WASHINGTON – In a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff, Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Menominee) and John Sweeney (R-NY), as Co-Chairs of the Northern Border Caucus (NBC), questioned the department’s plan on implementing a portion of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 regarding Western Hemisphere travelers.

“The border communities in Michigan will be greatly affected by this plan because it requires that by 2008 every person crossing into Canada via a land border port must have a passport or other secured document or combination of documents,” Stupak said. “The cost of a passport is an added strain on the budgets of those commuting cross border in addition to the fact that people simply don’t carry their passports the way they do a driver’s license. I’d like to know exactly what considerations DHS will make to ensure trade and travel are not hindered.”

The letter, submitted by 20 Members of Congress, asked detailed questions about the three phases of the Western Hemisphere Traveler Initiative. Questions include information about DHS’s preparedness, potential accommodations, and plans to educate travelers. Answers most important to U.S. residents regularly commuting to Canada will be DHS’s willingness to accept traveler program registration cards currently in place such as, SENTRI, NEXUS and FAST, or other secured documents, and cost and convenience concessions DHS is willing to make. 

“While I support efforts to strengthen border security, the Department of Homeland Security must have a strategic plan in place to ensure that documents used to enter the U.S. are secure and at the same time be mindful of its effects on cross-border trade and travel,” Stupak said.  “I want to know that commuters, businesses and travelers will not be terribly inconvenienced and I want to know that the department is still on course to meet the security timetable requirements. It’s important to border security but it’s also important to my constituents.”

Phase I would require passports of citizens of the U.S., Canada and Bermuda traveling by air or sea from the Caribbean, and Central and South America by December 31^st of this year.  Exactly one year later, Phase II would require passports of those traveling to the U.S. by air or sea from anywhere in the Western Hemisphere, including Canada and Mexico. Phase III will be implemented by January 1, 2008 and will require a passport at every port of entry into the U.S.

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