Fingerprint Dispute Dooms Border Site
U.S. Stance Angers Canada, Businesses

By Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 24, 2007

Plans for a screening facility at one of the nation's busiest land-border crossings were abandoned because of a disagreement over fingerprinting travelers, an outcome that has angered business groups in the United States and Canada.

Canadian business leaders are in Washington this week to lobby for the resumption of a U.S. plan to build a "pre-clearance" facility at the border near Buffalo that would speed commercial and passenger traffic from Canada into the United States.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff scuttled the initiative last month because Canada would not accept Washington's demand that it fingerprint travelers on Canadian soil who approach the border but, for whatever reason, decide not to cross.

The government wants to be able to take suspects' fingerprints and compare them with terrorist and criminal databases, U.S. government officials said. The prints could be stored in databases for future use if, for instance, the traveler seeks to enter at another border crossing.

"If an individual presents themselves for admission and makes a decision about not wanting to come in, there's a reason why," Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said. "It could be perfectly benign. But it could be that they sense that we're onto them for criminal activity or potential security concerns. We have an interest in knowing who that person is."

Canadian law precludes fingerprinting people unless criminal charges have been filed. "Canada will not consider any proposal that does not comply with Canadian law," said Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, in an April 26 letter to Chertoff.

But U.S. and Canadian business groups and some lawmakers are angry at the Bush administration's April 26 decision to abandon plans to build the facility in Fort Erie, Ontario, just over Peace Bridge from Buffalo. They say the move threatens $20 billion of trade that flows annually across the bridge as well as potentially complicate other border security projects. Canada is the United States' largest trading partner.

"Business groups like ours are really worried about the negative signal it sends," said Maryscott Greenwood, executive director of the Canadian-American Business Council, which represents such major U.S. firms as Campbell Soup, Wal-Mart, United Parcel Service, Lockheed-Martin and Exxon Mobil. "One billion dollars a day flows across the U.S.-Canada border. Take all the countries of the E.U. together, and the Canada-U.S. relationship dwarfs it. Canada does more business with one company -- Home Depot -- than it does with France."

Canada has granted the United States permission to operate pre-clearance facilities in Canadian airports since the 1970s. In December 2001, Canada and the United States signed a Smart Border Declaration to enhance border security, while facilitating the flow of low-risk travelers and goods. In 2004, the two governments agreed to a pre-clearance pilot program, or Shared Border Management, which involved relocating all U.S. primary and secondary border operations from Buffalo to Fort Erie. About 12,500 cars and 3,600 trucks a day cross the three-lane Peace Bridge into the United States, with delays that can reach two hours.

Delays at the U.S.-Canada land border cost Ontario $5.23 billion and the U.S. economy $4.1 billion a year, said Len Crispino, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce president. "It's not insignificant," he said.

But Knocke said a terrorist attack would inflict worse economic damage, as well as loss of life. He said that the Congress had granted U.S. government authority to protect its borders by screening anyone who attempts to enter. "These are authorities that we are simply unwilling to surrender" even on foreign soil, he said.

The dispute "has nothing to do with the law and everything to do with sovereignty," said Mark Rasch, technology director for FTI Consulting and a former federal prosecutor. "Borders mean something."

Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-N.Y.), wants Homeland Security to reopen talks with Ottawa. "The department's inability to move forward with this plan after two and a half years of negotiations with our closest ally does not speak well for its commitment to an efficient northern border," she said.

The pre-clearance facility was expected to be the first in a series, including one for Canada in upstate New York. That, too, is now off the table. Chertoff said his agency plans to continue to work to renovate and expand the border inspection facility in Buffalo.

Staff researcher Richard Drezen contributed to this report.