WASHINGTON — New border-crossing rules that take effect in two weeks will mean longer lines and stiffer demands for positive ID, including for Americans returning to the U.S., Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Thursday.
A driver’s license won’t be good enough to get you past a checkpoint at the Canadian border, Chertoff said. That will be a surprise to many people who routinely cross the border, but Chertoff bristled at criticism that such extra security would be inconvenient.
“It’s time to grow up and recognize that if we’re serious about this threat, we’ve got to take reasonable, measured but nevertheless determined steps to getting better security,” he said.
Thousands of people enter the U.S. through land crossings every day. The biggest effect of the change will be at the Canadian border since it applies to both Canadians and Americans. Non-Americans coming in through Mexico already need extra documentation.
Congressional critics representing Northern border states were anything but impressed with Chertoff’s rhetoric.
Sen. Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican, said “Secretary Chertoff’s comments that those objecting to the plan need to ‘grow up’ indicates that the department still doesn’t understand the practical effects of DHS policies on the everyday lives of border community residents.”
Under the new system, which takes effect Jan. 31, Americans and Canadians who are 19 or older will have to present proof of citizenship when they seek to enter the United States through a land or sea port of entry. A passport will be fine. Or a birth certificate coupled with some other ID such as a driver’s license.
Chertoff said he had been surprised to learn that simply stating “I am an American” and showing an ID card has been sufficient to get back into the country. “I don’t think in this day and age we can afford the honor system for entering the United States,” he said. “Regrettably, we live in a world in which people lie sometimes about their identity.”
For people other than Americans or Canadians, the rules at the northern border will be unchanged — passports and visas will still be required. The same goes for non-Americans at the Mexican border.
Chertoff said longer lines at the border in the early days of the new policy are inevitable. “Until people get the message, there will be some delays,” he said.
He predicted that would change once people got used to the new system, and he said border agents would be flexible in applying the new rules at the beginning.
More than 8,000 different documents have been used to enter the United States, in some cases even library cards. The proof-of-citizenship requirement will greatly reduce the ability to sneak by border agents with fake papers, Chertoff said. Border agents will now accept about two dozen types of ID.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
