Congressman Sandy Levin : Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative
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Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative
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On September 1, the State Department and Department of Homeland Security released draft regulations for the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. These proposed rules require all U.S. citizens and foreign nationals to present a passport or combination of documents denoting both citizenship and identity when entering the U.S. from Canada, beginning in 2008. Currently, U.S. citizens and some other Western Hemisphere countries – Canada, for example – are not required to show such a document.

While there is broad agreement that security along U.S. borders needs to be tightened, it is important to do this in the least disruptive and most cost-effective manner. There is a great deal of concern that WHTI could lead to significant problems at the Detroit-Windsor crossing and other land borders where most US and Canadian citizens are accustomed to crossing with a birth certificate or drivers license.

Rep. Levin and other Members of Congress from Michigan have written to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to call for a cost-benefit analysis of this proposal and its impact on U.S. citizens and the economy.

Michigan Delegation Letter to OMB