By Taylor Kayatta, USCM Intern
July 30, 2007

The Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism Subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee met July 26 under the leadership of Representative Loretta Sanchez (CA), chair of the committee, to discuss Frequent Traveler Programs used for cross-border travel. Discussions surrounded achieving border security, lowering costs of cross-border travel at land border ports, and the speed and efficiency of border station operations.

U.S. Conference of Mayors policy emphasizes the commitment of the nation’s mayors to border security and is considered a principal element of homeland security by the mayors. The mayors’ annual conference in 2006 in Las Vegas yielded firm immigration and border security policy; border security with comprehensive immigration reform, and reaffirmed last month at the mayors annual conference in Los Angeles. Several efforts to pass immigration reform were defeated in the Senate.

Differing trusted traveler programs were also discussed in the hearing. In many land border ports-of-entry, Dedicated Trusted Traveler Lanes have been put in place to speed cross-border processing and travel. Such programs are important to border cities such as Detroit to ensure that essential and daily workers, such as nurses can enter the United States in a safe but also efficient way. Hundreds of Canadian nurses cross the border each day to staff Detroit hospitals and health care facilities.

These lanes, use of which is voluntary, have associated user fees, facilitating ease and speed of cross border-travel between countries for frequent travelers. Also discussed were new, higher security drivers’ licenses which would serve similar functions as Traveler Passes but that could prove more cost effective.

One of the issues discussed was the differences in costs between the programs on the Southern border and those in the North. Currently, it costs about $50 for a Dedicated Trusted Traveler Pass on the Canadian border and about $125 for a similar pass on the Mexican border. Witness Robert M. Jacksta of the Department of Homeland Security said that the price difference existed because there was less risk of illegal immigration on the Canadian border, and so they do less diligent searches. Sanchez countered that several 9/11 terrorists entered the United States from Canada, crossing the U.S-Canadian border. Sanchez also highlighted the continued and growing traffic of illegal narcotics across the Canadian border.