New Passport Cards Required by 2008

[TheLegacy]

A U.S. proposal to require passports from everyone crossing the Canada-U.S. border has been scrapped in favour of a new security card.

The so-called PASS (People Access Security Service) card is the size of a credit card, costs half of what a passport would, and will contain a special ID that could be read metres away at border crossings, according to administration officials.

It’ll be required by Jan. 1, 2008, from all Americans, Canadians and Mexicans arriving in the United States over land.

"We're talking about, essentially, the kind of driver's licence or other simple card identification that almost all of us carry in our wallets day in and day out," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

"This new People Access Security Service, or PASS system card, will be particularly useful for those citizens in border communities who regularly cross northern and southern borders every day as an integral part of their daily lives."


http://www.pulse24.com/News/Top_Story/20060118-004/page.asp

[MorganGrayson]

Ah...opinions on this abound.

We're going to require passports at airports and seaports from *Canadians.* I haven't noticed a big "undocumented immigrant" (we're not supposed to say "illegal alien" anymore) problem with Canadians. We haven't been subjected to roving bands of polite people, at least not that I've noticed.

We have, however, bowed (read that as "knuckled under") to pressure from Mexico and Latino groups to prevent doing much about the "undocumented immigrant" problem coming from the south.

So, if we can't solve one problem, let's manufacture another one and throw money at it to solve it.

We're coming perilously close to the old "show me your papers" of war movies and nobody seems to mind.

I don't think I'd be comfortable carrying anything that could be read from meters away. That's just a little...spooky.

The US has always had an "open border" policy. We've always been rather proud of that. OK, that has proven to be a problem...but it's a problem because there's a complete breakdown of policies that *already exist.* A lot of people are running around the US with visas that expired years ago...and nobody did anything about it. They were supposed to. The US Border Patrol is a total joke. They've been rendered impotent.

We have to protect ourselves. That's true. Maybe someday somebody will think of a good way to do it. This takes away another one of the freedoms on which this country was based and they're just sliding it in under the radar by saying "oh, no problem, it's just like a driver's license."

And..."arriving over land"? What does that mean?