American border enforcement nonsense

[Asher]

I've always had MUCH more trouble dealing with Canadian border guards than American.

When we were moving back to Canada, our moving truck was held for two days and completely emptied by the border guards since they thought it might contain drugs ( ). The stuff barely fit in the truck and United had to call a bunch of people in to repack it all (the border guards just rip it all out and leave it on the concrete and nod their head when they find no drugs, then go away).

Canada border guards

[KrazyHorse]

Yup. Canadian border guards are definitely tighter-assed about searches...(we had our vehicle searched on the way back from New Mexico).

The girl doing it took one sniff of our "dirty laundry bag" and waved us through.

The clothes had gotten damp and had been sitting in a plastic garbage bag for 2 weeks.

But "cracking down" on folks like the abovementioned couple is just f*cking ridiculous. There are entire towns straddling the border. Maybe we should take to f*cking over US citizens transiting from point to point through Canadian territory...

[Jac de Molay]

For what it's worth, they should just open the border and concentrate on entry into the two countries as a whole.

Border crossing was slow before 9/11. It's ten times worse now. I don't even bother to go to windsor anymore it's such a pain in the ass.

[KrazyHorse]

Not gonna happen as long as you guys are racially profiling etc., and probably wouldn't be agreed to in any event.

There's just way too much paranoia down there...

[KrazyHorse]

Would make it a lot easier as far as getting fine BC bud to the US markets is concerned, though.

[Kontiki]

Personally, I've always (as in absolute, complete 100% of the time) found that US guards hassled me more than Canadian guards.

[KrazyHorse]

Opposite for me. Gotten searched once by Canadian border guards, stopped and heavily questioned another two times. Never got anything more than "where are you from" from the US guards. Haven't been through the border since 2001, though.

[Kontiki]

Originally posted by Asher
I've always had MUCH more trouble dealing with Canadian border guards than American.

When we were moving back to Canada, our moving truck was held for two days and completely emptied by the border guards since they thought it might contain drugs ( ). The stuff barely fit in the truck and United had to call a bunch of people in to repack it all (the border guards just rip it all out and leave it on the concrete and nod their head when they find no drugs, then go away).

Canada border guards

I'm sure the US border guards would just wave you through.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Kontiki
I'm sure the US border guards would just wave you through.

That's aparently what they did.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Kontiki
I'm sure the US border guards would just wave you through.

They did, when we moved down there.

The driver handed them the papers and documentation, they waved them through.

[ricketyclik]

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat

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

Then you really do double the problem. Forgive me, but are there serious security tensions between Canada and the US?

[Willem]

Originally posted by ricketyclik


Then you really do double the problem. Forgive me, but are there serious security tensions between Canada and the US?

It's all part of the US anti-terrorist security. Shortly after Sept. 11, a few politicians started pointing their fingers at us and saying our security was to lax. There had been a terrorist apprehended at the border coming in from Canada previously; his target was the LA airport. So because of a single incident, some zealots started saying that we were a haven for terrorists, and demanded stricter enforcement of the border.

[ricketyclik]

Hohoho. The Australian Govt ran border protection as the major election issue here last election, whipping up public paranoia and frenzy, lying about the circumstances of a refugee interception, and, here is the similarity, accusing New Zealand of having lax border protection and providing a "back door" for illegal immigrants to Australia.

Tear down the walls

[RedFred]

I am taking a look at a map and I figure if Kiwis are getting across the 'border' to Australia illegally then something is just not quite right.

Originally posted by 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?

Optimus, I know of several honest people, including my sister, that have crossed the US border illegally because there was no sensible alternative. My sister even called up US customs, volunteered when and where she had to cross and offered to go through any necessary paperwork to clear her in advance. US Customs kept repeating to her that the only way of crossing was at a place with a Customs and that anything else was illegal. So she crossed illegally.

If I know of several people who have done the same thing, there must be tens of thousands of honest Canadians nationwide who also do so over the course of a year. Not to mention all the smugglers.

Canada is large, very large. So is the US. You just can't build a wall around the whole thing. IMHO, the whole "fortress America" is just not going to work out so well. Even with sats and electronic monitoring you can't keep all determined individuals out.