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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation to Issue Enhanced Tribal Card Through Agreement with CBP

WHTI allows all U.S. federally recognized tribes to work with CBP to produce an ETC, which helps ensure border security while protecting the tribe’s rights.

Through an agreement with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation became the 12th U.S. federally recognized tribe to issue an Enhanced Tribal Card (ETC) on Sept. 28.

ETCs serve the mutual interests of CBP and the tribe by expediting and facilitating cross-border trade and travel for members of the tribe, as well as providing a tribally issued secure travel document to eligible tribal members. ETC holders may use their ETC to enter the United States at all land and seaports of entry when arriving from contiguous territory.

“Our agreement with the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation demonstrates our commitment to working closely with our tribal partners on a wide range of cross-border issues,” said William A Ferrara, Executive Assistant Commissioner, CBP Office of Field Operations. “As we are committed to ensuring secure and efficient travel, we are proud of our agreement, which provides tribal members with a secure and standardized travel document for entry.”

The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, based in Kansas, worked closely with CBP to develop a secure, highly tamper-resistant card that is an acceptable stand-alone Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) compliant document. WHTI allows all U.S. federally recognized tribes to work with CBP to produce an ETC, which helps ensure border security while protecting the tribe’s rights and limited impacts to their culture.

Modeled after the passport card and enhanced driver’s license business processes, ETCs have machine readable facilitative technologies, contain security features to prevent counterfeiting, and allow data sharing between tribes and CBP for real-time validation.

In 2004, Congress passed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, which created the WHTI. In the WHTI Land/Sea Final Rule, published April 3, 2008, DHS allowed federally recognized tribes to work with CBP to produce an ETC, denoting citizenship and identity that is acceptable for entry into the United States through a port of entry.

Under the provisions of WHTI, each interested U.S. tribe will develop a secure photo identification document issuable to the tribe’s legitimate members who could be either U.S., or in certain cases, Canadian citizens. CBP electronically verifies these documents at ports of entry. As of June 9, 2011, the ETC became an acceptable standalone WHTI-compliant document for entry into the United States at all land and seaports of entry, where CBP will electronically verify these documents.

WHTI single-documentation options for all U.S. and Canadian travelers include a U.S. or Canadian passport, U.S. passport card, Trusted Traveler card (Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI and FAST), state or provincial enhanced driver’s license, ETC, U.S. military I.D. with orders, U.S. Merchant Mariner document, Form I-872 American Indian Card, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada Card and Secure Certificate of Indian Status.

The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho was the first tribe to sign a memorandum of agreement with CBP in March 2009 to begin the process of creating an ETC. Since then, dozens of tribes have signed agreements to work toward creating a secure travel document denoting identity, tribal membership and citizenship.

Read more at CBP

Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation to Issue Enhanced Tribal Card Through Agreement with CBP Homeland Security Today
Homeland Security Today
The Government Technology & Services Coalition's Homeland Security Today (HSToday) is the premier news and information resource for the homeland security community, dedicated to elevating the discussions and insights that can support a safe and secure nation. A non-profit magazine and media platform, HSToday provides readers with the whole story, placing facts and comments in context to inform debate and drive realistic solutions to some of the nation’s most vexing security challenges.
Homeland Security Today
Homeland Security Todayhttp://www.hstoday.us
The Government Technology & Services Coalition's Homeland Security Today (HSToday) is the premier news and information resource for the homeland security community, dedicated to elevating the discussions and insights that can support a safe and secure nation. A non-profit magazine and media platform, HSToday provides readers with the whole story, placing facts and comments in context to inform debate and drive realistic solutions to some of the nation’s most vexing security challenges.

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