Americans/Canadians need passport to cross each others borders?

I came in at the end of a discussion on the local news last night that in the not to distant future Americans and Canadians will need passports to cross the border. Does anyone know any more about this?

You can read about it here: http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2223.html

I live right on the border near Niagara Falls.  I guess it was supposed to go into effect a while ago, but the businesses are lobbying against it because it will be so detrimental to commerce in our area.  I've heard it's really going to be happening soon though.

I live right on the border near Niagara Falls.  I guess it was supposed to go into effect a while ago, but the businesses are lobbying against it because it will be so detrimental to commerce in our area.  I've heard it's really going to be happening soon though.

The link above is the US Dept of State website and it says it will go into effect December 31, 2007 if you're crossing by land. If you're entering by sea or air then it will be required January 8, 2007.

Well, there is a fine point here, it is required by the US to return to/enter the US.  Canada and Mexico are not changing their rules.

The US/Canada border is one of the most interesting borders in the world.  Personally I don't know why the US just doesn't work with Canada to better understand and share information about entries into their borders.  In fact, Canada is a lot tougher in certain ways then the US on border control.  They are also actively investigating potential terrorists.  I would think instead of making life more difficult for the 99.99999% of those of us who intend no harm, that the figure out better ways to screen for those that are the exception to the rules.

When can we get to the point in the States where I can go through a background check, get a biometric security card and get to and from the gate at the airport quicker?  There must be some kind of grand conspiracy.  They would much rather spend their time making me take my shoes off, checking my toothpaste and keeping my cup of Starbucks Coffee off the plane then finding the people who really mean to do harm.

Well, you know that us Canadians are responsible for letting the 9-11 terrorists into the US, don't you?  in spite of the fact that one of the crossings where they entered the US, was manned at one point, by a  traffic cone.  Heavy security to be sure! 

Maybe this new law will spurn the 80% of Americans who do not have a passport to get one. And who knows, may broaden their horizons.

Maybe this new law will spurn the 80% of Americans who do not have a passport to get one. And who knows, may broaden their horizons.

If only 1% got passports that is nearly 3 million new passport holders! But me personally I suspect Canada will become one of those 'foreign' countries. LOL

Only one thing I can think of that might get broadened...

Well, you know that us Canadians are responsible for letting the 9-11 terrorists into the US, don't you?

Oh, you mean the terrorists that we legally allowed into the country as students, but overstayed their visas?  Yeah, the US has it all worked out...

After posting last night, I found a couple interesting things...  In 2005 there were 660,480,345 airline passengers in the US.  So suppose that there are 100 people a year that would really want to do harm to the US and would run a plane into the ground, that means 99.99998% of people traveling on planes are just normal people.  I am assuming those that cross US borders would be of a similar situation.

The problem is that people who do want to do harm that would cross a border are going to try find ways to be as legitimate as possible.  They are not going to check the box on the I-94 form that says they have been associated with a terrorist group.  So we are going to make life difficult for the rest of us?  On the other hand, showing a government issued ID at a border crossing does make sense, and there are 100's and 100's of currently "valid" IDs.  It is much harder to weed out counterfeits, so condensing this down to passports, at least makes it a little bit better.

I don't really know how it will affect people living in border towns.  We used to pop over to Canada all the time (especially as teenagers, since their legal age was only 19  ).  My brother would ride his bike over because they had better trails.  If you need a passport, I don't know how many people will just drive over for something to do on the weekend or a nice place to shop.  The US dollar has already weakened so much against the Canadian dollar, that there wouldn't be a whole lot of incentive for the casual border-dwelling vistor.  Plus, since crossing the border is becoming so much more "serious" there is a bit of an intimidation/hassle factor.  So, will it make the border safer?  Maybe.  Will it hurt commerce for border cities?  Probably.