For now, Winter Texans say new regulation is 'No big deal'

PROGRESO — Winter Texans crossing the international bridge Friday returning from Nuevo Progreso clutched plastic bags filled with souvenirs, liquor, cigarettes and prescription medicine.

Most were bothered more by the chilly blast of north wind than the impending requirement that starting Jan. 31 they must have a passport or birth certificate and photo ID card to return from Mexico.

Ron and Alice Weeks, who live in central Missouri, already have their passports.

“We got them last year at home,” Alice Weeks said. “It was difficult.”

The start of the passport requirement “was supposed to take place last year,” she said.

The couple, who traveled to the Rio Grande Valley in their recreational vehicle, plans to stay only a month.

“We’re getting dental work done, so we go over (to Nuevo Progreso) very often.”

“We’ve been there four or five times, I think,” Ron Weeks said.

Ron Weeks is a semi-retired carpenter and building contractor, and the couple also own rental houses and a boot repair shop in Missouri, they said.

Obtaining passports seemed like a lot of bother before they were issued the documents, but now it’s easy to cross the bridge, the couple said.

Alice Weeks said she once had a passport when she traveled to Australia and Japan, but it had expired.

“It was a pain before we got it, but now it’s not a big deal,” Alice Weeks said. “Ronnie goes over twice a week to build houses, so it’s very handy for getting back and forth.”

A group of 20 to 30 volunteers from Canyon Lake RV Resort of Mission, where they stay, builds houses for poor families in Mexico, the couple said.

“It’s easy to get by,” Ron Weeks said of crossing the bridge.

“We buy medicine at the pharmacy,” Alice Weeks said. “I’m going to get a sink for my new bathroom (at home in Missouri) over here.”

This is the second year the Weeks have been to the Valley.

“We’ll be back,” Alice Weeks said.

Gary and Lynette Lamascus of Norman, Okla., said they have had passports for eight years.

Their friends, Doug and Barbara Woolley, also of Norman, obtained passports before a trip to Europe in 2000.

“We just got a passport recently,” Gary Lamascus said. He and Lynette have a home in Los Fresnos and live in the Valley part of the year, they said.

The four had just returned from Nuevo Progreso where they visited a dentist and went shopping, Gary Lamascus said. “And we brought back a bottle (of liquor).”

If they had had to obtain passports just to cross into Nuevo Progreso, they would have been annoyed, Gary Lamascus said.

“Just for walking across, I thought it was a little unnecessary,” he said. “We’ve been coming for six or seven years and we haven’t needed a passport.”

Another couple, Sharon and Willy from British Columbia, Canada, declined to give their last name.

Having to show their Canadian passports to go into Mexico and get back into the United States seems normal to them, they said.

But the increased security at the Progreso International Bridge is much stricter than what they notice when crossing into the United States from Canada, or going back home, they said.

“This is a lot more (security),” Willy said. “Canadian border guards … some have guns, most don’t.”

But showing passports is a normal procedure to them, the Canadian couple said. “We’re wasting $100 buying our passports if we couldn’t use them,” Willy said, chuckling.

“It’s the first time we’ve been there,” Sharon said of Nuevo Progreso.

“We bought souvenirs and a blanket,” Sharon said. “Yeah, souvenirs and booze to keep us warm,” Willy said.

Jo Liston, owner of Go With Jo Tours & Travel of Harlingen, said no Winter Texans have asked her employees for help to obtain passports.

Most Winter Texans have computers or have access to computers, Liston said.

“They can do it on the Internet,” she said of applying for passports.

“You’d be surprised. Most Winter Texans already have (passports),” Liston said. “A lot of them have been on cruises, and you have to have one to do that.”

FYI: New border rules

New regulations from the Department of Homeland Security that go into effect Jan. 31 will require a valid passport or both a government-issued photo identification and proof of citizenship when returning to the United States from Mexico.

In most cases, persons without passports must show both a driver’s license and a certified birth certificate.

Persons born outside the United States must show a government-issued ID card — such as a driver’s license — with a naturalization document, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said.

Photo Cutline:

Winter Texans make their way back after shopping in Nuevo Progreso Friday afternoon. New rules that take effect Jan. 31 will require border-crossers to show a passport or a government identification and proof of citizenship when reentering the United States.