U.S. insists on passport requirement for Canada border crossing

The Bush administration insists that it will not relax its plans to require passports from all foreigners entering the United States by the end of next year, despite calls for a delay by some Republicans worried about strained relations with Canada. At issue is a 2004 law, being phased in over three years, to tighten U.S. borders against suspected terrorists and other criminals. Critics on both sides of the nation’s northern border fear the passport requirement will hamper commerce and tourism between Canada and the U.S., the world’s largest trading bloc. Specifically, politicians from several states bordering on Canada — especially New York, North Dakota, and Washington, have also complained that the requirement will do grave harms to businesses in their states.”

“We have to work with the law as it currently exists,” DHS secretary Michael Chertoff said Tuesday after a meeting with Canadian public safety minister Stockwell Day. “I think it’s a deadline we can meet.”