cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/62991105
Hey everyone!
For those that have crossed the US / Canadian border recently: what was your experience when going through US customs? Were you harassed / detained? Any tips to prepare for crossing?
My SO and I were talking earlier about having some family come up from the US to Canada to visit us. I suggested maybe they should wait a bit due to the apparent unhinged behaviour of US Customs; However, while my SO doesn’t deny the stories, she believes they might be rare cases & blown out of proportion by the media. She found out that the Vancouver woman that was detained for ~2 weeks also had improper paperwork - which is often left out by the media. While the detainment duration is still totally unjustified, the initial detainment was caused by the improper paperwork.
So I’m reaching out to those that actually cross the border to see what’s actually going on; as the media can be fanatical sometimes.
Thanks in advance!
What about leaving the US? Do they detain people on the way out?
I’ve never had to deal with any customs officers when leaving the country, even as a non citizen
I’ve once once or twice seen US officials stopping people at a US -> Canada land crossing, to check IDs. Maybe checking for outstanding warrants or something, it wasn’t clear. That was I think under Obama, definitely not recent, and I’ve only seen it a couple times. Just pointing out that it is technically possible.
I would be more concerned about tracking by license plates and cell phones, anywhere near a border.
Ah true I should’ve mentioned I only ever leave/enter the US by airplane. On purpose because I’ve heard all sorts of terrible things about the land border both international and interstate
TSA seems way better than the land border officers from what I’ve heard about them