America's other border: High tech, high trust
The 4,000 miles that join the US and Canada are heavily
trafficked and easy to cross. A photo expedition.
By Alfredo Sosa
Debate about America's borders is
decidedly a one-sided affair. Rising illegal immigration and
lingering worries about security have focused a bright light on
the southern border. Left in the shadows is the northern border
- a 4,000-mile stretch of land that's sparsely guarded even
though it's twice as long as the US-Mexican border and sees far
more international commerce. It's also much more varied.
The Ambassador Bridge in Detroit has all the high-tech
capability of its southern counterparts - radioactive sensors,
video surveillance, and cameras that capture license plate
numbers. It handles, along with the Blue Water Bridge in Port
Huron, Mich., 21,000 vehicles entering the United States every
day. More than 60 percent of US-Canada trade passes through the
Michigan border. Average time to cross: 14 minutes.
But in places like Derby Line, Vt., crossing the border is as
easy as changing seats at the local opera house, visiting
another section of the library, or, in some homes walking from
one room to another. Residents embrace the border, even
celebrate it as a way of life.
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BRIDGE WITH A VIEW:
British
tourist Rhiannon Hardwick gets a
magnified view of Niagara Falls on the
Rainbow Bridge on the border. Last year,
some 13 million people journeyed over
the international line in the
Buffalo/Niagara Falls area, US border
officials estimate.
MARY KNOX
MERRILL - STAFF
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In Michigan and New York, the international border is defined
by water. The US Coast Guard works alongside US Customs and
Border Protection to patrol the line. But on Vermont's Lake
Memphremagog, boaters face no screening. The customs and
immigration station in Newport, Vt., is a phone booth, which
foreign visitors are supposed to use to call border authorities
when they arrive.
An estimated 90 percent of Canadians live within 100 miles of
the border; many cross it regularly. Last year, they made 22.3
million one-day car trips to the US, says Statistics Canada. A
prime magnet: New York's Niagara region, especially Niagara
Falls.
Mutual trust has long characterized the US-Canadian line. New
pressures threaten to change that.
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