June 2, 2009 8:35AM # And Your Freedom to Travel Takes Another Step Back By [Jim Harper](https://www.cato.org/people/jim-harper) --- SHARE Yesterday, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it would begin a further attempt to implement the Western Hemisphere Travel (Restriction) Initiative. WHTI is a congressionally mandated program to increase the documentation required for travel to and from neighboring countries. It’s a classic example of self-injurious overreaction to terrorism. The costs we incur for this program vastly outstrip the harms it averts. I have [blogged](https://www.cato.org/2007/01/24/hear-that-its-the-sound-of-a-nation-constricting/) [about it](https://www.cato.org/2007/05/14/whti-does-more-harm-than-good/) [here](https://www.cato.org/2007/08/16/what-price-restricted-freedom/) [before](https://www.cato.org/2007/11/16/whti-should-go/). In a turn of phrase Orwell would love, a DHS blog post on the topic characterized the goings-on as “[Boosting Border Security and Efficiency](http://www.dhs.gov/journal/leadership/2009/06/western-hemisphere-travel-initiative.html).” In January 2008, I [wrote about](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9128) the border bedlam that would ensue when the DHS implemented WHTI as it had threatened to do, but the [DHS was bluffing](https://www.cato.org/2008/02/03/dhs-was-bluffing/). A post on the Identity Project has a bevy of links and information, and an interesting take on things. It’s called “[Today We’re All Prisoners in the USA](http://www.papersplease.org/wp/2009/06/01/today-were-all-prisoners-in-the-usa/).” [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).