Border crossing card may cost $20
Full roll-out of plan expected by June 2009
Mike Madden
Desert Sun Washington Bureau
October 18, 2006
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WASHINGTON - People who frequently travel back and forth between the United States and Mexico or Canada would pay $20 for a new credit card-sized
travel document they could use instead of a passport under a new government proposal.
By June 2009, all U.S. citizens will need a passport or the new card to enter the country from Mexico or Canada. Mexican and Canadian citizens will
need similar documents their countries will produce.
The State Department proposed the card and its fee schedule Tuesday, and officials will take comments from the public for two months before moving
ahead with production.
The cards would use radio technology that would allow Customs and Border Protection officers to read them from about 20 feet away. Passengers in a car
driving across the border, for example, could have their information scanned without getting out.
Rosalio Plata, who owns an insurance company in Cathedral City, travels once a month to Mexico. The new mini-passport, he said, will just add another
level of bureaucracy to an already cumbersome and expensive process.
"I have a passport," he said. "I don't think I need this other one. It's just something else you've got to carry."
Border community residents feared it could be an expensive and logistically taxing burden, but the State Department proposal eased some worries.
Officials had said earlier this year the card might cost as much as $50, about half the price of a passport. Tuesday's proposal cut that to $20 for
adults and $10 for children under 16. Citizens could apply for the cards at the same time they apply for passports. New applications would cost
another $25 to pay for security background checks.Al G - 10-19-2006 at 08:36 AM
I am all for something to speed up border crossing. The one thing I would suggest is the issue them in a radio blocking sleeve to prevent someone with
bad intentions from Identifying you.
Supply and Demand
MrBillM - 10-19-2006 at 09:08 AM
Never Fear. There is no doubt that one or more entrepreneurs will market metallic sleeves quickly once the cards become commonplace.Cypress - 10-19-2006 at 09:44 AM
Passports. Border crossing card? Drivers license. What's next? A notarized statement of intent with a $20 bill attached?Bruce R Leech - 10-19-2006 at 09:45 AM
20 bucks is cheep Ill take 4
secondary
lewm - 10-19-2006 at 11:15 AM
I'm sure they would still have the opportunity from 20 feet to send you to secondary with or without the new card.Hook - 10-19-2006 at 11:39 AM
As a passport owner, I would hope that these new cards would not give the possessors more of an advantage in crossing speed. Not fair! And I dont want
to have to buy one in addition to a passport to get any benes the card provides.
Sounds like another government cash cow......Martyman - 10-19-2006 at 11:55 AM
I could probably buy one of those cards while waiting in line at the border, along with a black velvet painting of Miguel Jackson!Don Alley - 10-19-2006 at 02:03 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by Martyman
I could probably buy one of those cards while waiting in line at the border, along with a black velvet painting of Miguel Jackson!
Yeah, and as you approach the border, inside the booth the computer screen will show a photo of Michael Jackson. Then they send you to secondary. Can
you moonwalk?Martyman - 10-20-2006 at 01:58 PM
I can moonwalk, I can cakewalk, I'll walk a mile for a Herradura.
Passports delayed until June 2009
BajaWarrior - 10-22-2006 at 07:47 AM
Border 'passport cards' could cost $20
Updated 10/17/2006 9:05 PM ET
USA Today
By Mike Madden, Gannett News Service
WASHINGTON — People who frequently go back and forth between the U.S. and Mexico or Canada would pay $20 for a new credit card-sized travel document
they could use instead of a passport under a new government proposal.
By June 2009, all U.S. citizens will need a passport or the new card to enter the country from Mexico or Canada. Mexican and Canadian citizens will
need similar documents their countries will produce. The State Department proposed the card and its fee schedule Tuesday, and officials will take
comments from the public for two months before moving ahead with production.
The cards would use radio technology that would allow Customs and Border Protection officers to read them from about 20 feet away. Passengers in a car
driving across the border, for example, could have their information scanned without getting out.
Border community residents had feared the passport requirement would prove to be an expensive and logistically taxing burden, but the State Department
proposal eased some worries.
"Having a passport card is what we'd been advocating as something that would be ... an easier alternative to a passport," said Jared Peterson, a
spokesman for the Border Trade Alliance, a group based in Phoenix. "Is it going to be affordable for people? Off the top of my head, it seems
reasonable."
Officials had said earlier this year the card might cost as much as $50, about half the price of a passport. Tuesday's proposal cut that to $20 for
adults and $10 for children under 16. Citizens could apply for the cards at the same time they apply for passports. New applications would cost
another $25 to pay for security background checks.
The government will have some extra time to process what could be millions of applications for the cards. Last month, Congress passed a law delaying
the passport requirement for land borders until 2009 from the original deadline of early 2008. Business groups and border communities had lobbied
heavily for the delay.
State Department officials have not decided when they would make the new cards available.
The technology used in the cards could change before then, though officials say they plan to use "vicinity" radio frequency chips that can be read
from a distance rather than "proximity" chips that must be within a few feet of the reader. Privacy advocates have raised concerns that the cards
could lead to identity theft, but the State Department proposal says the cards would come with protective sleeves to keep them from being read by
would-be thieves.
"The proposal clearly reflects concerns in facilitating legitimate travel for people who live in border communities," said Deborah Meyers, a senior
policy analyst at the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute, who has studied post-9/11 border technology. "This is a good example of the government
being very responsive to community concerns."
Drivers license. What's next?
