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

Originally posted by Gorman91
reply to post by Demoncreeper

 

I'm suspicious of your claims. That's a right to sue right there, and they're fools not to have.

If you don't believe him, then you haven't been to the border. :p

reply to post by The_Zomar


I have, a while ago. I'll probably be again. Just can't see such as being true for so many. Or who knows. Maybe humanity has gotten more pathetic than I thought.

Originally posted by facelift
reply to post by Gradius Maximus

 

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"

You got what you gave - ignorance...out of all the answers you could have given, you chose the ones that made it most difficult - kinda like you wanted the hassle.

Well, bad decisions aside, what did you have for lunch..?

How are those answers difficult? Would you rather he lied? He told the truth and he had nothing to hide. Those agents were being difficult.

I also highly doubt he wanted any hassle..no take that back I know he didn't want any hassle.

Originally posted by MrWendal
Sounds to me like you offered way too much information. When asked who you were going to see, the answer should be "a friend" and offer nothing more. When asked where your friend lived, you could have just looked at him like he was an idiot and said "In the US. Thats why we are meeting for lunch there." If he persisted, you can just easily say, "New York, thats why I am meeting him there for lunch". You offered details that he never asked for and did not need to even know and you did it through the entire conversation.

For instance..when asked who's car you were driving. You said your mothers car and you are borrowing it because blah blah blah blah. Anything after "My Mother's car" is offered information that he neither asked for nor are you required to give.

Rest assured that the only information I gave him - Was exactly what he was demanding.

Smart alec remarks get you thrown out like yesturdays trash - I dont like to miss an appointment.

reply to post by mblahnikluver

I have nothing of worth to say...

We both posted on this thread last night, and you now decided to reply to my post..?


24hrs to get the courage up, huh..?

Originally posted by Gradius Maximus
I certainly felt like a criminal
How did it come to this?

war on drugs.

it came to this because you just submitted like everyone else...

Crossing the border is definitely a task these days.

Me and my band were swinging down into the states to make our way into Ontario from Manitoba since it saves around 11+ hours. We were also playing for FREE at 4 different shows along the way. As soon as we mentioned that we were a touring band, they immediately separated all 6 of us into different rooms for vigorous questioning and were strip searched. Our wallets, keys and everything in our pockets were swept for any traces of drugs and what not. None of us in the band do any kinds of drugs, so I think they were hard pressed to find nothing. Of course they tried to throw some confusing questions at us and try to trick us into saying something that they could pin against us. They had us run through all of our tattoos as well, I assume looking for some kind of gang affiliation.

Half through being questioned and searched I was taken back outside to our trailer where there was a good 3 or 4 armed guards surrounding my ATA flight case which contained my drum set. Little did I know, I forgot to take the lock off of it. They were completely freaking out, demanding to know what was inside of it. I explained to them several times that it was just a drum kit and if that they let me go grab my keys that I could unlock it. Finally after a minute of them yelling at me, they escorted me back inside to grab my keys and unlock it.

Once that situation was defused. I was escorted back inside for yet another headache. We presented legitamite proof that we were, in fact, playing for free while in the United States, documents and all signed by the promoters. We knew before hand, in order to make any money down in the states, you need a Work Visa, so we opted out to play for free. We provided the promoters phone numbers on the documents and after a couple phone calls we were finally allowed into the great United States of America.

But don't worry, of course they had a good time completely tearing apart the inside of our van and scattering our gear across the pavement as they tell us to hurry up and get out of the way.

We got a nice warm welcome coming back into Canada, that didn't involve taking our clothes off and taking up 4 hours of valuable travel time.

reply to post by Gradius Maximus


Well I have a very similar story that happened in Newark airport on my way to Canada.

I was asked all kinds of personal questions, some of which wern't even relevant.

Those situations are very intimidating, so believe me you tend to tell them the truth when they ask, no matter how ridiculous the truth may sound. Then I was asked why I was so nervous....well duhhhh I wonder why?

Then when going through a metal detector I was told to stop and wait (I was the only one there).

The guard made a gesture towards me which I thought he meant he was waving me forward. So I slowly moved forward......well the guy nearly had a friggin heart attack. "STAY WHERE YOU ARE!!!"

Eeeeeeeek.....yes sir!

The Canadians asked me some questions, but only a few reasonable ones.

Seriously, I won't ever go to America again.

So in America.
Never say you are meeting an internet freind.
try pen pal next time.
very OLD but may work.

great!

we have to do this on the southern boarder.


no grope?


what makes you so special?

this is not police state security dummy. You had all the hallmarks of a drug mule. Their just doing their damn job. Problem is that drugs are illegal not that border security is strong. All in all the only strong security, unless private property, should be at the border, this inside the country TSA bs is what you call a police state.

I ve read the border "incident" and have the feel that this unfriendly security seems to become a regular and normal procedure. After a while people will not be surprised to be checked for irregularities on their person this way and will expect to be treated that way..

Here in Holland some major cities have started to put an un-armed force of vigilante on the streets. These guys have the word "TOEZICHT EN HANDHAVING" spelled on the back of their t-shirts and jackets and translated in english it is something like "OVERSIGHT AND ENFORCEMENT". I guess they are there to reduce street crime, crowd-control at public gatherings like concerts and such. They are also assisting the shopowners and police when somebody got caught shoplifting.

Streetcrime is close to non-excistant in most of the dutch cities, the exception will be certain neighbourhoods in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. These vigilante cruise the streets on foot, bicycle, cars or on motorscooter and keep an watchfull eye and give the citizens a save feeling. Nothing wrong with that but if this vigilante is needed in every city they are at the moment and if the citizens feel unsafe is doubtfull. Alltogether it looks innocent and a welcome service from the town-counsils. It is better to prevent than to be sorry.

Here in Holland we do have all sorts of crime but not on a scale like some cities in the USA. As a matter of fact we had to close down a prison because there are not enough criminals to fill it with.

Where is my story leading to..? Well I am a believer of the words Bush Sr said during his speech before the UN in 1991. His famous words about the idea of a New World Order. He was very confident of himself when he promised it will be realised. I believe that at the moment he spoke these words most of the tools needed for making that global change were already avaiable or in place. The only thing left to do was crossing the T's and dotting the I's .

I also belief that there is a think-tank with some very smart people working around the clock making a smooth transition towards this NWO. Part of that plan is to have a manpower in place that is trained, available, motivated and able to control the population when the shtf.

These vigilantes are probably not aware of what their future purpose will be. They are still very kind and helpfull if there is a citizen in need and take much of the workload from the regular policeforce who is busy with more important things? Anyways,..if my suspicion is true these vigilante will gradually receive more "tools" to control and investigate the population. I belief that they will gradually be instructed and granted to use more force and that these OVERSIGHT vigilante will be integrated with the regular policeforce.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/1409e5f830eb.jpg[/atsimg]
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d9ca2f88278f.jpg[/atsimg]
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/aa567386b6f1.jpg[/atsimg]

You should have said you were going to lunch and having pulled pork and then to a dog show with a jewish buddy.

Next time!

This reminds me of this video here... I 'think' I saw it orginally on ATS anyway.

reply to post by Gradius Maximus


Was stuck locked out of ATS for a couple days and while I could not post did read your thread and was fully entertained. It really made me think and was so frustrating for me not to be able to comment and support your experience even if it was by a S@F and this simple post to let you know I feel for ya. You handled it well and the lessons of this will somehow serve you in the future, I did like the Jedi comments in the OP and believe it is possible...

Glad you ate well and that you made it back safe.

My guess is the guards thought you were a weirdo

Yes, because we all know how dangerous those "weirdos" can be.

I spend my tourist dollars elsewhere, I refuse to be treated like crap for the privilege of spending my money to help the US economy.

Originally posted by Merigold

My guess is the guards thought you were a weirdo

Yes, because we all know how dangerous those "weirdos" can be.

I spend my tourist dollars elsewhere, I refuse to be treated like crap for the privilege of spending my money to help the US economy.

The BP guard in the booth was looking at me in disgust his mouth said "Wait right here" but his eyes said "....You long haired....Internet friend seeking.....Freak!"

reply to post by Gradius Maximus


oh dont you worry...
it will happen very soon in your area too

You sounded completely suspicious. You should have just said you were a day-tourist visiting "all the attractions in Niagra Falls, NY". Very non-specific. Give them more anymore specifics...and that causes more questions.

Frankly, for my safety and my countrymen...Im glad they did treat you that way. Definitely doing their jobs.
You gotta understand that.