Currently, when you drive to Canada and back, you show a driver’s license or something to prove you’re American and zip-zap, you’re on your way because we barely have problems with that border. Well, the Department of Homeland Security decided to change that because obviously the only way to secure the homeland is to inconvenience every single person that wants to leave/come back/travel within it. I mean, seriously, if we just annoy every single wannabe terrorist, they’ll stick to bombing shit in Europe where law enforcement is more accommodating.

Anyway, so Chertoff issued these rules also to try to force the states to issue his fancy drivers licenses by requiring people have them to get back from the vast Northern wasteland. He defended the changes to Congress by saying that more than 1,500 people had tried to get across the border in the last 3 months by pretending to be citizens. Well, it turns out that, actually, only 20 people had tried to get across the Canadian border, which is where Chertoff wants to change the rules. In fact, only about 210 cases of false citizenship claims over the last 3 year occurred at the Canadian border — the rest, naturally, came from down south. Oops. Congress is a little pissed, but he’ll just wave his magic fingers and rub their tummies and they’ll roll over for him just like they did for the Patriot Act renewal.

Senators Challenge DHS on Border Stops [Washington Post]