From the Predator drone circling invisibly overhead to the customs agent at the crossing, Northern New Yorkers are being watched more closely than ever before as they cross the border to and from Canada.
[watertowndailytimes.com] Agents monitoring the unmanned drone flying out of North Dakota will keep a watchful eye on hundreds and hundreds of miles of remote fields and forests not suitable to regular patrols. They will be backed up by a network of 80-foot-high towers, ground sensors, infrared video cameras and ground monitors to detect hidden contraband, or what appears to be illegal goods.
To the monitors, even cat litter can be indiscernible from more dangerous substances, causing delays for haulers and wasted time for agents.
Programs such as the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative will restrict the freedom of movement by Americans who once enjoyed the ease of crossing a line separating countries with close cultural and economic ties.
Starting June 1, Americans re-entering the country by land or by sea from Mexico or Canada will have to show a passport, enhanced driver’s license or special passport card — or encounter delays where they once could have passed after answering a few routine questions.
The initiative and "virtual fence" are all part of a national, post-9-11 crackdown to deter terrorists, smugglers and illegal immigrants. The response along the northern border, though, is out of proportion to the known threat despite comments from Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
She recently said that "to the extent that terrorists have come into our country … it’s been across the Canadian border." However, there has been only one known example of a terrorist attempting to enter the United States.
"We’re neighbors, not terrorists," one Niagara Falls Canadian objected.
Secretary Napolitano called for parity in treatment of the two borders, but they are very different. Contrary to some perceptions, there is no evidence that terrorists are using the open border to slip into the country. Illegal border crossings and drug smuggling do not approach that of the Mexican border. Arrests and drug seizures in the north were less than 1 percent of those in the south in 2008.
Secretary Napolitano’s suggestion that "we shouldn’t go light on one and heavy on the other" to justify a security buildup ignores the reality and historical relationship between the United States and Canada.
Source: http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20090512/OPINION01/305129960
