Publication: International Falls Daily Journal
Author: Laurel Beager
February 4th, 2008 - Just a day after new rules for entering the United States were implemented, U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman and International Falls Mayor Shawn Mason checked the process themselves.
Coleman and Mason drove into the Falls Friday from Fort Frances and experienced quick passage into the U.S. after answering a few questions by a Customs inspector.
The senator described the process as “painless.”
Effective Thursday, entrants to the U.S. are being asked to provide acceptable documents to prove citizenship. Among those acceptable documents are a passport, passport card, or NEXUS card. Without one of those documents, two documents, such as a driver’s license and birth certificate, may be used until June 2009. At that time, passports or NEXUS cards are expected to be required.
Passports are the ultimate proof of citizenship.
On Friday, the state department began accepting applications for passport cards. Passport cards are wallet-sized IDs that cost about half the cost of a regular passport.
Chief Inspector Marty Eide said Thursday U.S. citizens may apply online now for a NEXUS card or at a sign-up center expected to be operational around March.
NEXUS cards allow pre-screened travelers to enter a designated lane at the border station and swipe their NEXUS card, which will be read electronically. The NEXUS card will also alleviate the need for an I-68 card, which allows pre-screened U.S. citizens to enter the U.S. by boat and declaring entry by calling into a border station.
Eide acknowledged the physical constraints of the station’s placement on the bridge, but said the NEXUS program would still likely move traffic through the process more quickly.
Canada is also expected to implement the NEXUS program, he said.
Meanwhile, Eide told Mason and Coleman that the agency has implemented a public education period. Inspectors provide pamphlets about the requirements to enter the U.S. and confirm citizenship.
Already, inspectors are reporting 80-90 percent compliance, he said.
Coleman joked that he’d looked for his birth certificate and called his mother to ask if she knew what she’d done with it 58 years ago.
Coleman made the stop in International Falls as part of a “three-Ts” tour of northern Minnesota. The bridge check involved tourism. Coleman was later to attend a celebration of U.S. Steel’s decision to invest $300 million in Keewatin Taconite, creating 500 construction jobs over three years and 75-100 permanent jobs for the Iron Range.
And he’d found out Thursday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had increased funding for forest management for Superior and Chippewa national forests by $2 million over what was initially projected. The extra money will allow the forest service to increase the timber board feet it is able to offer for sale.
“In spite of the challenging times we have, great challenges about the economy and home ownership with the collapse of the sub prime market, there are some good things happening in northern Minnesota, and that makes me happy,” Coleman said.
Coleman said the issue has not been about requiring secure documents to enter the U.S. Instead, he said it’s about the cost of those documents and having a usable system in place before implementing requirements.
Eide reminded travelers to have their documents out of wallets and purses when approaching the station to allow inspectors to do their jobs as quickly as possible.
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