Trucks use FAST lane to cross border

Here is what the Canadians say;

The ‘Smart’ Border is based on four principles.

First, ‘Risk Management’.

The only way you can ensure total confidence is to hermitically seal the border. This clearly makes no sense - our mutual prosperity depends on mutual access. And closing frontiers would be contrary to our shared value of openness. None of the 19 terrorists responsible for the September 11th atrocities came from Canada and the so-called ‘millenium bomber’ got caught and subsequently convicted through joint action.

So we have recreated an program - we call it NEXUS - to permit quick passage at the border for those users in whom we have confidence. It has begun at border points between Washington and British Columbia; we will extend it to crossings between Ontario, New York and Michigan within months.

We have also taken steps to secure air travel. We have agreed to recognize each others' national standards for aviation security and have created new federal transportation agencies to ensure that these standards are met. We have worked together to deploy explosives detection systems, reinforce cockpit doors, deploy cross-border Air Marshals and Aircraft Protection Officers and implement other measures to improve the security of our air travel system.

Second, using information technologies.

Both countries are pioneers in information technology - now we are going to practically apply techniques such as biometric identifiers to give ‘fast-lane’ privileges at airports.

The third principle was to move the border away from the border - the recognition that clearance can take place at the point of manufacture and departure.

We call the program ‘FAST’ - Free and Secure Trade. And it’s a first in establishing a public-private partnership to improve security measures throughout the entire supply chain. Companies that make the commitment to improve their supply chain security will enjoy the benefits of a "fast lane" for commercial truck traffic. This allows our customs officers at the border to concentrate their energies more effectively.

And the innovations we are making - take container transport, for example, will have application globally. Canadian customs officers are now stationed in Seattle-Tacoma and Newark to target containers arriving in those ports that are ultimately destined for Canada. U.S. customs officers are currently doing the same in Halifax, Montreal and Vancouver. After all, our objective is the same - to make North America a safe space for our people and our trade.

Fourthly - we have put renewed emphasis on collaborative intelligence sharing and integrated border patrols.

To better facilitate this existing partnership, we have created six Integrated Border Enforcement Teams (IBETs) to act as hubs for coordinated enforcement efforts across our shared border. And though our local officers already coordinate throughout the border on a daily basis, our goal is to field a total of 14 IBETs over the next 18 months.

http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/can-am/menu-en.asp?act=v&did=1544&mid=9&cat=600&typ=1

Why don't people stay home in their own countries? If the US is so awful, wretched, cruel, hedonistic, morally bankrupt, why pick up stakes and come here? Many new legal immigrants still badmouth us and long for the old sod while stampeding to take out citizenship. The illegals are mad at us for 'making them break our unfair immigration' laws. (We should give back half the country and let Mexicans run it into the ground before the ink dries on the return-the-southwest-to-Aztlan papers.) Is greed so blinding that they don't realize how stupid they sound? We've been invaded and it's getting worse. Terrorists will exploit this new 'fast' lane, something large will blow up and people will die. This will only get worse before it gets better.

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