Editorial Features | News / Analysis
DHS announces new border crossing ID rules
By Louis Chunovic, Senior Editor
Published January 28th, 2008
The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative may be stalled, but the Department of Homeland Security is moving forward with plans to streamline procedures and
tighten border controls in line with the requirements set by the WHTI regulations. DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff announced his agency "will be making some changes at the land border," effective January 31. After that date, border inspectors will no longer accept oral declarations of citizenship. The agency will also start limiting the number of different types of documents that can be used for proof of citizenship. Previously, inspectors could accept about 8,000 different documents for this purpose. Concerns over border delays and a backlog of new passport orders prompted Congress to abort planned implementation of WHTI until at least June, 2009. Chertoff pointed out that while WHTI implementation is delayed, "we are rationalizing the existing system."
LABOR RELATIONS – DHS has abandoned proposed internal labor relations rules, under its
Human Capital Operational Plan, following court rulings that they would illegally curtail collective bargaining rights by giving management the ability to cancel negotiated agreements after the fact. The plan called for 110,000 non-bargaining unit DHS employees and managers to work under a performance management system. As of mid-January, only 14,000 were covered under that arrangement. In the wake of court action, the chief architect of the DHS human resources plan, Marta Perez, submitted her resignation.
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