WASHINGTON -- The Senate approved an amendment to the pending immigration reform bill that could push back the start date for the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, a law that requires persons crossing U.S. borders to show a passport or other U.S. government-approved documentation.
It’s not yet clear whether the Bush administration’s deadlines for the passport rule will change as a result.
The Senate amendment addresses the WHTI, which must be fully implemented by Jan. 1, 2008.
An amendment sponsored by senators Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) would move the implementation date back to June 1, 2009.
However, in the flurry of activity surrounding the passage of the amendment, an impression emerged that the amendment would affect several phased-in administrative deadlines imposed by the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, which are responsible for enforcing the WHTI.
The departments plan to require U.S. and other travelers entering or re-entering the U.S. from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean to carry passports, starting on Jan. 1, 2007. “The amendment simply changes the [2008] date, but it doesn’t say anything else,” said Richard Webster, vice president, Government Affairs for the Travel Industry Association, which has lobbied for the deadline extension.
“So it does not preclude the federal government from imposing the requirements on all or any portion of the public before that [implementation] date.”
The passport requirement would be expanded to other countries leading up to full implementation of the WHTI by 2008.
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