizens at the Mexican border. They already must provide a passport and visa to enter the United States.

Santa Clarita-based Princess Cruises, an international cruise line, has long been urging passengers to pick up passports - even before the new regulations take effect, said spokeswoman Julie Benson.

"We find that most of our passengers have already gotten them," Benson said. "We don't anticipate any large-scale challenges."

To also try to ease the transition, U.S. citizens will be able to preorder driver license-size passport cards from the Department of State beginning Friday.

The first batch of cards will be ready sometime in the spring, said Cy Ferenchak, a spokesman for the Bureau of Consular Affairs.

And for those who don't yet have a passport, the American Automobile Association has some simple advice: Get one.

"It's always a good idea to just make sure that you have all the right documentation whenever you're getting away someplace," said AAA spokeswoman Marie Montgomery.

"Even if you don't think you're going to be going out of the country, it's better to just have it."

[Knife]

Sure why not. Just brings us in line with most other places.

[Zed Snardbody]

Just wait till its required to have government issued photo ID to baord an aircraft. Have an expired one or not having one at all already gets you additional screening where TSA has taken over at airports checking ID and tickets.

[FSTargetDrone]

Seems this policy is being delayed now, until 2009:

U.S. officials won't enforce new border ID rules
Last Updated: Thursday, January 31, 2008 | 2:15 PM ET
CBC News

A U.S. law requiring Canadians to show proof of citizenship when crossing the border by land or sea takes effect Thursday, but to appease some politicians, American customs officials say it won't be enforced for at least another 18 months.

For months, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had said that as of Thursday, Canadian and U.S. citizens entering the United States by land and sea would have to show ID, such as a passport, or birth certificate combined with photo ID, proving their nationality, under rules adopted in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks

Air travellers have had to show proof of citizenship since January 2007.

But U.S. border officials now say travellers without proper documentation will be allowed into the U.S. until June 2009, and will receive an educational flyer instead of being turned away.

"What we will do is briefly explain to them that they're not in compliance," said Kevin Corsaro, a supervisory officer in the Buffalo, N.Y., field office of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

"We'll give them a tear sheet that explains how to become compliant, and they'll be able to proceed on with their trip.

"This is an educational process," said Corsaro. "We will not refuse a Canadian citizen entry into this country, into the United States, if their only violation is that they do not have proof of citizenship."
Asking for reprieve

The move to relax ID requirements comes after a group of 19 U.S. senators wrote Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Their letter asks Chertoff to continue the system of allowing Canadians and Americans to cross land and sea borders by presenting any government-issued photo ID, such as a driver's licence, and making an oral declaration of citizenship.

The senators — led by Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Ted Stevens of Alaska and Charles Schumer of New York — said Homeland Security should hold off on any changes until June 2009, when the U.S. Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative goes into full effect and passports will be required to cross all U.S. borders.

"We have the longest, most peaceful, friendliest border in the world. We gotta be cherishing that instead of trying to make that border look like a security threat," Leahy told CBC News.

"These new ideas are not going to make either Canada or the United States more secure. We will end up losing hundreds of billions of dollars worth of jobs."

More than 800,000 people enter the U.S. through land and sea ports each day. Between October and December, agents say, they caught more than 1,500 people making false oral declarations.

[ray245]

Wait...americans don't even bring their passport with them when they are overseas?

What is with americans fears of 'papers'

[Enforcer Talen]

Wait...americans don't even bring their passport with them when they are overseas?

What is with americans fears of 'papers'

Not overseas, just Canada. And we dont like the image of fascism.

We'll go for the policies =p But we like to pretend we're free =p

[General Zod]

Wait...americans don't even bring their passport with them when they are overseas?

What is with americans fears of 'papers'

. . . .since when does Canada count as "overseas"?

[Civil War Man]

Wait...americans don't even bring their passport with them when they are overseas?

What is with americans fears of 'papers'

For many Americans, overseas = Canada. For years, though, you could drive back and forth between Canada and the US without needing a passport. Hell, because of that there are towns that ended up being built straddling the border.

As for me, I don't really care about needing a passport. I bring my passport when I leave the country because it provides a quick, easy, and necessary identification while I'm in the foreign country.

[FSTargetDrone]

Incidentally, I saw an interview with Vermont's Sen. Patrick Leahy on some Canadian news program. He opposes this policy (as mentioned in one of the articles above) and and he was talking about border towns where one side of the street is in the US and the other is in Canada, how ridiculous it can get if people walking across to a neighbor's place or to babysit for a friend are technically supposed to present papers.

[Broomstick]

Wait...americans don't even bring their passport with them when they are overseas?

Most Americans don't have passports

What is with americans fears of 'papers'

I dunno. I get kinda pissed off at the price of updating my little blue book with the eagle on the front, but I think it's mainly that so many have never even seen one that it's fear of the unknown.

[The Spartan]

Wait...americans don't even bring their passport with them when they are overseas?

What is with americans fears of 'papers'

. . . .since when does Canada count as "overseas"?

Overseas is sometimes used as a substitute for "out of the country".

It's retarded sounding but it happens.

[Darth Wong]

Sure why not. Just brings us in line with most other places.

The fact that it will cost billions of dollars in cross-border freight delays in a pair of neighbouring economies which have become highly interwoven, perhaps? How about the fact that it has no positive benefit to outweigh this cost? How about the fact that the purported reasons for this change (border security) are a fucking joke in light of a border which stretches over thousands of miles, so that actual "evildoers" can pass at will but law-abiding citizens who use proper border crossings will be penalized and forced to wait in lineups for hours? Don't be stupid.

[Stravo]

Isn't the EU moving away from travel papers to cross borders and its much like moving from state to state here in the US. You just drive across the border no papers needed? If so seems like we're taking a step back and Europe is taking a step forward in this regard.

[Darth Wong]

This bullshit is being done for precisely one reason: so that some asshole politician could claim he was doing something about "border security" without having to sign a single spending bill. Of course, it will cost the economy a lot of money, but that cost won't come in the form of government spending that he has to sign his name to, so he's in the clear.

[Colonel Olrik]

Isn't the EU moving away from travel papers to cross borders and its much like moving from state to state here in the US. You just drive across the border no papers needed? If so seems like we're taking a step back and Europe is taking a step forward in this regard.

It's been like that for more than 10 years. Nowadays it goes further than that, in most EU it's also extremely simple to go live in another place. You get to the desired city, register as living there, and you're set. When I came to live in Germany I still needed to get a work permit , that requirement has been since then eliminated.

But this is within the EU, which is more integrated than the US and Canada are ever likely to be. To cross bloody Switzerland, which is an annoying obstacle between France and Austria, we still need to stand in line and show the passport (only to get in, not to get out..). In a way that's as ridiculous as the eventual Canada-US border check.

[Raesene]

[...]
But this is within the EU, which is more integrated than the US and Canada are ever likely to be. To cross bloody Switzerland, which is an annoying obstacle between France and Austria, we still need to stand in line and show the passport (only to get in, not to get out..). In a way that's as ridiculous as the eventual Canada-US border check.

Switzerland will implement the Schengen Agreement (which abolishes the border control between signatories) in November 2008, then this travel obstackle is also history.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Isn't the EU moving away from travel papers to cross borders and its much like moving from state to state here in the US. You just drive across the border no papers needed? If so seems like we're taking a step back and Europe is taking a step forward in this regard.

You still need some form of identification if I am not wrong, just not as many checks.

[ray245]

But isn't it a better idea to carry your identification around in case of accidents and etc?

[K. A. Pital]

You still need some form of identification

Passport only IIRC.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

But isn't it a better idea to carry your identification around in case of accidents and etc?

Again, most Americans do not have a passport, and their "identification" is simply a state-issued driver's license.

[ray245]

But isn't it a better idea to carry your identification around in case of accidents and etc?

Again, most Americans do not have a passport, and their "identification" is simply a state-issued driver's license.

So does that means most americans has never been to countries outside north and south america?

[General Zod]

So does that means most americans has never been to countries outside north and south america?

Most Americans have never been out of the US period. Partly due to how large the US on its own is, partly due to travel being expensive and partly due to most people not needing to leave the country.

[Colonel Olrik]

Isn't the EU moving away from travel papers to cross borders and its much like moving from state to state here in the US. You just drive across the border no papers needed? If so seems like we're taking a step back and Europe is taking a step forward in this regard.

You still need some form of identification if I am not wrong, just not as many checks.

Hmm, no you don't.

[K. A. Pital]

Hmm, no you don't.

Don't you have some passport control or license control on borders? I believe I got into one between Germany and Italy - but then, I'm a foreigner...

[Colonel Olrik]

Hmm, no you don't.

Don't you have some passport control or license control on borders? I believe I got into one between Germany and Italy - but then, I'm a foreigner...

No. Not even for you When were you travelling? Was it during the World cup or something similar? The open borders means precisely that. There are no control outposts anymore: they have been totally deactivated.