"Brenda Ann" wrote in message
...
Passport Required To Re-Enter U.S.


4/5/2005 11:00 PM
(WROC-TV)

Better have a passport the next time you plan to go to Canada, it'll soon
be
the law.

The Departments of State and Homeland Security announced the "Western
Hemisphere Travel Initiative" today. It will require all U.S. citizens,
Canadians, Mexicans, and citizens of Bermuda to have a passport to enter
or
re-enter the U.S.

Currently Americans only have to show their driver's license or another
government approved ID.

The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act passed last December
by
Congress mandates this change.

Assistant Secretary Of State Maura Harty says, "The Western Hemisphere
Travel Initiative is an important step in protecting homeland security and
DHS and the State Department will use all available resources to implement
this travel initiative by the deadline set forth in law."

Americans will have to display documentation to get back into the U.S., if
traveling by land or sea, by the end of 2005. That expands to all travel
to
the U.S. by 2006.


C'mon folks.. you have known me long enough to know that I am a long ways
from a Left Wingnut (or a Right Wingnut for that matter). This is a
restriction on OUR travel as much as it is for others. We've had open
borders with our neighbors for over a century. This will restrict tourism,
commerce and other things vital to our economy. Do we really want to lose
the right to travel freely between us and our neighboring countries, along
with billions of tourist dollars, just for a bit of security that won't even
be there? Think about it folks.. criminals don't give a damn what the law
is, they just go around it. If someone wants to get in to do us harm,
they'll find a way to do it without going through a checkpoint.. just like
background checks for gun sales doesn't even slow down a criminal who wants
a gun... how many of them do you suppose even buys a gun?