Dec 21, 2007
Saved by the bell! Congress postpones a passport requirement for cruise passengers and motorists until June, 2009
Just when everything appeared lost, and a passport requirement was about to become universal early next year, Congresswoman Louis Slaughter, of upstate New York (Niagara Falls, Buffalo, Rochester) slipped a passport-delay measure into one of those massive spending bills that no one in the House or Senate ever takes time to read. It puts off the effective date of the Department of Homeland Security’s new passport requirement for people traveling by land or cruiseship into the United States, until June, 2009. Let me repeat that: 2009.
In a phone call I made this morning to Congresswoman Slaughter's Washington, D.C. office, I was told that the legislation has also passed the Senate and will now go to the President for signature. No veto is threatened. So it looks like all those border-crossers have been reprieved. They will continue to need two items of paper identification: a government-issued I.D., like a driver's license; and a certified copy of their birth certificate. But they will not need one of those $100-per-person passports.
Persons flying into the United States from anywhere will continue to need passports. But the legislation puts off the date for persons driving back and forth between the U.S. and Canada/Mexico or returning here by cruiseship. As you can imagine, border merchants (souvenir shops, clothing stores, what have you) in Representative Slaughter's district were absolutely aghast at the need to require passports for many of their customers and people passing through.
This is all good news. The passport requirement really did nothing to protect us from terrorists. Terrorists will always know how to obtain or steal a passport; or else they are already within our borders. This was simply one of those cosmetic measures that created untold hardships for multitudes of people and injured the economy. If the word from Congresswoman Slaughter’s office is correct, that danger has now been averted for around 18 months.
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In a phone call I made this morning to Congresswoman Slaughter's Washington, D.C. office, I was told that the legislation has also passed the Senate and will now go to the President for signature. No veto is threatened. So it looks like all those border-crossers have been reprieved. They will continue to need two items of paper identification: a government-issued I.D., like a driver's license; and a certified copy of their birth certificate. But they will not need one of those $100-per-person passports.
Persons flying into the United States from anywhere will continue to need passports. But the legislation puts off the date for persons driving back and forth between the U.S. and Canada/Mexico or returning here by cruiseship. As you can imagine, border merchants (souvenir shops, clothing stores, what have you) in Representative Slaughter's district were absolutely aghast at the need to require passports for many of their customers and people passing through.
This is all good news. The passport requirement really did nothing to protect us from terrorists. Terrorists will always know how to obtain or steal a passport; or else they are already within our borders. This was simply one of those cosmetic measures that created untold hardships for multitudes of people and injured the economy. If the word from Congresswoman Slaughter’s office is correct, that danger has now been averted for around 18 months.
Write and read comments about this post.
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
