New Travel Policy

A new policy is announced that will require more documentation to be shown when crossing the US-Canadian and other borders.

Millions of Americans will be required to show passports when they reenter the United States from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean by 2008 under new rules announced yesterday by the State and Homeland Security departments.

The new policy, designed to thwart terrorists from exploiting the relative ease of travel in North America, means that Americans who lack U.S. passports will have to obtain them to travel between the United States and neighboring nations. It also will require Mexicans and Canadians to present either passports or another official document to enter this country, with details to be determined.

Currently, U.S. citizens in most cases need to show only driver's licenses to reenter this country from Mexico and Canada, though officials said that since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, some officials at border crossings at times have asked for additional documents.

I can't speak to the other borders, but I travel to Canada twice a year, and I look around the customs line pretty carefully, out of curiousity. Frankly, I almost never see anyone crossing these days without a passport. Now, that's at an airport. I suspect people who are driving across are much more likely to be more casual about what form of ID they're using.

But I think we've been left no choice about this by the Canadians. Currently on order, but not yet in my hot little hands, is this book detailing Canadian security lapses. Their own auditor-general has just issued a "scathing" report (via Instpundit) detailing lapses including 4,500 criminals working in their largest airports, and passport offices more concerned with service with a smile then with not giving passports to people who shouldn't have them. One of their reporters is worried about the timing of this report, the implication of the US embassy getting a copy just as our new policy on travel documents is announced -- good point.

Of course this is already being attacked by people putting convenience ahead of security:

Some travel industry executives predicted that the initiative could lead to long lines for foreigners entering this country and could discourage U.S. youngsters from traveling on school trips, or spontaneously, to Canada and Mexico. Much smaller percentages of young people have passports than older people do, industry officials said.

First of all, "youngsters" will just have to get passports. It's a new world, suck it up. If you want to be spontaneous you're just going have to put some thought into it. (No, I'm not being entirely ironic -- you keep a suitcase in the house, don't you?) Secondly, as I said, where I cross over everyone I see is using passports. They come with a magnetic strip and customs officials swipe them. Frankly, they could ask a few more questions for my taste, but the lines just aren't that long and just don't move that slowly. (I cross over at Toronto, hardly a minor cross over point, I would think.)

What are the complaints?

An increasing amount of travel planning is being done only days or weeks before a vacation begins because of Americans' harried lifestyles, and the new rules could discourage U.S. citizens without passports from taking quick jaunts to Canada and Mexico, tourism officials said.

"For the last-minute traveler, this could be a problem," said Hank Phillips, president of the National Tour Association, which represents the tourism industry. "We're concerned about this, but we're taking a wait-and-see attitude, because security is a top priority."

Michael Palmer, executive director of the Student & Youth Travel Association, which represents tour operators, said yesterday that the new rules also could "drastically" reduce the number of Mexican and Canadian students who visit the United States.

"I can see the student travel business [from Canada into the United States] almost drying up," said Doug Ellison, who owns a large youth travel firm outside Ontario. The regulations also will discourage Canadian cross-border shoppers, he said. "If you don't want us to come, you're giving us a good reason not to," he said.

That's just nonsense. It may well be true in the short term -- until people realize that everyone needs a passport. I didn't get one until I was in my 30s. Well, we live in a different world now. Once people figure that out, they'll go ahead and get one and once they have one, then they'll be able to travel casually once again. The nature of what a passport is -- a document needed only by those well enough off to travel to Europe, or those who need one for business -- will simply be redefined over time. Furthermore, we simply need to get past the point (and, frankly, I thought we were past the point) where convenience trumped security.

Requiring passports will mean people can't just travel to Canada or Mexico on a whim, on the drop of a dime? They can no longer be "spontaneous" unless they've prepared ahead of time for the possibility that they may one day feel that way?

Cry me a river. I don't want my security compromised so college knapsackers can reserve the right to get a whim someday.

Most people are figuring it out:

Sixty million Americans have U.S. passports, and officials expect to issue 10 million more this year. More citizens are obtaining passports every year because of the perceived desirability of having citizenship documents, said Maura Harty, assistant secretary of state for consular affairs.

And, oh, guess what -- this is what happens when people insist on not getting serious about who can get driver's licenses.

The new policy was needed to tighten security for travelers around the Western Hemisphere in part because of heightened concern that terrorists could smuggle equipment or operatives into the United States from neighboring countries, officials said. U.S. officials also want to reduce their reliance on state driver's licenses because of the ease of obtaining fraudulent licenses.

At some point, somewhere, there has to be some document that controls access to the border. God love the Canadians, but they've consistently proven since 9/11 that we can't trust them to get serious about this stuff. Which means our only option is to take border security very, very seriously ourselves. Because we have no way of knowing who's on the other side of that border.