As AP reports, the inspections were conducted from February to June of this year. During this time, 18 investigators from the Government Accountability Office successfully passed through border checkpoints nine times in California, Texas, Michigan, Idaho, Washington state, Arizona, and New York. The border guards failed to recognize the counterfeit IDs, and twice did not check documents at all. 'Such a border vulnerability potentially allows terrorists or other criminal elements to freely enter the United States from Canada or Mexico with little or no risk of being detected,' said a statement from the Government Accountability Office, which is the investigative arm of Congress.
Commenting on the identified errors of the employees of his agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesman Jarrod Agen said that border checkpoint workers are trained to detect fake birth certificates, driver's licenses, and other documents, but sometimes they are unable to recognize the more than eight thousand different types of IDs accepted in the United States without causing significant traffic congestion at the border. According to Agen, the Department plans to overcome the resulting problems in the work of border guards by reducing the number of documents allowed for entry into the United States to passports and a small number of secure identification cards.
Currently, the deadline for resolving this issue, originally raised by the 9/11 Commission, is set for December 31, 2007. However, according to the agency, Congress intends to extend the existing provisions under pressure from authorities in states bordering Canada, who fear that the new rules will hinder commercial and tourism ties between the two countries.
The Government Accountability Office had conducted similar inspections in 2003 and 2004. At that time, undercover investigators managed to enter the country on fake documents at least 15 times, although three of them were detained by border guards.