Passport law likely delayed until June 2009

McALLEN — A new rule requiring a passport or other valid travel document to cross into the United States from Mexico will likely be delayed until June 2009.

Congress voted this week to postpone implementation of the border-security measure, offering relief to locals worried about its potential impact on cross-border commerce and tourism.

The legislation is now headed to the White House for final approval. If signed by the president, it would give anxious U.S. citizens nearly an extra year to get their passports in order without having to worry about their ability to get back into the country when returning from Mexico.

“With all the problems, (Congress) recognized that they are heading for disaster,” said Steve Ahlenius, president and chief executive officer of the McAllen Chamber of Commerce, which has opposed the rule from the outset.

Politicians and local groups have been wrestling over the passport program since Congress approved it in 2004.

Previously the law required any U.S. citizen traveling to certain Western Hemisphere countries to present a passport upon returning to the United States by air, effective January 2007.

Although the rule was implemented at airports early this year, the federal government temporarily suspended it because of a rush to get passports. The requirement for land ports was to go into effect in January 2008, but the new delay would push that back to June 2009.

The U.S. Department of State said the passports were a more secure and standardized form of identification for crossing into the country than the variety of state drivers’ licenses.

Locally, however, business groups have criticized the measure, claiming it would slow border crossings, hurt local commerce and deter Winter Texans and other tourists from coming here.

“Mexico is a part of the (Rio Grande) Valley experience,” Ahlenius said. “With this, it will just be harder and more expensive to go there.”

Ahlenius praised the efforts to delay the rule’s implementation but said the McAllen chamber would still like the plan scrapped altogether.

With long lines still looming at post offices and other passport facilities, Democrats in Congress wrote the delay into a major spending bill that includes key funding for the Iraq war. The delay’s inclusion in that bill virtually guarantees President Bush will approve it before Congress’ expected recess begins at the end of this week.

U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, and Rubén Hinojosa, D-Mercedes, said the delay was needed to allow time to address the slow processing of passport applications.

“If we aren’t ready to hand out all the passports, it’s a problem,” said Cuellar, whose district includes Starr and western Hidalgo counties.

The State Department is on pace to hand out 18 million passports this year, a 50 percent increase from 2006, Cuellar said.

Several passport information fairs across the Valley have been packed with anxious people who showed up hours in advance and were willing to wait all day for their documents to be processed.

___

Monitor reporter Ryan Holeywell contributed to this report.