Getting harder to come home from Mexico

Proof of citizenship requests starts Thursday

SHERYL KORNMAN

Published: 01.28.2008

NOGALES - Earlier this month, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff put his foot down and said new border-crossing ID requirements will take effect Thursday despite criticism that they would be inconvenient for returning Americans.

"It's time to grow up and recognize that if we're serious about this threat, we've got to take reasonable, measured but nevertheless determined steps to getting better security," he said Jan. 17.

It's true that beginning Thursday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers along the U.S.-Mexico border will start asking Americans returning from Mexico for proof of U.S. citizenship.

But the actual deadline for showing a passport, or a driver's license and birth certificate, or other citizenship documents is June 1, 2009.

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Re-entry rule could cause more delays

By Leslie Berestein
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
January 27, 2008

Above the seemingly endless lines of cars waiting to cross from Mexico at the San Ysidro port of entry, an electronic billboard flashes the announcement: As of Thursday, you'll have to prove you are a U.S. citizen if you want to re-enter the United States.

The new rule, intended to ease the way toward a requirement that everyone must show a passport, is causing headaches among cross-border commuters, border business leaders, Tijuana merchants, and American shoppers and tourists who say the new rule is not only confusing but threatens to disrupt cross-border commerce and make border waits even longer.