Thread: Tighter Border Delays Re-entry by U.S. Citizens

Tighter Border Delays Re-entry by U.S. Citizens
By JULIA PRESTON
EL PASO — United States border agents have stepped up scrutiny of Americans returning home from Mexico, slowing commerce and creating delays at border crossings not seen since the months after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The increased enforcement is in part a dress rehearsal for new rules, scheduled to take effect in January, that will require Americans to show a passport or other proof of citizenship to enter the United States. The requirements were approved by Congress as part of antiterrorism legislation in 2004.

Border officials said agents along the southern border were asking more returning United States citizens to show a photo identity document. At the same time, agents are increasing the frequency of what they call queries, where they check a traveler’s information against law enforcement, immigration and antiterror databases.

The new policy is a big shift after decades when Americans arrived at land crossings, declared they were citizens and were waved through. Since the authorities began ramping up enforcement in August, wait times at border stations in Texas have often stretched to two hours or more, discouraging visitors and shoppers and upsetting business.

The delays could remain a fact of life across the southern border for the next few years, border officials said, at least until new security technology and expanded entry stations are installed and until Americans get used to being checked and questioned like foreigners. Last year 234 million travelers entered the United States through land border crossings from Mexico.

W. Ralph Basham, the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, the agency that manages the borders, said longer waits had resulted from added security measures at border stations that in many cases were aging, outmoded and facing surging traffic. Saying the new document checks were a “security imperative,â€

The stupid thing is, the government has known about this for how long non? Are you telling me that there is no one smart enough in this country to figure out a simple and swift way of making border crossing more efficient? Come on now. Nothing in the Federal Government is a mistake. This is planned so that the American people will be upset about the wait and quit balking at illegal invasion. 6 years after 9/11 and no one has figured a way out of this waiting game.

[b]“A safer border is well worth the wait.â€

This is no different than going thru airport security.