Get Yer Passports Out!

[dr_mabeuse]

Starting next year, Americans vacationing in the Caribbean and S. America will have to show passports to get back into the USA.

The year after that, you'll have to show your passport when you fly back into the States from Canada or Mexico, and the following year (2007) you'll need your passport even to drive over the border.

All in the name of security, of course.

Better get your passport now, before they start tightening down on who can get one.

---dr.M.

 

[rgraham666]

Well, if Americans did a lot of traveling they would find out that the rest of the world is actually filled with people, rather than agents of Satan.

Can't have that now, can we?

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I'm waiting for my passport to go to and from another state.

 

[china-doll]

Notice to all terrorists:

You have until 2007 to enter the USA without a passport through one of the border stations. After that you will have to enter through one of the other 40 thousand holes in the border. See your local immagrant smuggler for details.





So we're doing this for security reasons, but we're putting a 2 year delay on it? Top notch national security we've got going here.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

So we're doing this for security reasons, but we're putting a 2 year delay on it? Top notch national security we've got going here.

There is all that paperwork to do first, and designing the border patrol logo.

 

[dreampilot79]

Notice to all pilots....

Last year you had to turn in your old blue paper pilot's license for brand new plastic ones with all that neat lithography...

This year you have to turn in the new one for one with yer picture on it... maybe... cept the FAA can't figure out how to put yer picture on it... so when they do... be ready!!!!

Note... the feds ain't even as smart as yer state license bureau....

 

[elsol]

So there's a problem with someone coming from a 'FOREIGN' country having to have documentation to prove they belong here?

So let me guess... we're SUPPOSSED to say 'Well... if you're coming in from this country, PASSPORT... but Canada is Canada... no PASSPORT.'

I don't know that sounds like another evil, profiling.

Good, if you're coming back from ANY foreign country, PASSPORT.

It sounds like a more reasonable law than classifying certain countries as 'Vacation' spots.

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[Annastasia]

As much as I go to Canada, I'm NOT looking forward to this. However, we can get all the passports we want but will that stop the border guards from falling asleep in the booths when you cross at 2am? I've had that more than once.

 

[Liar]

Starting next year, Americans vacationing in the Caribbean and S. America will have to show passports to get back into the USA.

I don't get it. Does this mean that today, I can just claim I'm american and get in, without actual proof? I thought tht was what a passport was all about - verification of citizenship.

 

[hmmnmm]

I feel so much better, uh, protected, now.
I glance at the headlines on Yahoo but rarely read them; just can't handle most of it (maybe they know that). When I saw that about the tightening of border security or however they worded it, something stirred within, "why does that bug me?" I almost read it, but it was a rare day of happiness.
But it is clear now, that stirring bug was unfounded and it warms my heart to know that I can rest in the arms of security - at least in a few years.
Looks like another good day to jerk off.

 

[yui]

I don't get it. Does this mean that today, I can just claim I'm american and get in, without actual proof? I thought tht was what a passport was all about - verification of citizenship.

US citizens do not need a passport or visa for limited stays but must show proof of citizenship.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

I don't get it. Does this mean that today, I can just claim I'm american and get in, without actual proof? I thought tht was what a passport was all about - verification of citizenship.

My thoughts exactly.

Don't you need a passport to get out in the first place?

 

[yui]

My thoughts exactly.

Don't you need a passport to get out in the first place?

No, U.S. citizens must only present proof of citizenship and photo identification. U.S. citizenship documents such as a certified copy of a U.S. birth certificate, a Naturalization Certificate, a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, or a Certificate of Citizenship work, but a passport is recommended.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Doesn't that sort of thing depend on which country you're travelling to? I remember a couple of years ago when Brazil made all Americans go through a finger-print registration process to allow them out of the airport.

 

[yui]

Doesn't that sort of thing depend on which country you're travelling to? I remember a couple of years ago when Brazil made all Americans go through a finger-print registration process to allow them out of the airport.

Yes, of course it matters! Americans have the same constraints regarding passports and visas as any other nationality, with certain exceptions. Sorry, I thought we were talking about the Caribbean, Canada, and Mexico.

 

[Belegon]

I live only a few freeway exits away from Mexico. Generally speaking, we never show anything at the border. Even post-911, most of the attention at the San Ysidro border crossing is about illegal immigration and drugs.

Things have gotten a little tighter in recent years...when I was 18-20 we would go to Tijuana to party, as the drinking age in Mexico is 18. I spent many nights down there and then crossing back into the US with at most a question, " What is your citizenship?" or maybe "Where were you born?" A mexican-american or other latino with us would have to pass a little more scrutiny, but not that much.

On occassion we now have to show a Driver's License. And since one the reasons we go there now is for good tequila and lower prices on good scotch, we may have to show we are over 21 (not me, the gray in the beard serves some purpose I guess.)

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

People have been passing back and forth across the US - Canada Border with a minimum of hassles since 1815 and (with only a brief period of resort to arms) before that.

It has just been announced that next year, Canadian citizens will be required to carry passports while travelling in the United States.

Requiring an American passport for US citizens, will not only deter those nasty Canadians (the ones not obviously of an inferior colour) from crossing under the pretext of being Americans.

In case Canada reciprocates and demands American passports be carried by US citizens, it will save embarrassment if they already have the necessary paperwork in play.

With luck, in three years I will qualify for one of those Canadian passports, and may then, more easily travel to another country for a visit. The more news from my old home that I read, the less likely it becomes that any early trips will be to my hometown, state, or country of origin.


PS. I have recently found the necessary file to change my word processor over to correct for Canadian spellings. Please note “colour” written above, in the proper Canadian-English fashion. In the future, I would appreciate anyone who calls me on any American “errors” in my posts or stories.

In three years, I hope to be spelling like a proper Canadian.

 

[tolyk]

Starting next year, Americans vacationing in the Caribbean and S. America will have to show passports to get back into the USA.

The year after that, you'll have to show your passport when you fly back into the States from Canada or Mexico, and the following year (2007) you'll need your passport even to drive over the border.

All in the name of security, of course.

Better get your passport now, before they start tightening down on who can get one.

---dr.M.

Insane isn't it?

 

[Op_Cit]

People don't realize that walls work equally well both ways. They're working as fast as they can to imprison us all.

And when, oh when will people finally wise up and stop calling it the "land of the free"? Requiring papers does not make you free: it makes going about your own business a privilege granted to you by the government. (Remember another USSC landmark case last year allows cops to demand identification papers anywhere/anytime of anyone in the US.)

(And didn't mom say, "just because europeans jump off a bridge doesn't mean you have to...")

 

[LadyJeanne]

Eh, I dunno. What's the big deal? I always take my passport with me when I travel. I like the little stamps they put on it at the port (airport) of entry.

I'm far more concerned about the government looking into people's medical records and book-buying habits than I am about showing proof of citizenship of one kind or another to get back into the US.

Why the angst about passports?

 

[impressive]

Why the angst about passports?

I'm kinda of the same mind here. A border's a border. I'd rather see consistency for all foreign travel than having different standards for different countries.

 

[Op_Cit]

I'm kinda of the same mind here. A border's a border. I'd rather see consistency for all foreign travel than having different standards for different countries.

The big deal is that these measures do not solve any problems. They only hassle the populace and the peace abiding, while not hindering anybody really out to do fraud or harm.

I (as an american) lived and worked in southeast asia for a time. With no work visa. In one of the most restricted countries in the world. I had a friend that lived and worked in Europe for over ten years in the same situation.

Asia hates americans as far as visiting/working goes (stealing their jobs)--they give us the shortest visiting visas. But it was only a minor hassle to get around the restriction (go out and in every thirty days for a new stamp).

Do you think the PP requirement will stop anything bad from getting into the country?

Also note: They want to add RFID chips to the new passports. These can be scanned from a distance. That means when you are visiting the pyramids in Egypt the terrorists (or for profit kidnappers in Columbia) can identify the americans from a distance, pick them out of a crowd... Feel safer?

 

[impressive]

The big deal is that these measures do not solve any problems. They only hassle the populace and the peace abiding, while not hindering anybody really out to do fraud or harm.

I (as an american) lived and worked in southeast asia for a time. With no work visa. In one of the most restricted countries in the world. I had a friend that lived and worked in Europe for over ten years in the same situation.

Asia hates americans as far as visiting/working goes (stealing their jobs)--they give us the shortest visiting visas. But it was only a minor hassle to get around the restriction (go out and in every thirty days for a new stamp).

Do you think the PP requirement will stop anything bad from getting into the country?

Also note: They want to add RFID chips to the new passports. These can be scanned from a distance. That means when you are visiting the pyramids in Egypt the terrorists (or for profit kidnappers in Columbia) can identify the americans from a distance, pick them out of a crowd... Feel safer?

I wasn't advocating for the PP restriction -- just for consistency. Do it one way for all countries -- or don't do it at all.

 

[china-doll]

I'm kinda of the same mind here. A border's a border. I'd rather see consistency for all foreign travel than having different standards for different countries.

I feel the same. The passport requirements should be consistant. What is the point to having tighter requirements for certain countries in an attempt to keep terrorists out, but allow them right on in simply by making a connection thru Quebec.

My ammusement at this whole thing is the timeframe. It has been almost 4 years since 9/11 and we're just now getting around to new "Security Measures"? But to top it off, the new restrictions won't take place for another 2 years.

Glad to see the government is right on top of these things.

 

[Op_Cit]

I wasn't advocating for the PP restriction -- just for consistency. Do it one way for all countries -- or don't do it at all.

OK, but think about that statement.

It sounds like you're stepping away from the base issue and instead accepting the justness of a different principle: consistency.

I'm not trying to inflame here, but a tool of philosophical analysis is to apply that to other contexts:

Would forced segregation have been ok if every ethnic and religious background was sectioned off?

Clearly consistency has nothing to do with the fundamental right or wrong of an action.

Apply the passport issue to it's ultimate conclusion: Someone guards your front door and asks to see your papers every time you enter or leave your home. At every street corner, entering every establishment, every city, county, state,...

Initially it may apeal to some. But then what happens when you want your friend Jake to run in and get your car keys? A small fire in your livingroom is seen by your neighboor through the window, but in the time it takes for the fire truck to arrive it is out of control...

But then there are those that think it will never get to that point. Just like there were those who insisted we would never get to the moon. They forget that technology makes it easy. (Some schools are already issuing RFID IDs to students.)

(Vernor Vinge explored the macro social effects of ubiquitous security systems in his book "A Deepness in the Sky" --or was it "A Fire Upon the Deep", well one of those.)