Meeting an ATS Friend - Crossing the border from Canada to the USA - I've never been so hassled

Originally posted by kellynap43
reply to post by Gradius Maximus

 

Im so sorry for your experience and hope you continue to make visits the United States, but you do understand that over the past several months several Boarder Patorl Agents have been shot at and killed? They are probably a little tense. But that still isnt an excuse for their behavior and do apologize on behalf of them. Sorry.

Was this on the Mexican side of the border or the Canadian side? I find it hard to believe a bunch of Canadians are shooting boarder control officers?

Originally posted by verylowfrequency

I'd have just said "These are NOT the 'droids you're looking for" and left it at that....

OMG I laughed so hard at this! If someone actually does this will you please videotape it and show us!

On topic, sorry for what happened to you man. Americans get treated the same way in our own country. My hubby was going to repair a tv 2 hours away from our home (still in same state, and we live in SW USA). He went through one of these checkpoints, and the border patrol guy hasseled him for an hour, because he didn't believe my husband was really going to fix a tv. Why is beyond me because he looks like the epitome of nerd. He also had the parts, the work order, and his driver's licence has the correct address on it.
We feel your pain and know that if it was really up to most of us, you wouldn't be treated that way. Just to come over and say hi to someone, even if you've never met them face to face, is NOT a crime, and shouldn't be treated as such.

Originally posted by truthseeker1984

Originally posted by inanna1234
reply to post by Gradius Maximus

 

That's so crazy! I would have cried, what boarder crossing did this happen at?

This happened at the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls, ON. He was coming to visit me, and I had no idea that he would get so much crap from our "wonderful"

border patrol agents.

Protecting our country, they are not. This is Nazism at its finest (or worst, depending on how you are looking at the situation).



Peace be with you.

-truthseeker

Thats sooo crazy, I was thinking about going shopping in Buffalo but now I'm not tooo sure if I want to go anymore. I honestly would cry if someone treated me like that. For some reason I think I remember president Obama and Primeminster Harper having a meeting where they were going to improve boarder crossing and make like cards for people who cross regularly for business etc so they don't get hassled? Is this correct?

www.brucestanton.ca... imeter-security-and-economic-competitiveness-between-canada-and-the-united-states

Or will this just make it even harder to cross the boarder? It sucks that there making it so hard to go in or out of Americia... Maybe I will start having to go to the Disney Land in France instead?

I think what is really sad about all of this is that many don't see how we are being conditioned to accept this behaviour as our new paradigm of reality.

The War on Terror ?


It's all about justifying the expenditures to support a new undeclared war.
First it was Communism and now it's Terrorism.....Crazed Muslim Terrorists, recall that same video of OBL repeated over and over again firing the AK47 conditioning us to instill fear in feeble minded American's minds.

Americans who fear everything .....and now have a "Terrorist" in which to fear.

They should have just called Osama Bin Laden....Osama Bin Boogie Man....it's all the same....Fiction created for a cause ....a cause called profiteering.

The New American Century clearly pointed out the Powers That Be's objectives....and we are facing the repercussions of it today at all of our airports and borders today.

More money for the Industrial Military Complex is REALLY what it's all about.

Remember Dept. of Homeland Security ......Michael Chertoff ?

His company sells the million dollar scanners to our airports.....can you say Profit Profit Profit ?!
Using More Tax Payer's Money ?!

Mark my words that This War on Terror is a sign of things to come.

So when they come banging on your doors to lead you to the internment camps .....you will passively oblige.

'Resistance is Futile"

It's no wonder that tourism from abroad is WAY down....

Who wants the hassle ?

reply to post by inanna1234


I really hope you still do decide to come and shop in our wonderful city of Buffalo. Those BP Agents do not represent the rest of us. The city of Niagara Falls, NY, and Buffalo have taken huge hits in the past few years due to the new passport requirements. When I was a kid, we'd go to the Canadian side of the Falls at least three times a summer, and it was easy. Now you basically need your entire life story in a book, with 100 witnesses signed, to prove who you say you are...and this is all happening to our Canadian brothers and sisters while thousands of illegals cross the border EVERY DAY in the Southwest US, and nobody seems to give a damn about that!

I hate to think of the more nefarious plans that TPTB might have in mind. All these border hassles may make some of the less informed American and Canadian citizens push for a North American Union. I think we just need to loosen up our borders with a country that has always been our friend and ally.




Peace be with you.

-truthseeker

This is the reason I do NOT ever go to the states anymore! I won't even land there for a connecting flight. I don't buy American and nothing on my we site is for sale to Americans. Last time I crossed the border they tore my truck apart and didn't put it back together. However many countries there are on the planet, for me there is one less.

That has almost crossed the border from being ridiculous to being hilarious.

Strangely enough, the few times I've ventured to the US, it hasn't been the US guards who have given me any problems- surprisingly enough it's always been the Canadian guards.

Went to Niagra to visit family last year. Crossed the border twice, we got asked a few questions in addition to showing our passports "were are you going?" etc. and allowed to pass through. I will say this, they were a humorless crowd, -very-serious. My Mom and my Aunt are a bunch of "chatty Kathies" and like to giggle and laugh but when they realized the border guards were not normal human beings they became quiet real quick. I felt bad for the people who would get pulled over becuase their cars were getting trashed.


Honestly though I was more concerned with the economic state of things. The American side is a -dump-, picture post card for "I need help". The Canadian side was spotless and very nice. My only complaint about the Canadian side was the little squares of toilet paper in the public stalls, I'm an American and I make American sized poop!

Crossing the border with a car that is not owned by you nowadays is an almost guaranteed way to get the vehicle pulled over for a detailed search of it. While your answers were honest, they just made for a search to be almost inevitable. You probably got pulled over for a search because they run your plate right away and you weren't the owner of the car. If you would have lied about it being your car, you would have been busted on that. From what I have been told, the running of your plates happens to every car automatically, the guards don't even have to do it, they just see the info on their screens as you are at the booth. Kinda big brother, but that's the world we live in now.

I hate how crossing the U.S. / Canadian border has become like entering Eastern Europe in the Cold war years. It really saddens me. At least we can have an enhanced license to cross the border.

reply to post by Gradius Maximus


hmmmm....i had the same problem when going into Canada once in the last year. NO worries though, it was only Canada, and even though I had things they SHOULD have stopped me for, the didn't...becasue, after all, it's only Canada. The most useless county in the world.

Yes, everything I know about Canada, besides the times I have been there (3) has been learned by watching the movies Strange Brew and that one movie John Candy was in.

That's ridiculous! Sorry you had to go through all that trouble just to meet a fellow ATS friend.

Like you said yourself, you're essentially ''allowed'' to chat with strangers on the Internet all you want, but when you arrange to meet with said stranger, they seem to interpret this as ''highly suspicious'', as if everybody who arranges meetings with Internet strangers are people that belong on that show called ''To Catch A Predator''.

Originally posted by Gradius Maximus
So I braved the border today -

I journeyed across the sacred rainbow bridge which separates the 2 beautiful nations at Niagara Falls ON/NY. The following is a sad tale of just how unbelievable this journey has become.

It all began with a pleasant hour and 20 minute drive through the countryside, passing through wine country beside the great lakes - I came into the final stretch of the border, the wait wasn't long, maybe 5 minutes, as I pulled up, a tall man stepped out and eyed me harshly as I approached, he reminded me of mexican military in between the border of Jalisco in western mexico.

The conversation went roughly as follows,

Guard "Passport - What are you doing here today"

Gradius "Im having lunch at the hard rock cafe"

Guard "Where do you live"

Gradius "Vancouver BC, but I'm staying in Hamilton for now"

Guard (Long pause) "Why did you come here?"

Gradius "Im visiting family, and came to visit a friend"

Guard "Who does this car belong to"

Gradius "My mothers, im driving it for the day while im away from home"

Guard "Show me your license, registration and insurrance"

Gradius "No problem"

Guard "Who are you doing to see"

Gradius "My friend, John Smith (Privacy)"

Guard "How long have you known this friend and where do they live"

Gradius "About a year, im not sure where he lives, we havent met yet"

Guard "You havent MET this friend yet?"

Gradius "No, we know eachother from internet discussions"

Guard "You've NEVER met this person except from speaking with them on the INTERNET, Give me your keys"

(At this point he became very aggressive - I gave him my keys)

Gradius "Never met them, and yes, we've spoken in great length over the internet, just like I've done with many of my clients who I work with and rarely meet"

Guard "Hang on"

(At this point, 4 military dressed men walk over and 'tell' me to step out of the car)

They surround me, and one man asks if I'm carrying any weapons, firearms, knives, ect.

Gradius: I have a leatherman multitool in my pocket

(They all go alert)

Guard #1: DONT TOUCH IT!! let this man get it from you.

Gradius: Okay....No problem, its in this pocket (I had very deep 5 inch pockets)

Guard #3: (He struggles to remove it, sort of man handling my crotch area and then he gives up trying to reach)

Guard#2 Just let him take it out himself, (as he has a hand on his gun)

(I remove the leatherman multi tool, and very carefully give it to them with open palms, I'm sooo dangerous)

I am then escorted to a room filled with 4 armed guards, and told to sit down and wait, they proceed to rip apart the car and examine every nook and cranny, every square inch is sniffed by dogs and examined by 2 guards.

after about a half hour I'm shouted at from the back of the quarantine room.

Guard: Hey Boss, Come get your papers,

I take my papers, and they say "You can go now". I return to the car in shambles, things moved around and jossled, the contents of the dash emptied onto the seats, change spilled out onto the floor from my jacket pockets.

Going out for lunch in the USA was never such a big deal.

Apparently now - Its almost criminal - Or at least suspected of such.

I certainly felt like a criminal

How did it come to this?

-GM

edit on 31-5-2011 by Gradius Maximus because: (no reason given)

I have a cabin in Ontario that I visit every summer, rest assured it is the same way getting into Canada...

No one likes to say it but PROFILING would bring back some SANITY to this overblown terrorism thing!

Suddenly it's everyday citizens that are the 'terrorist'...when did we allow this to happen?

Here's a list below of foiled terrorist attempts since 9/11. Tell me how many aren't involving extreme Muslims?

FOILED TERRORIST PLOTS POST 9/11

It's a known fact that most Canadians don't like Americans, so I can understand the problems experienced by Americans wishing to cross the border. The border guards can hassle you because they CAN

USA you've really lost the plot and unfortunately the USA agenda is being exported WORLDWIDE, and is impacting on every other country

I say PROFILE and leave the GOOD CITIZENS alone.

reply to post by Gradius Maximus



Gradius, I feel for you...I really do, but you always need to stop and think about what you are wanting to do
and...what our state of affairs are currently with respect to things like "borders" and "terrorism."


Your story sounds a lot like this:

"Hi, I'm Muslim and I wanted to meet my friend (who is also Muslim) at the Chrysler building to take
some pictures of the beautiful landscapes and sunrise with my friend..."

Then you DHS, FBI, CIA and NSA all get wind of 2 Muslims dudes snapping pictures and video taping
tall buildings...in NYC of all places....

I ask you this? WTF would you expect to happen?

Now recant your tale again...

You are meeting someone you've never met (other than an online conversation) and are crossing the
border "just" to have lunch with them/him???? Then you refuse to give out his name as if you or your friend
have ANY right to privacy when you've already admitted you've got papers n # that identify you as a ward of the state?

^^^ Sounds like domestic terrorism to me.

Is it right? Of course not.
Is it the way it is? Yes, of course it is.

If I were you I would preempt any questions with answers that stop the officer dead in his tracks.
If you follow their lead, you are setting yourself up for a contradiction, don't do that.

Originally posted by SpaceJockey1
Suddenly it's everyday citizens that are the 'terrorist'...when did we allow this to happen?

This is how:
-The societies of old (that were well learned, educated and constitutionally aware of their rights) =all but extinct.

-Our new society's new mantra is this: "I'll sign whatever, I'll do whatever, I'll give up my rights and exchange them for privileges, I will take pictures and thumb prints....just PLEASE (begging) give me my ___________!!!!!"

^^^That is what most of us have become. What about the few? You are now domestic terrorists.

Technically they are correct. Because THIS is not the America it once was. Same real estate. Different Society

Originally posted by SpaceJockey1It's a known fact that most Canadians don't like Americans, so I can understand the problems experienced by Americans wishing to cross the border. The border guards can hassle you because they CAN

Actually they can't. Weak people are harassed because the Guards can smell the fear and complacency
from far away. Any soldier knows that. If you're black? And you live or visit the South? You're in for a rude
awakening sans the Jim Crow laws. They secretly still exist.

Originally posted by SpaceJockey1USA you've really lost the plot and unfortunately the USA agenda is being exported WORLDWIDE, and is impacting on every other country

I say PROFILE and leave the GOOD CITIZENS alone.

I take issue with your wording. A good citizen is akin to being called a good monkey.
A citizen is what the government wants you to proudly proclaim. When in FACT a citizen is a 2nd class kind
of citizen only given privileges because it is known they are NOT free.

America is asleep at the wheel, this is very true.
Canada is just as farked because the Queen just assumed and presumed control of your country plain and simple. Standing up for your right is your duty. Sitting down and taking it up the arse is your choice.

Welcome to our little police state.

The reason for this has nothing to to with terrorist, DHS, or Bin Ladin's pissed off nephews. We just don't like Canadians. Alex Trebeck was the last straw.

Eh honestly nothing really out of the ordinary here.. travelling alone is how a lot of drug trafficking is done.

When I was going through customs at toronto pearson coming back from st lucia (alone) they searched the F out of my bags.. because i was alone.

If I was the guard at the border you crossed i would have done the same thing.. he was likely following protocol or reacting to your suspicious story (which sounds made up on the spot to somebody who has never met up over the internet).. and especially since there is no way you could back up your story (you had never met the guy).

Unless there was severe damage to the car or anything, i dont see a problem here. I'm sure it sucked to be held up and viewed as a suspect but hey, you didnt get arrested, interrogated, or beaten. With how the world is today... I'd call that a good day ;p

reply to post by Gradius Maximus


Crossing from Canada to the US the guards are American, am I right? On the way back the guards would be Canadian? If that's the case I'm guessing that the trip back was a breeze hey.

reply to post by Gradius Maximus


And it's because of stories like these that I stopped going to and will never step foot in the US and A ever again...

Magnum