[pct-l] Attention Thrulys - passports to re-enter the US

[waynekraft at verizon.net (Wayne Kraft)]

I would not rely on a driver's license as border crossing ID. Because some 
states (Oregon, for example) hand them out like candy to "undocumented" 
aliens and identity theives, legislation is working its way through congress 
to ban use of such licenses as federal ID documents.

I would really suggest that, in this day and age, anyone who travels should 
have a passport.  Understand that "borders" are not just lines on a map, but 
regions surrounding these lines in which Border Patrol operates.  The law 
relating to borders differs somewhat from what you expect in other parts of 
the country because Border Patrol is often dealing with non-citizens on US 
soil illegally. The constitutional rights of unidentifiable people near 
border crossings consist mainly of the right to be promptly arrested and 
deported without death or serious injury.  You do not want to be mistaken 
for an undocumented alien under these circumstances. Production of your 
valid US Passport along our borders will simply terminate a lot of 
unnecessary arguments and unpleasant encounters. Later this year I am 
planning to hike from Mt. Laguna to Campo, where I understand Border Patrol 
is active, and I will not go there afoot and apparently homeless without my 
passport.

I have not kept up with developments relating to travel documents in the 
European Union, but I can tell you that in 2000 my passport was carefully 
examined and stamped by British customs at Gatwick when I entered UK  and by 
some official before I was allowed on a US bound plane at DeGaulle Airport 
in Paris. I do not recall if my passport was examined when I crossed from UK 
into France. I can tell you that I definitely would NOT want to try 
travelling around Europe immediately after a terrorist attack, such as the 
Madrid railway bombing, without a passport.

If you have a passport, be careful with it.  US passports are valuable 
commodities in many places. Don't leave yours in your car at the trail head. 
Even thirty years ago I was offered money in Amsterdam for my US passport. 
I am aware of a US passport that was stolen in  a burglary in New Jersey and 
confiscated 36 hours later, altered and in the possession of a citizen of 
Thailand attempting to enter the US illegally.

Wayne Kraft


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Wright" <sparkymeister@gmail.com>
To: "Sharon & Chuck Chelin" <chelin@teleport.com>
Cc: <pct-l@backcountry.net>; <Trekker4@aol.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2005 9:56 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Attention Thrulys - passports to re-enter the US


>I think an expired passport would be iffy, but a drivers license
> should work fine. As I undderstand it passports won't be required for
> overland travel into the US from Canada until 2008.
>
>
> Mark
>
> On Apr 5, 2005 7:52 PM, Sharon & Chuck Chelin <chelin@teleport.com> wrote:
>> By the way, will an expired passport suffice for identification purposes?
>> OK, the photo is out-of-date, but they have accepted my birth certificate 
>> at
>> the border, which is now so old it looks like parchment, and doesn't even
>> have a footprint, let alone a photo.
>
>
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