WASHINGTON — New border-crossing rules that take effect in two weeks will mean longer lines and stiffer demands for identification, including for returning Americans, 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. More than 800,000 people enter the U.S. through land and sea ports each day.
“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 in an interview.
The biggest effect of the change will be at the Canadian border because 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.
His department has proved incapable of implementing a 2004 law on border security, and Chertoff “frankly has as much credibility on telling people to ‘grow up’ as Geoffrey the Giraffe,” said Rep. Tom Reynolds, a Republican from the Buffalo, N.Y., area.
Added Sen. Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican: “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.”
Sen. Patrick Leahy, Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the move does nothing to enhance security and will only hurt the economy.
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.”
Starting Jan. 31, you will need to have a passport or similarly secure document, or a combination of two other documents, to cross the U.S.-Canadian border.
Single-document option:
• U.S. or Canadian passport
• U.S. passcard (these won’t be available until spring)
• So-called “trusted traveler card,” which includes NEXUS, SENTRI and FAST cards
• State- or province-issued “enhanced” driver’s license
• U.S. military ID with travel orders
• U.S. merchant mariner document
• Native American Tribal Photo ID card, Form I-872 American Indian Card, or Indian and Northern Affairs Canada Card
Two-document option:
Border crossers can present a driver’s license or ID card, or a U.S. or Canadian ID card, along with one of the following:
• Birth certificate
• U.S. Consular report of birth abroad
• U.S. Certificate of Naturalization
• U.S. Certificate of Citizenship
• U.S. Citizen Identification Card
• Canadian citizenship card
• Canadian certificate of citizenship without photo
18 and under:
U.S. and Canadian citizens ages 18 and under need a birth certificate issued by a government authority.
Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security
