Reuters North American News Service, December 12th, 2007
LUKEVILLE, Ariz (Reuters) - The U.S. border
inspector at this lonely desert crossing with Mexico fingers
the tribal enrollment card decorated with a wooden staff and
eagle feathers, and glances at the holder's photograph.
Tohono O'odham elder Ofelia Rivas, 51, has used the
document to cross between the tribe's ceremonial sites in
Mexico and her home in Arizona for years, but the inspector
tells her that it will soon no longer be valid for
international travel.
The U.S. Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative in January
will require U.S. citizens to present government photo ID, such
as a driver's license, plus proof of citizenship, such as a
birth certificate, when they enter the United States by land or
sea.
The measure, which is to be followed by requirements for a
passport by June 2009, is causing confusion and anxiety among
some Native American tribes that straddle the United States'
borders with Mexico and Canada.
According to the National Congress of American Indians,
there are around 40 U.S. tribes whose members cross regularly
over the northern and southwestern borders, some to work and
visit kin, others to attend ceremonies at traditional sites.
With implementation of the new travel rules looming in just
a few weeks, some tribal members say it is still unclear
whether enrollment documents issued by their own tribal
governments will be acceptable at the borders, and are unsure
if they can meet the new travel ID requirements if they are
obliged to comply.
"We were all born at home with a midwife, and nobody at the
time recorded our births," said Rivas, explaining the
difficulty for her and other members of her family who cross
frequently to and from Mexico using their tribal enrollment
cards.
"I have no birth certificate so how am I supposed to get a
passport?"
The U.S. travel initiative kicked off in January this year,
when all people traveling between the United States and Canada
by air were required to present a passport to enter or re-enter
the United States.
The second phase for land and sea travel comes into effect
on Jan. 31 2008. It will be followed by tougher rules requiring
all U.S. citizens to hold passports or new "passport cards,"
created for limited cross-border travel, by June 1 2009.
The impending changes will affect traditional nations
including the Confederated Colville Tribes, the Blackfeet and
the Mohawks, who cross back and forth across the northern
border with Canada, as well as several tribes who travel
between Alaska and British Columbia and the Yukon Territory.
Southwest border tribes affected include the Tohono
O'odham, in Arizona and Sonora, the Campo Band of the Kumeyaay
Nation who have members in California and in Baja California in
northwest Mexico, and the Kickapoo Band of Texas and Tribe of
Oklahoma, who have ties to kin in Coahuila, Mexico.
The new passport rules make exceptions for some travelers
including cruise ship passengers embarking from and returning
to U.S. ports as well as U.S. and Canadian children traveling
in designated groups, who will not be required to show
passports for travel.
But so far, the Kickapoo are the only tribe authorized to
cross over the border using their American Indian Cards instead
of a passport, under a special law that was passed in the early
1980s.
Several border tribes are in talks with the U.S. Department
of Homeland Security individually to discuss the status of
tribal enrollment cards, yet it remains unclear what
arrangement they might reach.
"It's very confusing. Nobody except for the DHS staff who
are writing it right now knows what the final law is going to
look like," said Heather Dawn Thompson, the Director of
Government Affairs at the National Congress of American
Indians.
The U.S. government recognizes several hundred Native
American nations whose members lived on the land for centuries
before the United States, Canada and Mexico existed, speaking
their own languages and following beliefs centered on the
natural world.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection told
Reuters that Native Americans will be able to continue
presenting tribal enrollment cards if they are affixed with a
photo ID during the transition period from the end of January.
Kelly Klundt said the challenge remains in ensuring that
all tribal enrollment documents have adequate security features
to comply with the new requirements, and that tribes can
demonstrate that the issuing process is secure.
"We are working with the tribes to see what solutions we
can come up with that will meet the security requirements while
recognizing their cultural and historical needs," Klundt said.
"It is very high on our radar, and we are very cognizant of
their specific concerns," she added.
But despite assurances that tribal ID documents will
continue to be valid for travel, the situation on the southwest
border is confused.
While crossing north from Mexico through Lukeville with
this correspondent late last month, Rivas was told by a CBP
inspector she would need a passport to cross from January.
Rivas said that the lingering uncertainty over Tohono
O'odham members' ability to visit family and carry out sacred
ceremonies at Quitovac in Mexico haunts her and other
traditionalists in the tribe.
"The elders are distraught that they might not be able to
go and conduct a ceremony that we have carried out since
Creation," she said. "It is devastating. I can't imagine not
going."
