In 2004, the U.S. Congress enacted the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, which was designed to reform the intelligence community, as well as address border protection, immigration and visa matters. As a result, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) was created to strengthen all border crossings located in the Western Hemisphere by requiring vetted ID cards validating citizenship and identity. Affected travelers will be those from Bermuda, Canada, Central and South Mexico and the Caribbean. Obstacles have slowed government adoption of the WHTI. For example, many Western Hemisphere travelers are accustomed to presenting a driver's license to declare their citizenship, along with supporting documentation such as a birth certificate to be allowed entry/exit. Since January 2007, citizens of these countries (including the U.S.) have had to present a valid passport, Air Nexus card or U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner document, and in January 2008, U.S. Customs and Border Protection terminated accepting verbal declarations of citizenship from Western Hemisphere citizens.

In March 2008, the U.S. federal government announced that the WHTI final regulations would go into effect in July 2009. Once these requirements are in place, verification requirements will vary depending on country. For example, the following types of documents will become the only acceptable documents for border crossings and ports of entry.
• U.S. citizens must present a valid passport, passport card, enhanced driver's license or a trusted traveler program card (Nexus, Fast or SENTRI), Merchant Mariner card or valid U.S. military ID card. For merchant marines as well as military personnel these ID cards will only be accepted if you can demonstrate you are on official and not personal business.
• U.S. permanent residents will be required to present their resident cards.
• Canadian citizens will be required to present a valid passport, enhanced driver's license or a trusted-traveler-equivalent program card (Fast or Nexus).
• Mexican nationals will be required to present a valid passport and visa, a government sanctioned Border Crossing Card, or a valid SENTRI card
• Members of U.S. and Canadian Indian tribes will be required to present Indian identification cards.

Thus, unless new rules pre-empt existing ones, WHTI seems to be still allowing a variety of other documents. In addition, the U.S. government is now offering citizens a new wallet-size passport card for both land and sea travel to and from Western Hemisphere countries. This new card uses a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip that allows the U.S. Customs and Border officers to access photographs and other biographical information before the traveler reaches the inspection booth. However, this new passport card is not ICAO-compliant but only WHTI-compliant - meaning this passport card cannot be used for any international travel outside the Western Hemisphere. The cost of the card is $45 for adults and $35 for children. Current U.S. passport holders can apply for only $20; the same information and process required for a traditional passport book will be used for this card. The question remains whether this card is worth the effort and for what other purposes can it be used?

This new passport card eliminates the need for travelers to carry multiple documents, and this card can verify identification and citizenship through a unique government identifier that gives government agents access to government databases that the passport book cannot. Thus, when compared to a traditional passport book, RFID-enabled (if working properly) wallet cards could speed up the inspection process. However, these cards will have to be protected by some form of sleeve to block them from being read by other RFID scanners when not used for border crossings. A traditional passport book holder must ask the question, "Is this wallet-size card worth the additional time and money for what is in essence a minor convenience?" This question must be answered on an individual basis. However, collectively, this passport card seems to be another avenue for RFID-enabled chips to be used in ID cards. If recent history is an indicator, the U.S. government is determined in the long term to use RFID-enabled chips in various identity card schemes. For example, when the Department of Homeland Security developed implementation regulations to support the Real ID Act, it considered but dropped the idea of requiring each state to include RFID-enabled chips. However, if the passport card is successful, then look for more government-specific uses for the RFID-enabled chips, such as for workplace or other government-issued IDs.

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Good Article. But I do not rust anything our Government does. Our President and all the Democrats are a little too fond of Mexico. How can we trust any ID from the Mexican Government Seeing how Philippe Calderon and Vicente Fox want a North America Union for it's Mexican Citizens? All the benefits of the America Dream. While Corporate Business gets cheap unskilled labor stealins American jobs.

No, there must still be a valid Passport system from each sovereign nation. Mexico and Canada is not to be trusted to present their Identification. It must be verified by US a Visa to Know if the person presenting this ID has real Visa to enter or work in the US. Or else, what would stop a flood of illegal Aliens from all over the world from entering the US from the Mexican and Canadian Borders? I don't trust it. I don't trust George Bush. And certainly do not trust Mexico with the handling of ID do it's Citizens into the US.

What is wrong with the Pass Port system that is already in place? This is a foolish move. It opens the door to world wide illegal invasion.

Thank You

Danny