Crossing the Canadian Border...

[ScreamingMeemie]

In light of all the 9/11 anniversary stuff... The posts on security etc, I thought I would share this with you.

This past weekend I went up to Grand Bend (actually Bayfield) Ontario for a Girls Weekend. My husband's aunt has a cottage there on Lake Huron. I was extra positive to make sure I had my driver's license and birth certificate. The people in the car with me had their birth certificates as well. We went through the checkpoint and were asked our nationality, where we were going, what we were bringing etc. Not one of us had to show I.D., no car check..nothing. On the way back, U.S. side, same treatment.

Not once did I have to prove my citizenship or open my trunk. In fact, nobody in line did. I ask you this... Are we really secure? Of course not. They can let us look in on NORAD all they want, via CNN (and wasn't that just lucky they were diverting a plane while CNN was filming?) and I'm still not going to buy their particular brand of "safety".

[Captain Hilts]

1. It's random except for specific profiles - young men...

I've had my car searched several times.

Single woman in 40s heading up to visit the university.

I think they have a search quota and think my car would be easy.

But, specifically on the trains going into Canada, they use profiles. Every man between the ages of 15 and 40 got their luggage searched. Evidently, they do find a good amount of drugs, so the profiles must be working to some extent.

[ScreamingMeemie]

2. And yet my sister in law, who could have been easily "profiled"

and wasn't. I'm not buying their lax search methods. The border is wide open.

[Captain Hilts]

3. ALL border people under estimate women as potentially....

involved in smuggling, etc.

But, yes, border security is pretty lax.

[Horse with no Name]

9. Only the Northern border

We obviously don't care about the light skinned people crossing--just the dark skinned people on the Southern border.

[warrens]

21. It's not wide open

I've crossed several times this year, and sometimes they gave me a hard time and sometimes they didn't. Starting Jan. 1, you need a passport to get back into the U.S. When we came back on July 4, there was a two-hour wait at the Vermont border because they were searching people at random.

[ScreamingMeemie]

25. It is wide open. I have lived here in Michigan for 24 years and traveled

across the border even before that. I have only been stopped once...due to a stupid boyfriend.

I was stunned and still am, and will always be (though I wonder why) that the border is so lax. We have never had more than an hour's wait even though the radio will tell us otherwise.

[terrya]

4. I went up to Toronto a few days after the terrorist plot...

was revealed in London. You remember...the one where several planes from London to the United States were supposed to be blown up in mid-air. Resulting in not being able to take shampoos, hair gels, etc on planes anymore.

Well, I was going to Toronto via Greyhound bus. And...right after this terror alert....the Canadian customs officials asked me my purpose going to Canada. Glanced at my birth certificate and drivers license.

On my way back, the United States customs official barely glanced at my documentation. Just asked me how long I'd been in Canada and...that was it. No examination of my bag, nothing. It was almost like the custom official could barely be bothered.

It wasn't an airplane, granted. But I thought the security along the border would be tightenedno matter what mode of transport...particularly after a terrorist plot was revealed. I was astounded, quite frankly.

[ScreamingMeemie]

5. That is exactly how I felt.

Astounded. There were no lines. The border patrolman did not even leave his cubby. In light of the fact we are supposedly "vigilant" inre air travel, one would think we would be focusing on other methods of terrorism as well. It was rather frightening...if I were frightened easily. We have crossed the border several times since 9/11 (living right across the river as we do) and not once have I ever really felt the border police were more thorough than they were "pre 9/11".

[gaspee]

6. Let me guess...

You're white? And "All American" looking?

When I used to frequently cross the US/Mexico border (Presidio into and out of Ojinaga or just driving across the river) my friend and I, two blond, female Americans never, ever, ever got stopped and searched - for drugs or whatever) but if we had our friend Octavia with us, who had more money than us and whose family had been in the US going back to Alamo times.
And if we had male friends with us, we were stopped. Even though one was a parmedic and the other a National park worker. I think it was the dreadlocks with those two, though, not that they were male. But just the two of us white, female, "All-American" chicas, never stopped.

Funny how that works, isn't it?

[ScreamingMeemie]

7. I would agree with you if my sister in law wasn't dark and sitting in

the car next to me. I cross the border often, with many people, and it is luck of the draw lots of times. While I'm sure more "all white" cars are let through, I've been let through with profilable people in my car as well. :hi:

The only time I was ever stopped and questioned was in the 80's when my idiotic boyfriend (blond, blue eyed 2nd Gen German) said,Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" and thought it was funny. It took forever to get the carpet back in my car.

[MaineDem]

8. I cross often and I find the same thing

We usually offer them our passports and they say thank you and pass us along. Rarely is there a question other than perhaps the Canadian pfficial asking what our visit is for.

[ScreamingMeemie]

10. Amazing, eh?

Where is the vigilance? I mean, it's nice and all that everyone can get where they are going rather easily, BUT, if we are to believe the goverment shouldn't somebody be watching?

[movie_girl99]

11. my husband had a scary experience

he was in Caribou, Maine on business. He is from England but has lived here for 7 years and we've been married for 6. He has his permanent resident card but at that time didn't carry it for fear of losing it (it took an act of god and several thousand dollars to get). At the airport in Maine on his way back home he was asked if he was an American and he said " no, but I live in America" he was asked to show his card. He explained that he didn't carry it for fear of losing it and they immediately took him to a room with two armed guys and questioned him. They called INS to verify his status and warned him that he was breaking the law by not carrying his card and he could be jailed but they let him off with a warning. He was scared shit less but managed to get on the flight that was delayed in leaving because of him. This was in the US but he was told by the friends he was traveling with that they were very cautious up there because the 9-11 terrorist came that way.

[ScreamingMeemie]

15. I am glad your husband was not detained any longer than that.

That had to be very frightening.

[truebrit71]

19. Have your husband make a photocopy and carry the card all the time....

The cops cannot demand it as ID, but it was a misdemeanor NOT to produce it when asked for it.

[movie_girl99]

20. he is never without it now

it was an honest mistake but one he defiantly learned from.

[truebrit71]

22. Yup, the INS guys can be such welcoming bastards to us immigrants....

..

[movie_girl99]

24. tell me about it

what a nightmare it was to deal with them. Things are much easier now in some ways. Forms can be downloaded and appointments set online so you don't have to wait in all day lines but what about those who don't have internet access? We were fortunate enough to be able to hire an immigration attorney to make the process less painful but we still had to go down the the INS office a few times.

[Avis]

12. Checked every time

Going into Canada is a pleasant experience, but of course they like having "shoppers" come. Coming back it is always a driver's license and car license put into the computer and look through the trunk.
(This is on the MN/MB border) Most of the people are nice, but they do check everyone. Seems ridiculous though - why would a terrorist drive through a border check when they can easily just walk through the woods or go across the lake? Actually, here, I don't think we have much to worry about - but the Canadians are always picking up people coming from the US with drugs. The drug people don't go through the border crossings either - they just cross through woods and lakes. They must think the terrorists aren't as smart as drug people - that they live in Canada and are going to drive through a border crossing? Most of my Canadian friends are annoyed that the US thinks they are terrorists trying to get in to the US.

[ScreamingMeemie]

16. It seems funny to me, but they used to seem tighter in the 80's than

they do now.

[jimshoes]

13. I've had experiences that run the

gamut from merely declaring our citizenship, (pre 9-11) to having to prove I owned the car I was driving. Almost always since 9-11 coming back to the states, I've had to show proof of citizenship at the very least. I have waited in 3 hour lines to cross and at other times had to wait only a few minutes. To be perfectly honest, we are going to have to come to grips with the fact that we are not ever going to be 100% safe from the "bad guys". I've found that by not dwelling on "terra" I can get through the day just fine.

[ScreamingMeemie]

17. I'm a "live free or die" kind of girl, so the terror thing doesn't bother

me. I'm commenting on it being in rather direct opposition to the government having "everything under control".

[Zensea]

14. They probably ran you through a data base though

I crossed into Canada recently from northeastern Washington State.
The crossing agent asked me a couple of questions. Looked at my driver's license and passport.
Not much else, but he took his time & I'm sure he typed my name in quickly to check on a data base.
When I came back in through Bellingham, I sure felt more hassle even though it was also a few basic questions and no search.

These agents do this every day, they're probably pretty good at picking up vibes and sensing how natural your responses are. It might seem like the questions they ask are simple and innocent enough, but when I got to thinking about them later I realized that the questions (coming back into the United States) were designed to see how quickly I answered and what my demeanor was when asked. Things like, what did I do for a living and what exactly proofreading is (since that's what I do), why was I in Washington State and Vancouver when I lived in New York.
The types of questions that I had no trouble answering but would have maybe paused answering if I was trying to cover something up.

[ScreamingMeemie]

18. They had nothing to "run through" though. They didn't ask my name

didn't ask for my driver's license. I admit, for some stupid reason, I get very edgy crossing (always have...guess it's fear of authority) and always pause when answering. One time I gave the wrong city (my birth city) and then corrected myself, and the customs agent didn't even blink an eye.

[Zensea]

23. who knows then, maybe a retinal scan

:)

[bif]

27. They always type in your car's license #

[bif]

26. Just the opposite for us

We went to the Pinery about a month ago--Family Reunion in the Woods! they really grilled us on the Canadian side and we all had to show passports. The American side was a little looser, but they did ask us a bunch of questions. It all depends on what you look like, how relaxed you are, etc. Those folks are pretty well trained in what to look for.

[ScreamingMeemie]

28. I gotta disagree bif. I am never relaxed at the border and I don't know

why. Not one of us had to show I.D. That's far too lax in my opinion.


And unless they have a lightening quick, scanner mabobber for license plates...they didn't do that either.


A friend of MrG's is a border agent and says really anyone can do the job.