[Infowarrior] - Passport requirement to re-enter country temporarily suspended

[Richard Forno]

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Passport requirement to re-enter country temporarily suspended
By Michael Hampton
Posted: June 9, 2007 3:31 am
http://www.homelandstupidity.us/2007/06/09/passport-requirement-to-re-enter-
country-temporarily-suspended/

The State and Homeland Security Departments announced Friday that the
government would suspend a rule requiring Americans to have passports in
order to re-enter the country from Canada, Mexico and certain Caribbean
islands which went into effect earlier this year due to a months-long
backlog of passport applications.

³The federal government is making this accommodation for air travel due to
longer than expected processing times for passport applications in the face
of record-breaking demand,² the State Department said in a news release.

The regulation, which went into effect January 23, requires U.S. citizens
traveling by air to show a passport or alternative proof of citizenship in
order to re-enter the country from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean, as part
of the government¹s Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. In 2008, the
requirement will apply to all travel, including land border crossings.

Under the new, temporary procedures, which the government said would last
through September 30, citizens can present a government-issued photo ID and
proof of passport application when re-entering the country. Children under
16 would not need an ID, but still need proof of passport application.

An unnamed government official told the New York Times that persons
traveling under this procedure ³should expect . . . additional security.²

    With toll-free phone lines overloaded, travelers have thronged the 14
passport offices, seeking scarce appointments to plead their cases in
person. The agency here, among others, has created teams to expedite cases
with imminent deadlines. Some travelers said they could not apply for visas
without passports. . . .

    Some people said they had seen scant flexibility. Tonya Elliott, of
Orlando, Fla., said when she and her twin, Seana Mincy, tried to apply for a
passport in April for Ms. Mincy¹s 3-year-old, Brendan, for a trip to Canada
on June 19, a federal court clerk told them that they would not have it in
time and to wait until June 5 to call for an appointment.

    They could not get through on the phone, Ms. Elliott said, and drove
four hours on Thursday to the Miami agency, where, after a day in line, they
were offered an appointment after their scheduled departure. When they
protested, she said, they were threatened with arrest, adding, ³We were
treated horribly.² ‹ New York Times

Sounds like good government to me. Make people wait in line, give them no
service, and threaten them if they don¹t like it.

    The backlog has caused up to three-month delays in issuing passports and
ruined or delayed the travel plans of thousands.

    Lawmakers besieged with constituent complaints have demanded relief.

    Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.), whose district lies near the Canadian
border, said White House officials have been on Capitol Hill trying to work
out a compromise amid what he called a turf war between State and Homeland
Security. ‹ Associated Press

In related news, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has introduced legislation
which would delay the requirement for citizens to present a passport or
other secure biometric document until the Department of Homeland Security
completes and evaluates the results of a pilot program with Washington State
testing biometric driver licenses as border-crossing documents.

This is what ³homeland security² means in Washington, D.C. It means you are
going to be identified, numbered, and tracked. When the government screws
up, which it almost always will, you will be punished for it. And for all
this trouble, you¹ll be no safer at all.