Feds May Suspend Border Passport Rule

Source: Associated Press

Feds May Suspend Border Passport Rule

By MATTHEW LEE and DEVLIN BARRETT
Thursday, June 7, 2007; 4:51 PM

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration may suspend a major post-
9/11 security initiative to cope with increasingly angry complaints from
Americans whose summer vacations are threatened by new passport
rules.

A proposal under consideration would temporarily waive a requirement
that U.S. passports be used for air travel to and from Canada and
Mexico, provided the traveler can prove he or she has applied for a
passport, officials said Thursday.

The proposed six-month suspension in the rules is aimed at clearing
a massive backlog of passport applications at the State Department
that has slowed processing to a crawl, they said.

But the plan has run into opposition from the Homeland Security
Department, which controls U.S. border points and fears the move
could make it easier for terrorists or other undesirables to enter
the country, the officials said.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/07/AR2007060701596.html

all over the place.

These officials are dumber than rocks.

Apparently, each of our (dumbass) GA senators has received hundreds of emergency passport requests in the past few months. The increase in the requests has been exponential. The public is angry.

I wonder what the rules will be for Carribbean and Bahamian travel via plane and cruise ship?

Homeland Security just didn't wanna listen.

...I went from Detroit to border crossings at: Port Huron, Michigan/Sarnia, Ontario to Niagara Falls, Ontario/Niagara Falls, New York to Calais/Maine into New Brunswick, and eventually back to Sarnia, Ontario to re-enter the U.S.A.

...and seriously, I should shut up. We were traveling by land through Canada, where we didn't exactly NEED the passports, but frankly, with all the hullabuloo, we felt better with them in hand. We applied for/got them in three weeks, but we paid massive expedition fees to do so. That completely stuck in my craw - as far as I'm concerned, every U.S. citizen should get passports WHEN THEY WANT THEM, period.

Anyway, this is really interesting; they've backed up the system to the Nth degree by declaring half of North America "passport only" then have the gall to wonder, "why are we so inundated with passport applications?"

I should point out: I live in Detroit. Michiganians from all walks of life have passed into Canada with only a driver's license and birth certificate in all of my former years, without much question. Now, with this particular adminstration, post-911, we need to answer 50 questions or bear the wrath of border agents from Canada. So the Passport just smooths things along. I think you get the picture; this Administration had no EARTHLY idea of how many people cross North American borders in general, and now they're completely surprised?

What a wake up call for 'em. Not that I sympathize with them in the least...

on edit: punctuation

complain too much and tourism might suffer. Then we'll temporarily waive our urgent need for security, as long as you can prove to us you're jumping through the right hoops."
(Spokesperson checks Inbox and Voicemail...)
"Oh, I'm SO sorry, our Security guys say this idea is no good either. Some of the hoop-jumpers Might Be Terrorists. So...You're going to have to have those passports after all. No passport, no vacation for you."

Sounds like a real-life game of Monopoly: "Go to Jail, go directly to Jail; do not pass "Go", do not collect $200."

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

there would be a problem letting Americans back into the country. especially if they can show drivers licenses and birth certificates, the way they did before 9/11. i'd be angry too if i got stuck in mexico and prevented from coming home as a result of some stupid rule.

Inquiring minds want to know.

Or if it's a trait we share with the rest of the world?

has caught a lot of people off guard.

I got it sooner, but that was what they estimated. I don't know, I guess I'm weird, but I expected there would be a rush and things would get bogged down if I waited too close to when I needed it.

Everything is designed to control and intimidate the average American--trying to take a vacation, traveling for work. We take off our shoes, carry tiny bottles of shampoo, and now rush to get passports to travel to Mexico or Canada. Naturally, they didn't publicize the passport requirement well (that would take a brain) or get enough staff on board to process a flood of passport requests.

:banghead:

"security" protocals, like, you have to sign a paper and get a tag from the lottle old lady sitting inside the school front door.

Meanwhile, all the parents that we know perfectly well are abused, and there's nothing at all stopping anyone from jumping in a screenless window on the first floor.

And even if a terrorist decided an elementary school was a good target in the first place, which is ridiculous, it would take a swat team to stop them, not a little old lady with a clipboard.

Hell, what on earth would the principal be able to do if anyone arrived with an assault rifle?

The killing spree would be over before any real law inforcement could arrive.

So, we control the parents, and that gives us a false sense of security.

It's all nuts.

You can get a passport at almost any gas station for around twenty bucks.
Remember Saudi Arabia?
The place where the terrorists REALLY came from.
As I remember, none of them came through Canada or Mexico. Then again
Iraq had nothing to do with 911.

Also.....My son lives in Toronto. I live in Vermont.
I may not be able to visit my son this summer because
I'm waiting on my fucking passport.
So much for "family values" republicans.
Really....what do I do? The canadians dint give a shit about a passport
so they'll let me in no problem. As welcoming and friendly as ever.
What happens when I come home? If I dint have the proper papers
am I destined to be stuck in some limbo land between the borders??
Then again, if that happens maybe the Canadians will allow me
to apply for political asylum and I can finally leave this
fucked up country.
America...love it or leave it? If only someone else would take me.

Your freedom to travel, freedom to get a job, freedom to open a bank account, freedom to access government services...

Is this East Germany yet?

...we're not strong enough in women's shotput. :P

I applied to have my passport renewed on March 22. At that time they said six weeks under normal processing. Fine.

On April 6, they cashed my check. (By the way, with typical Republican ideological idiocy, processing the checks has been outsourced to an (unnamed) private sector bank.)

The phone inquiry line won't take your call unless you're traveling within two weeks, and even then, you have to use Stupid Phone Tricks to even get into the queue to be put on hold. Otherwise the phone system kicks you off.

The e-mail inquiry system sends you a form letter with a link that refers back to itself.

I've gone through my Senator, but all I'm getting is assurances that it will be here by the day before I leave for England on the 19th--most likely.

I sent my application in before 3/15. The check cleared before the end of March. My passport hasn't come yet, but I've got another month.

I've sent in applications for my dh and my two kids, who are crossing into Canada this summer. They've cashed all three checks which I assumed was a good sign. Apparently not.

So... guess I'll wait until early July to start calling. Sigh.

Unfortunately, I'm supposed to go to England on the 19th. ;(

things unless they are needed for emergency. Turn a deaf ear to pleas of corporations. I think we might start seeing a bit more respect for Joe Public.It would be hard at first to stick with it but would pay off before long. I am tired of being pushed around by incompetent officials and businesses. Don't spend for awhile and see what happens. We still have power--let the wealthy do the spending.

Did a stewardess not bring Georgie a pillow fast enough in the good old days?

I was born in El Paso and everyone went back and forth between Juarez all the time. In fact, when I was little I couldn't understand why the time was different. El Paso is on MST and Juarez is on CST.

Border towns cross back and forth all the time, it is just the local economy. In some spots, you HAVE to cross the border to get the daily essentials as the closest spot is just across the border.

I'm in Detroit, and Windsor, Ontario is ten minutes away - most of us have gone there for entertainment, food, etc., for most of our lives. It's like I said in an earlier post; I am certain that this administration had NO idea how common and routine border crossings are to people who live within range of them.

A little ancedote: we were driving in eastern Maine, near the border crossing to New Brunswick (Calais). We were following a truck that left a restaurant in Maine, about 20 miles out of Calais, with New Brunswick plates. He went home over the border crossing. So that particular New Brunswick-ian has a fondness for that restaurant in Maine. It happens.

The funnier part was watching the absolute lineup of people at that small little border crossing. Our gas is still WAY cheaper than theirs. Half of the bordering New Brunswick folks had come into Maine to fill up their tank, so our crossing took a lot longer than expected. :-)

Can't board the Montreal>New york Amtrak without producing a passport beforehand.

Took it 3 weeks ago, returning from the International Conference on Computers, Freedom, and Privacy http://cfp.org (Next year in New Haven. Highly recommended.)

At the border, 3 Immigration/customs guys approached. "Well Mr. Masel, you've got quite an interesting history. TODAY, we're not interested in the politics. We notice however, youve been arrested for marijuana possession 7 times."

"Eight. but none led to convictions."

"We noticed that too. We'll be needing to search your bags. Please take them to the cafe car. If there's nothing there that shouldn't be, you're on your way."

Overhearing their grilling of other passengers in the cafe car, I learned that they're not just running passengers in Fed databases, but Google as well.

The Drug War Chronicle says hello from the High Plains.

...and are overwhelmed with passport requests, what moron didn't see that coming!?

They also chose this year to OUTSOURCE the processing of passport fees.

:eyes:

at the Post Office. I wasn't gonna write a check that had to clear anything privatized.

It worked out for us; we got our passports three weeks from application. We did pay the expedite fees, and we had an imminent trip planned, but it all worked out. :shrug:

anything that comes from this current administration. Oh for christsakes its even easier to cross from TJ to San Diego. Hell they do not even run our fancy 'star wars' Driving Licenses through any computer in front of them, they all act indifferent. Before I became a US citizen, I always took my british passport with me when going to TJ for the day, even though I had a green card back in those days----- because ----- they always asked the question - Country of Birth. I would have been fine just showing my green card, but I always took my passport with me. They have not asked this VERY important questions for years now. But they should..... Country of Birth. It is essential that this question is brought back.
I believe this administration is lying again, I cannot imagine americans causing a fuss on this important detail, especially after 9/11.

Source: ABC News

The Bush administration is poised to suspend a major post-9/11 security initiative to cope with increasingly angry complaints from Americans whose summer vacations are threatened by new passport rules.

A proposal, expected to be announced Friday, will temporarily waive a requirement that U.S. citizens have passports to fly to and from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda, provided the traveler can prove he or she has already applied for a passport, officials said Thursday.

The temporary lifting of the passport rule is aimed at clearing a massive backlog of passport applications at the State Department that has slowed processing to a crawl, they said. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., said the suspension would last until the end of September.

The plan had run into opposition from the Homeland Security Department, which controls U.S. border points and fears the move could make it easier for terrorists or other undesirables to enter the country, the officials said.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=3255995

They have all these swell ideas to "protect" us, but they can't quite bring themselves to, you know, fund them or anything. So when people get understandably upset by their incompetence, they just scrap the program that's supposed to "protect" us.

So, was this really a swell idea, or merely window dressing designed to give the appearance of doing something? And will anyone have the nerve to ask any Republican this pertinent question?

And so it has come to be, because they were too stubborn to ignore those warnings.

and they didn't bother to do so. No excuse for it.

There's also little reason to require passports for travel to these destinations IMHO but that's a different topic.

The 19 hijackers are the ones to blame let's be clear about that but the reason they were able to get on the planes with box cutters and possibly gas masks was because the airlines were put in charge of security. On top of doing it as cheaply as they possibly could they also were clearly more worried about inconveniencing than about security. I got wanded all the time and all I had to say was "Stell toed boots" "Oh please yes sir go right ahead" :shrug: not only did I find it strange that they didn't have any problem with someone wearing steel toed boots onto their plane they didn't even ask me to pull up my pant leg to you know maybe see if there was a gun or something shoved down in my boot.

Seriously.

All those countries put in reciprocal requirements that if their citizens need a passport to enter the US, so do US citizens. Visiting with a drivers license and birth certificate still won't be adequate for entry.

On edit: Never mind, I see. The story says you'll get a receipt from the State Dept.

But, anyone could get an application and make it look like they've sent in the rest.

:shrug:

Go to the State Department website and click on the link for "Check on the Progress of Your Application." (From April 20 until today, mine has said nothing but that my application is in progress.

This morning it said, "Your application is being processed. Your identification number is XXXXXXXXXXXX," as before, but it also gave my name, which it hadn't done before.

According to the article, you'll still have to show a driver's license or other picture ID with your printout.

...the very DAY my passport arrived, the State Department website showed it was still in processing. I'm thinking that website is 1) run by amateurs and 2) is hopelessly behind, considering their backlog. At least I hope so for you, LydiaLeftCoast...

I gained a new disrespect for bureaucracy on this jaunt, I can tell you that. No one knows what's going on... :-(

The kindly post office near me took my original birth certificate, photos, and xeroxes of my driver's license to grant me the audience of the passport people. She told me kindly that she hoped I had a back up copy of the birth certificate, because sometimes they didn't come back.

I love bureaucracy...

Complete with "Big Brother" chip.

I can only imagine the ire of those who actually are trying to make travel plans.

Congrats Bushco! You *officially* can't do ANYTHING right!!

The US, OTOH, has had a truly remarkable reputation for delivering passports within a week... until now. It's a rude awakening.

The Chinese factory that manufactures the embedded passport chip fell behind in it's deliveries, and fouled the whole thing up.

DH and I just got back from a 2-1/2 week trip into Eastern Canada (the Maritimes). We applied for our passports (too late for a 5/19 trip start, it turns out) on April 26. We paid the expedite fee and crossed our fingers that we'd get them in time. We received them May 12 (Big Brother chip included), so 2 weeks, 2 days. I have heard horror stories, though, of how long it's taking. Maybe it depends on the processing center you're working through? For the record, ours was Chicago.

I spend alot of time in Canada on business at present and Canadians start lining up outside the federal building as early as 5am to get to the passport office, the local drunks are doing a brisk business as they will sleep outside the door and then trade their spot in line for a bottle of alcohol.

Fortunately US Customs is being extremely accomodating to the point of ignoring the new rules for Canadians and Americans alike, a US Customs officer at the Calgary airport quipped to me that "this regulation was probably made by one of Newts boys who boasted about not having a passport"

For my part, when I last renewed my passport in 2003 I got it in about ten days,

...I work for a major airline out of San Francisco, with many flights from Canada to Mexico--all with a stop in the good ole USA. Well, I don't know if many of you know this, but in civilised societies, if you're travelling from Country A to Country C with a connection stop in Country B, you only need the document requirements for the country of your final destination--in Country B you're only admitted in transit. You don't have to clear customs in Country B, nor adhere to the passport/visa rules.

Example: You are travelling from San Francisco to Bankok, Thailand, with a stop in Hong Kong. You walk thru the transit area in Hong Kong, you don't have to pick up any check-in luggage nor speak to customs or immigration, you just proceed to your connection flight to Bankok.

In other words, civilised.

In America, however, if you go from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to Vancouver, Canada with a stop here, you're treated to our wonderful customs, immigration, and probably drug dogs sniffing the check-in suitcases you have to schlepp at your connection point. You also must have valid documentation to enter the US--EVEN THOUGH YOU'RE NOT STAYING HERE!

Mexican and Canadian tourists are getting fed-up with this typical ham-fisted-USA-center-of-the-universe-and-you're-all-gonna-try-to-stay-here-unless-we-put-the-screws-to-you bullshit! Charter companies are starting to fly direct from Canada to Mexico and bypassing US airlines, so we're losing business.

I could go on and on about people crying because they didn't get their passports on time for the vacations they've been planning for 100 years, or how suddenly if they fly to Alaska with a stop in Vancouver they now need a passport when last year Canada admitted them in transit (Canadian retaliation for our arrogance, of course!) but I've already been too verbose. My personal take on this is that if the govt makes it harder for Americans to travel to other countries, Americans will just stay here, become more insular and paranoid about "ferners" and make it easier for the system to control them.

I've travelled all my life, got my first passport at 13, spent 5 years living and working in Europe, and it appalls me how incurious and isolated my fellow countrymen can be. The Bushies just want to make that worse!

I hear the Bush administration wants to abolish the visa waiver program next, that will do fucking wonders for the airline and travel industry.

this new passport law is affecting MANY MANY more people than just the travelers! i've heard that jamaica is REALLY hurting bad right now. their spring break was terrible. how many college students have passports?

no tourists? the people are hungry!

What passport? what border? Why did they waste the ink for this story.

so they've started hanging up on people as a remedy.

:eyes:

If you are leaving by car or ship you are still screwed. Do they think the only way people leave this country is to fly?

Neocons take 5 damage.

You don't need a passport to go to Mexico or Canada till January. But then, what about the people who just decided to play it safe and get a passport? A lot of companies require you send in your birth certificate. Now someone is just holding them till they get to your application.Hey guess what? unless you have enough time to get another certified copy of your birth certificate and or drivers license you are not going anywhere. Now lets say you were born in another country and have to get another copy...you are probably screwed. You can't drive out of the country or take any kind of ship without that ID.

As the hijackers came right on in with their Saudi passports and visitor visas, and this rule would have made no difference whatsoever. And two of those hijackers were on the "terrorist watch list."

So the answer is to be scared of Americans returning from neighboring countries. That's the logic of * at work, all right.