To get back to the U.S., pack a passport
BY ALFONSO CHARDY AND INA PAIVA CORDLE
By year's end, the U.S. government will require Americans returning by air or sea from the Caribbean and Central and South America to carry U.S. passports -- a major change in travel procedures for citizens who for decades have been readmitted by merely flashing a driver's license or a birth certificate.
It's the first in a series of phased-in security initiatives announced Tuesday.
In South Florida, with its multitude of southbound flights and cruises, the measure is expected to have a big impact. The region is a jumping-off point to resorts such as Cancun and Jamaica and other Caribbean islands where Americans are accustomed to simply hopping on a plane without a passport. Many of these countries only require a birth certificate from American visitors as proof of citizenship.
The latest tightening of immigration controls, set to start Dec. 31, came about partly as a result of an embarrassing episode in which congressional investigators sneaked into the country using fake licenses and certificates. Those incidents included at least one at Miami International Airport.
Announced Tuesday, the measure is the first post-9/11 travel restriction aimed at United States citizens as opposed to foreigners. U.S. authorities already have intensified controls for foreign visitors, most of whom must be photographed and fingerprinted on arrival.
PENALTIES UNCLEAR
Authorities didn't say what penalties, if any, U.S. citizens without passports may encounter -- but travelers can expect to be pulled from checkpoint lines and endure exhaustive questioning by immigration authorities to determine their identities.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking about the travel measures in an Associated Press interview, said the United States had to take every precaution to screen out ``people who want to come in to hurt us.''
Rice said the change was made after consultation with Mexico, Canada and other governments in the Western Hemisphere. It follows a March summit of President Bush, President Vicente Fox of Mexico and Prime Minister Paul Martin of Canada.
In the second phase, starting Dec. 31, 2006, travelers arriving from Canada and Mexico by air or sea also will be required to present passports. On Dec. 31, 2007, the rule will apply to air, sea and land entries from all foreign points.
Airline reservations agents will have to notify passengers about the passport requirement when they book trips, while airport ticket agents will verify that travelers have the documents.
Travel industry reaction was mixed.
''Anything that enhances the security of the country and enhances the safety and security of our passengers and crew, we're in favor of,'' said American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner.
Cruise passengers departing from South Florida will also feel the impact.
''While we are in full support of measures designed to increase security, we have some serious concerns about the timeline,'' said Miami-based Carnival Cruise Lines spokeswoman Jennifer de la Cruz.
Jorge Lomonaco, the Mexican consul in Miami, agreed that the measure may affect travel to popular Caribbean tourist destinations where tens of thousands of American travelers fly every year from South Florida.
But he also said he does not believe U.S. travelers with longstanding plans to visit Caribbean beach resorts will cancel trips just because they don't have a U.S. passport.
''The majority of our competitors in the so-called sun-and-sand tourism are in the same condition,'' Lomonaco said. ``We allow U.S. travelers to enter with their birth certificates. A passport is not a requirement. So the implementation of this new measure will probably have a similar effect on all the destinations.''
Perhaps the biggest impact won't be felt until the end of 2006, when Canadians and legal Mexican border visitors will be required to show passports when entering the United States.
WIDE-REACHING
The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, for example, says that hundreds of thousands of Canadian visitors who frequently travel to or live in South Florida will be affected.
The bureau said Canadians make up the largest contingent of foreign travelers to Broward, with about 610,000 visiting in 2004.
Canadian authorities have warned Canadian travelers to the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that it is preferable to carry a Canadian passport when visiting the United States due to increased border scrutiny.
''While U.S. authorities currently do not have a legal requirement that Canadians carry a passport, Foreign Affairs Canada strongly urges all Canadians traveling to the United States to obtain and carry a Canadian passport before leaving Canada,'' says a website of the Canadian Consular Affairs Bureau,
www.voyage.gc.ca/ consular_home-en.esp.
In January 2003, the Government Accountability Office revealed that investigators carrying fake birth certificates and driver's licenses had entered the United States at Miami International Airport and land border crossings simply by showing the documents or claiming to be citizens.
An official familiar with the probe said one incident involved two GAO investigators who arrived at MIA from Jamaica.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Good idea? Bad idea? Do you have a passport? Would you plan on getting one because of these new regulations being put into place? What kind of effect will this have on the tourism industry in the carribbean?