Currently, US citizens returning from a trip within the Western Hemisphere are not required to present a passport. To cross the border, they only need to show a driver's license or birth certificate. Similar privileges are currently also provided for citizens of Canada, Bermuda, and certain categories of Mexicans. For example, Mexican citizens who frequently travel to the US have special border crossing cards and may use other forms of identification, such as driver's licenses.
According to US Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, using the passport as the sole identity document will significantly ease the passport control process for both passengers and border officials. 'There are currently about 8,000 state and local agencies in the US that issue birth certificates and driver's licenses. The need to detect forgeries among such a large number of documents made in different formats places an unbearable burden on the shoulders of US Customs and Border Protection officers,' Chertoff believes.
According to him, exceptions will be made for those who frequently cross the US-Canada border, for US military personnel returning from duty, and for merchant mariners. Starting January 2008, the new rules are planned to be extended to those entering the US through land border crossings and seaports.
Meanwhile, currently only a quarter of US citizens have a passport. Some Americans are deterred from obtaining this document by the cost - it is $97. Given that driver's licenses are widely used as identification within the US, there were few willing to part with that amount.
The 9/11 Commission also recommended tightening passport control at the border. 'Documents are as important to terrorists as weapons,' the commission's report emphasized. The US Congress passed a law back in 2004 making the passport the sole identity document for passengers arriving in the US, but the date for implementing this requirement had not yet been set.
At the same time, Canadian authorities and some members of Congress from border states expressed concerns that tightening the passport regime could negatively affect tourism and trade. According to Chertoff, as of September 2006, his department's data showed that 90% of passengers arriving in the US from Canadian airports had passports, 69% of Americans flying to Canada, 58% of US citizens traveling to Mexico, and 75% of those heading to other Caribbean countries.
Based on materials from RIA Novosti.