EAST LANSING, Mich. — As Michigan policymakers consider how best to comply with new federal requirements for border identification, state residents are expressing a preference for an enhanced driver’s license that would carry digitally stored information such as fingerprints.
In a new statewide survey, more than half of those living in Michigan (51 percent) say preventing terrorists from entering Michigan through Canada should be a top priority for the state. Nearly 70 percent favor using an enhanced driver’s license instead of using a passport to strengthen border security.
“The majority of Michigan citizens recognize the need for safe and secure travel between borders and they appear to want to balance that with a form of identification they are familiar with, like a driver’s license,” said Edmund McGarrell, survey team member and director of Michigan State University’s School of Criminal Justice. “The perceived high cost of a passport is most likely being considered as well.”
The MSU survey was completed in light of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which calls for a change in travel document requirements, a recommendation from the 9/11 Commission. The law, passed by Congress in 2004, requires U.S. citizens traveling between the United States and Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean to present a passport or other accepted documents that establish a person’s identity and nationality. The law has been active for air travelers since Jan. 23.
Michigan’s homeland security adviser, Brig. Gen. Michael McDaniel of the Michigan National Guard, spearheaded the survey.
“The Michigan-Canada border is the largest international travel market for visitors to the United States. With millions entering and exiting every year for reasons of business, trade or vacation, the process and speed for accurate identification at this international exchange point has tremendous implications for U.S. safety, as well as our state’s economy,” McDaniel said.
Also in play is the federal Real ID Act of 2005. The act says that the traditional state driver’s license is not adequate for proof of identification for federal purposes such as boarding an airplane or entering a federal building or facility. The deadline for compliance has been extended to December 2009.
The survey was part of the State of the State Survey, a quarterly effort to measure public opinion on a host of timely and policy-relevant issues. Directed by Charles Ballard, MSU economics professor, the telephone survey was conducted by MSU’s Institute for Public Policy and Social Research between Oct. 10 and Nov. 26, 2007, with 1,001 randomly selected Michigan residents.
Other key findings of the survey indicate that nearly 75 percent of Michigan residents are at least somewhat confident in the level of security at the Michigan-Canada border. While the majority (68 percent) support biometric information such as fingerprints stored in an enhanced driver’s license, nearly 88 percent oppose having their Social Security number included on the enhanced license.
“Public opinion information such as this is critical for policymakers who are envisioning how lives might be affected by WHTI and the Real ID Act and by decisions made in the state House,” said Douglas Roberts, director of the survey research institute.
IPPSR has posted a policy brief presenting the survey findings on its Web site at www.ippsr.msu.edu.
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