DHS policy collecting driver’s license information undermining economic security
Phoenix- August 22, 2007- The Border Trade Alliance (BTA), a leading trade organization, wrote a letter of opposition to Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, calling upon the department for the immediate end to the current policy of checking and manually entering driver’s license information, but not verifying citizenship. This past month, Customs and Border Protection officers began checking the driver’s licenses for 60 percent of travelers entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico, and the result is proving to be disastrous-wait times at the border have nearly doubled since this process started.
In the letter, BTA argues, “State-issued driver’s licenses in current form do not provide proof of citizenship nor should they be considered secure documents. The General Accounting Office (GAO) has repeatedly reported to Congress on the ease in which its investigators have crossed our borders using counterfeit driver’s licenses. Finally, there has been no information shared with the public on how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or CBP plan to safeguard the privacy of U.S. citizens’ information that is being collected as a result of this policy.” As part of the letter, BTA also offered several recommendations to improve secure traveler programs to ensure the physical and economic security of our nation.
“What are we accomplishing in terms of security?” questions Maria Luisa O’Connell, president of the Border Trade Alliance. “We all want a more secure and efficient process, but that 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.”
The BTA letter to the Secretary of Homeland Security is attached or is available for download here:
http://www.thebta.org/content/downloads/BTAletterChertoff.pdf
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