New travel rules leave Native Americans in limbo

By Tim Gaynor

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?"

CONFUSION

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 January 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.