I think this is where the communication between legislators is beneficial. Your communication is with the administration, and largely with Homeland Security, who have a vested interest purely focused on the security side and are not as concerned about thickening at the border. But I can tell you, legislator to legislator.... Congressman Larsen from Washington has written a letter to Secretary Napolitano expressing concerns about this, and there are other congressmen who are doing the same.
My view, having been down there for some time—we had some very sound meetings discussing these issues—is that this is going to create a huge problem for us. I would urge you not to feel at all complacent. I cannot overemphasize what I'm hearing from our counterpart legislators in terms of their concern. They believe, as you suggested, it's difficult to get a second delay, but they believe it's imperative at this point.
Our representation to the administration is that this is not seeking a delay forever; this is seeking a delay until there could be concrete steps. Enhanced drivers' licences, in fact, through biometrics, can provide greater security intelligence than the passport. Louise Slaughter has suggested the idea of day passes, which could help get us through the challenge of the Olympics.
The other challenge we have is the emergence of the trilateral view in the U.S.: that the northern border is the same as the southern border. With Secretary Ridge, we had a Pennsylvania governor whose sensitivity to and understanding of the northern border was greater. Now we have Secretary Napolitano, a former Arizona governor. Her sense of border is the Mexican border. Her view of the world is shaped around the issues surrounding the Mexican border.
There is a completely different set of security issues around the northern and southern borders of the U.S. Mexico is not a failed state, but it is facing huge challenges around governance and the drug wars and the rest of it. I think we need to do everything we can to ensure that Americans recognize that the northern border has a completely different set of associated risks from the southern border. This has to be part of our message.
The other issue is country of origin labelling. We met with Congressman Peterson, chairman of the agricultural committee--