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SAULT STE. MARIE - Traveling to and from the United States will be tougher in the near future as the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative is set to go into place officially on Jan. 1, 2008.
The WHTI calls for a more secure system of identification at all border crossings in the United States. No longer will a passport or driver's license guarantee entry into the country.
As co-chair of the Northern Border Caucus, Congressman Bart Stupak attended a town hall meeting on the campus of Lake Superior State University on Tuesday, Jan. 24 sponsored by LSSU's Students in Free Enterprise to diffuse some of the confusion following the passage of the bill.
According to Stupak, the difficulty that lies ahead for the WHTI is for those involved to come to a consensus on what additional documentation will be need to enter the country. Currently, eight items are being discussed, from a credit card sized passport to a universal driver's license with biometric encryption.
What Stupak said he does not want to see is the possibility of all eight documents being used.
"Creating eight different documents makes this less secure," he said. "Everyone is waiting for the Federal government to say, 'This is what it is going to be.' We need to make a decision, get a system and stick with that system."
With the additional documentation being required comes additional cost for implementation said Stupak, a cost that he said he does not want to see passed onto the consumer.
"At our side of the border we are slow at implementing technology," he said. "The money never makes it out of Washington."
Currently a passport costs approximately $100 per person. If the WHTI utilizes passports as the supporting document, every person would be required to have one, even children.
While the southern border with Mexico is more of a target for this program, it is expected to be implemented universally across the country, on schedule.
"Our northern border is not necessarily a problem," said Stupak. "But everything has changed because of 9/11. Knowing the current administration, once the President makes up his mind he doesn't change it."
Another issue facing the WHTI is making the program user-friendly enough not to deter business and tourism to and from other countries.
Prior to the passage of WHTI, no financial impact study was ever completed. Since that time casual visitors have dropped off by 25 percent said Stupak. Casual visitors are defined as those who go across the border for dinner, movies or shopping.
"This is having a huge financial impact," said Stupak. "This is critical for us who are border communities."
As part of the WHTI's implementation, a public relations campaign will be set in force to educate citizens about the requirements.
"If we do settle on a passport-like document, we will have to re-educate an entire generation," said Stupak. "We were always told not to carry it with us and taught to lock it up. There will be a lot of calls when this goes into effect. No longer will officials be able to call the embassy and vouch for people. Everything has tightened up."
