It looks like the days of travelling out of the US without a passport are over. Passports will be required to go anywhere outside of the US. Go ahead and read the article and I'll make some comments...
However, I think that the article is really overstating matters. Once you get a passport, it's good for ten years. All of these people suddenly won't be able to take last minute trips? They'll only need to get a passport once! Renewal is incredibly easy as long as you plan for it in advance. I renewed my passport last year with no difficulty.
On top of this, it might actually speed things up a bit. Passports are designed to be quickly processed with all sorts of bar codes and stuff built into them. If EVERYONE crossing the border is presenting a passport instead of drivers license/birth certificates as they do now, the system can be standardized and streamlined. You won't get border guards in Buffalo trying to figure out whether or not the New Mexico driver's license in front of them is legit. Either the passport is valid or its not.
The border between the US and Mexico is a mess nowadays anyways with so called "Minutemen" so fed up with the situation that they've decided to patrol the border with Mexico themselves. The border with Canada is wide open for most of its length as it is. Anyone with false identification papers such as a drivers license, etc. can make it through US customs coming in from Canada. If Canada cannot stop terrorists from entering Canada on false documentation, the US must take action. If Mexico cannot stop people from illegally crossing the border, the US must take action.
One other person has strong points of view on this: Bill O'Reilly. Now you may or may not like him, but on this I think he has the right idea. The federal government should allow our military to patrol the border with Mexico. If that's what it takes to stop the flow of illegal immigration into the country, then I'm all for it...
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