US tightens security on New England-Canada border

[tuvor]

DERBY LINE, Vermont (Reuters) - The United States has tightened security with Canada in its northeast corner to the dismay of businesses and residents accustomed to crossing the world's longest undefended border with little more than a wave of a hand or a flash of a driver's license.

Since last week, most travelers from Canada are being required to show identification and submit to background checks at U.S. border posts in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, said Ted Woo, U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman in Boston.

"It's such a shock to all of us here," said Florence Joyal, 68, who works the cash register in a general store in the Vermont village of Derby Line, whose Main Street leads straight into the Canadian province of Quebec.

"Before, you didn't even show your ID to cross the border."

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-05-31T180953Z_01_N303162_RTRUKOC_0_US-SECURITY-USA-CANADA.xml&archived=False

[Stargleamer]

1. To Heck with That!! We Need a Fence to keep them out!!

After all, you can never trust those Canucks.

[Big Kahuna]

2. Isn't there a house in that town that's half in USA / half in Canada?

and the guy needs a visa to go to the bathroom?

I remember seeing it on "That's Incredible" when I was a kid.

[Art_from_Ark]

3. I don't know about that, but in Point Roberts, Washington,

neighbors can be separated by nothing more than a little drainage ditch that marks the US-Canada boundary

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Don't tell the minutemen