Welcome To Americaland

By RICHARD ZOGLIN/

America may be the land of the free, but getting into the country by land will not be a free ride much longer. Congress has given the Justice Department the right to start collecting tolls from automobiles entering the U.S. at various border checkpoints. An initial test will take place in March in Blaine, Wash.: for a one-time $25 fee, drivers will be allowed unlimited crossings in a special "express lane." Tolls of $2 a crossing will be tested later. Officials claim the tolls are needed to pay for more border agents and to improve facilities at the crowded checkpoints. Opponents have complained that poor day laborers will be hardest hit by the charges and that instituting them is tantamount to "treating the U.S. like a national park."

With reporting by David E. Thigpen