Shared Border Management

Shared Border Management is back on the agenda under the Obama Administration. Under the plan, US-bound travelers at, say, the Peace Bridge, would go through US screening while still on the Canadian side, before they hit US soil. The big sticking points under the Bush Administration had to do with (1) the arming of US guards on Canadian soil; and (2) US demands that vehicles making a U-turn before reaching the screening area could be stopped, and its occupants questioned and fingerprinted.

Several alternatives had been presented to the US by the Canadians to enable the US to maintain sovereignty over their inspection areas – the airport method (e.g., you go through pre-screening upon departing the airport in Toronto or Nassau), the embassy model (de jure jurisdiction), and an actual land swap. The US nixed them all.

Now, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Secretary of State and our former Senator Hillary Clinton are taking a second look at Shared Border Management, and this time it might actually happen.

There are obviously tough negotiations that the US and Canada need to engage in so that US inspectors can make arrests or implement other US entry regulations and policies, but it’s not impossible. I think that concerns about security aren’t falling on deaf ears, and moving forward on this project and these negotiations will directly benefit Buffalo, and hopefully an expanded, new plaza will benefit all travelers at the Peace Bridge.

Now, about expanding volume at the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge, which routinely has the longest wait times of any local crossing…

Photo by Flickr user Scott Kinmartin