Events Detail

Christopher Sands

Senior Fellow Christopher Sands spoke at the inaugural Hudson intern Brown Bag Lecture Series on Thursday, June 18, 2009. Sands' discussed his most recent research, which explores border security between the United States and Canada. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. government has been reassessing its border policies.

Sands said that given the high volume of trade between the two nations "the United States would naturally want to invest more in its Canadian border." As part of increased security on the Canadian border, anyone entering Canada is required to have a passport to prevent fraud.

The U.S.-Canadian relationship has always been very positive and mutually beneficial, he said. The border extends over eleven states and more than 300,000 people cross it daily. The two countries share the largest bilateral trading relationship in the world, consisting of roughly 1.68 billion dollars worth of trade per day.

Although Canada recently hoped the Obama administration would reduce some of the Bush administration's border policies, Sands said "Obama is doing just the opposite and continuing with Bush's policies."

Sands explained that there needs to be a different approach for each border area to address the unique problems associated with each region.

"The Department of Homeland Security should not be creating all U.S. border policies, but should factor input from states and localities into DHS decisionmaking," he said.

-Rachael Hendrickson, Hudson Institute Communications Intern