Canadians also Affected by 9/11 Security

The large number of Americans who pass through Detroit to enjoy the “quaint and quirky charms” of Windsor, Ontario in Canada has plunged by millions, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The story reports that the added identification mandates to fight terrorism could deliver a crippling, even fatal blow to the Windsor economy.

As the rhetoric for border protection heats up and focuses on the Mexican-American border and the millions of illegal Mexican immigrants, the Tribune reports that people traveling between Canada and the United States are also required to have passports and similar identification.

That requirement is part of a law passed in 2004 and will take effect in January 2008, but the article states that its approach has already negatively affected tourism and injected a sense of uncertainty.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, the number of U.S. border guards at the Canadian border has tripled, to about 1,000, according to Jarrod Agen, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. That is for coverage of a 3,145-mile border.

However, the 1,989-mile U.S.-Mexican border has about 9,500 agents from the U.S. Border Patrol stationed there, and President Bush has also promised to send thousands of National Guard soldiers to bolster security there.

The Tribune states that even with the stiffened security on the northern border, the number of arrests from Canada is, at best, a smidgen compared with apprehensions of Mexicans.

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Compiled by Paul Kerstein