The Border Trade Alliance (BTA) wishes to alert you to a situation occurring at our land ports-of-entry that is having a serious, negative economic impact at the border and our nation. Recently Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents began checking and manually entering driver’s license information for a majority of drivers entering the United States at all land border crossings. While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) disputes that this is a new policy, its application has further contributed to the already unacceptable wait-times experienced at our land ports.
In a letter sent to Secretary Michael Chertoff on August 22nd, the BTA expressed our strong objection to this new policy for several reasons. First, driver’s licenses are not useful as security documents, a fact to which the General Accounting Office has frequently reported to Congress. Second, the manual entry of U.S. citizens’ driver’s license data adds to the time it takes to clear U.S. citizens through the CBP inspection zones, generating even longer lines of traffic backed up at our land ports. Long lines of traffic waiting to cross bridges, drive through tunnels and enter into the CBP inspection zones present serious environmental, safety and security concerns. Thousands of private and commercial vehicles idling for hours have a direct impact on air quality in our border communities and further stress over-burdened infrastructure. Finally, the long lines at our border crossings threaten our economic security as they reduce the efficiency of cross-border trade and commerce.
The BTA has launched its grassroots campaign to educate Congress, the media and businesses and residents of border communities about the increased inspections at our ports of entry. The BTA has shared our concerns with border-state Members of Congress and will continue to raise this issue to policy-makers in Washington, D.C. Please click the MORE button below if you are interested in sending a letter to your Senators and Representative.
Here is a draft letter you may feel free to copy and paste into your Senators’ and Representative’s Web Form (email) or alternatively you can cut and paste into your favorite word processing application and fax or mail to your elected officials. To find your Representative click here, House to contact your United States Senators click here, Senate.
Sample Letter:
September XX, 2007
The Honorable (First Name, Last Name)
United States (Senate) or (House of Representatives)
Washington, D.C. (Zip Code)*
Dear Senator (Last Name):
OR
Dear Representative (Last Name):
As a citizen of XXXX, USA, I am concerned by the tremendous wait times I have experienced when crossing the border. I am frustrated because CBP officers are now asking for my driver’s license information. This check and manual entry of driver’s license information not only increases the wait time at the booth, it also results in long lines where the wait can range anywhere from one to three hours.
I would like to know why these additional inspections are occurring, and why the public was not aware of this driver’s license requirement? How is the information extracted from the driver’s licenses being used? What is the advantage of being a SENTRI cardholder when you have to wait in a long line to even access the SENTRI lane? It is also very apparent that the booths are not adequately staffed. It is not uncommon for multiple lanes to be closed, or for drivers to be directed to another port of entry.
These wait times are creating a huge inconvenience for individuals who have to cross the border on a daily basis to get to work, as well as negatively affecting the traffic flow in border communities. They are deterring people from traveling and visiting friends and relatives across the U.S.-Mexico border. Clearly, these lines are detrimental to the livelihood of frequent border crossers and individuals that reside in border communities.
As your constituent, I respectfully ask for your leadership in urging your colleagues in Congress to address this important issue.
Sincerely,
*Zip code for U.S. Senate offices is 20510 and for U.S. House of Representatives it is 20515
2 Comments
Would you rather have NO inspections of persons or cargo at the border? Would you prefer we just take everyones’ word as to who they are? Maybe we should just open the border and wave everyone through. Using ID (such as a Drivers License) to input in the system to check for any information that can preclude a person is a critical mission. These checks keep hundreds of criminals, terrorists, absconders and various other violators from entering the country or they are taken in to custody to be put in the legal system.
I agree using the DL is not the best ID to use but until we get serious about a “better” ID we (the border agencies) must use what is presented.
will alcogdones mexico, require a passport, to cross the border in january 08?????
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The BTA reserves the right to post comments it feels are appropriate to creating a dialog around border issues. We are interested in hearing from all points of view and encourage those with unique, constructive perspectives to contribute their view points to help shape the future of our borders. BTA is a tri-national organization and will not accept posts that contain derogatory comments made towards citizens, groups, or organizations of any kind.