American border enforcement nonsense

[Jac de Molay]

His point is that some of the border guards are devoid of common sense and harrassing people that are clearly no threat. I

I figure what goes around comes around because it's always been harder getting into Canada than coming back. If I had a nickel for everytime I was harassed by Canadian customs going over. .....

Just another reason to open the border once and for all..

[SlowwHand]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


Do you still beat your wife Slowwhand?

That was surely a reach.


And no way, to opening the border to French-wannabes.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
That was surely a reach.

Ah, you finally found your own type of trolls boring, eh. That's a good start.

[Willem]

Originally posted by DetroitDave

Just another reason to open the border once and for all..

I see no reason why we can't at least have only one customs post instead of two. It would save both our countries money by working together, and it would no doubt be much more efficient. Not to mention less time consuming for people crossing.

[Flubber]

Well thisd thread degenerated quickly . . .

Original story-- Obviously some border guard was a bit too overzealous in enforcing the rules. There has to be a bit of common sense applied wrt the many people that sit astride the border. I don't know if they still exist but there were cases where a single house straddled the border so that the inhabitants might sleep in their bedroom in Canada and eat breakfast in their kitchen in the US. To expect them to walk to a border crossing post before doing so would be equally ludicrous as the example cited above.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Flubber
I don't know if they still exist but there were cases where a single house straddled the border so that the inhabitants might sleep in their bedroom in Canada and eat breakfast in their kitchen in the US. To expect them to walk to a border crossing post before doing so would be equally ludicrous as the example cited above.

I recall seeing a story about that on the CBC once. It was along the New Brunswick/Maine border wasn't it? There was another one I remember as well. A restaurant had the border going right down the middle of it's dining room; they even had the line painted on the floor.

[SlowwHand]

Ever watchful, UR on the job.

[MichaeltheGreat]

It's not so much being "too zealous in enforcing," as it is "too inflexible in micromanaging." A lot of things that the customs/INS people happily ignored in the name of common sense, they can now be disciplined and even terminated for failing to do.

There's a lot of top-down pressure, originating with Congress, and it leads to absurd crap like this, while other border security risks are not addressed.

The simple answer is to have a buffer zone, and people passing out of that buffer zone, would be subject to normal inspection.

[ThePantaloonDog]

One of the problems with how security has 'improved' in this country is simple things that originally weren't really security concerns are 'improved'. Its a lot easier to slap some border officers on patrol and use that as example of America's increased security than to come up with a reasonable and quick way to search freight every time they come into the country.

[RedFred]

This story is no longer remarkable. A certain Olympic gold medal snowboarder is now forbidden from entering the US. He has zero convictions and zero charges, but has admitted to smoking pot. I seem to recall a former US President admitting the same thing.

Another individual living in a town right on the border, with no official border crossing was in the habit of going a stone's throw across the border to the only gas station in the whole region. He was arrested and spent about a month in jail. His crime was getting gas with his pickup that had a hunting rifle in it. Normally a voice of reason in the Bush administration, Colin Powell defended the US action.

In a narrow sence MtG may be correct. In a broader sense, dealing with the concerns of other countries, even the US's largest trading partner, is not a priority for the leaders at the top directing these border guards.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Canadians haven't been a help to-date in keeping the border secure.
Your joking illustrates the point perfectly.
A shame Canada has nothing worth blowing down.

You have anything to back this up or are you just talking out of your ass like usual?

Let me guess: "war in Iraq" = "border security"

[optimus2861]

^ Actually, RedFred, it later came to light that the individual in question had been warned on at least one previous occasion not to cross the border with a firearm, at least that's how I heard it. In that case, my sympathy for the bugger drops off considerably.

Is this "culture of fear" type border enforcement ever going to subside in the USA?

[KrazyHorse]

Hah! Preemptive snubbing...

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/03/28/pm_wash_visit030328B

[optimus2861]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Canadians haven't been a help to-date in keeping the border secure.

To answer a troll with a troll...

Number of 9/11 hijackers who entered the USA via Canada: 0
Number of 9/11 hijackers who entered the USA directly: the whole lot of 'em
USA border agents believing they can act like pompous jackasses at the Canadian border: priceless.

(Actually, I've sanitized the third line from where I originally read it )

[MichaeltheGreat]

Probably not for a long, long time.

It's interesting, though, because at the San Ysidro crossing between Tijuana and San Diego, it's gotten to be a sort of routine schizophrenic mix of slackness and occasional ridiculous delays for no apparent reason.