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 Travel & Outdoors | January 2008 
New Rules on Canadian, Mexican Borders Mean Longer Lines at First: Chertoff
 Canadian Press
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| | Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff gestures during an Associated Press newsmaker interview, Thursday Jan. 17, 2008, in Washington. (AP/J. David Ake) | | |
Washington - Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says new border-crossing rules will mean longer lines for those entering the United States from Canada and Mexico.
But he says it's necessary to prevent another Sept. 11-style attack, and critics of the effort need to "grow up." Starting Feb. 1, a driver's licence and oral declaration of citizenship will not be enough to enter the United States.
Most people will have to present proof of citizenship, usually in the form of a passport or a birth certificate.
Chertoff predicts there will be longer lines at the border at the beginning of the rule.
Other U.S. officials, however, have indicated there will be some leeway at first, when some flexibility may be shown.
"I'm quite sure that in the initial period of our new system, until people get the message, there will be some delays," Chertoff said Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press.
"I can guarantee if we don't make this change eventually there will come a time when someone will come across the border exploiting the vulnerabilities in the system and some bad stuff will happen and then there'll be another 9-11 commission and we'll have people come saying 'Why didn't we do this?"'
Chertoff bristled at criticism that such extra security may be too inconvenient for those crossing the northern and southern borders.
"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," Chertoff said.
At the same time, the secretary acknowledged his agency will have to push back a deadline for requiring passports - rather than birth certificates - at the borders.
Chertoff has already delayed the rule once, but Congress recently passed legislation delaying the passport requirement until June 2009. |
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