Border Trade Alliance

BTA is very concerned about a new policy being implemented at all ports of entry. Last week, CBP officers began checking the drivers licenses for 60 percent of drivers that cross the border into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico. The driver’s license numbers are then manually entered into a computer system, causing an increase in wait times. Currently, the requirement for when a person crosses the border is an oral declaration of citizenship. The officers are trained to distinguish who is or is not a citizen, and they have the prerogative to send a person to secondary for more inspections. Last month, the Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff announced that starting January 30, 2008, there will be a 100% verification of citizenship required for all travelers crossing the border into the U.S. Two forms of government issued identification will be requested. These will include, but are not limited to a driver’s license, birth certificate or social security card. All of these changes are in preparation for the full implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative.

The growing concern at our borders is how these requirements will affect the efficiency of trade and travel at our ports of entry, and whether the implementation of these requirements will be an efficient use of our resources. Why have we spent millions of dollars investing in technology and infrastructure assessments to address challenges such as the verification of documents, information disbursement to officers and infrastructure developments that will provide best practices, if new technologies and implementation requirements are ever changing and rarely in coordination with one another? We all want a more secure and efficient process, but this can only be achieved with better coordination between governmental departments, increased educational outreach to the public, improvements to existing infrastructure, increased staffing at our ports of entry and integrated technology. Currently, one of the biggest challenges of checking documentation for travelers is that there are so many different types and forms of identification. For example, there are 8,000 different types of birth certificates available for citizens of the U.S., Bermuda, Canada and Mexico, and it can be difficult for officers to check the authenticity of these documents. The challenge with the implementation of WHTI is finding a way to properly coordinate technology, information and risk assessment in a manner that will balance security and efficiency. The US-VISIT program has spent a few years assessing the process and has given recommendations, but have these recommendations been utilized? We cannot continue to implement policies that, while made with good intentions and designed to increase our homeland security, will simultaneously decrease our economic security.

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