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> I'm so embarrassed how America treats people entering the U.S. The contrast between entering other civilised countries and entering the United States is one
by zeveb 10y ago
> I'm so embarrassed how America treats people entering the U.S.
The contrast between entering other civilised countries and entering the United States is one of the things I hate about travelling. Every other country I visit manages to control its borders and have a pleasant, polite entry process, but not my own! I've seen border agents scream and holler at people who clearly don't understand English: there's just no excuse for that. It's rude.
The United States and Europe are political units of approximately the same population and area; there's no reason why entry into the U.S. must be so much more miserable than entry in the E.U., any more than there's a reason why we Americans pay such relatively high taxes for such relatively little in services.
I don't know the particulars of this incident, so I won't comment on it. The man's not a citizen, so he certainly doesn't have a right to enter, but I do think that the border exception to the Fourth Amendment is terrible, and that requiring citizens to share the contents of their electronic devices without a warrant is an invasion of privacy.
- refurb 10y agoHave you ever travelled to Canada? I've had a much worse experience with their border police than I have with the US and I'm a Canadian!
- mikestew 10y agoEh? Canadian border guards have always been what I've come to expect out of all Canadians: pleasant and polite to a fault. But my crossings, save two or three, are always on a motorcycle so my anecdata isn't very useful. U. S., OTOH, I dread and I'm a citizen.
- cesarbs 10y agoDo you mind sharing your story?
- refurb 10y agoCrossed the US/Canada border probably 30-40 times, both via plane and car. Of the 4 rough incidents I've had with border agents, 3 have been with the Canadians and 1 with the US. I've had the Canadian border agents accuse me of trying to smuggle in a car to sell (depending on the exchange rate it can be profitable). I've also had them grill me as to why I'm coming to Canada. "Who are you meeting? What will you be doing?". I'm Canadian, you have to let me in! On the US side, it's mostly "Welcome home!" even though I only had a green card. There was one time when a CBP officer got testy wanting to know who owned the car while my wife was driving. It was more his foul mood than anything. Logically, you'd expect the US agents to grill me considering I'm not a citizen, not the Canadians. That said, the US and Canadian border agents work very closely together. They share their lists of "suspects" and are more than willing to hand someone over to the other side if it makes their life easier. Another comment said that since this happened in a Canadian airport, the guy should have just left. I'm pretty sure the US CBP would have let their Canadian colleagues know about this guy and he wouldn't have made it out of the aiport.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- dghughes 10y agoI'm Canadian but I've never had any problems coming back into Canada. Sure I go through smaller crossings into the Maritimes that could be part of it. My theory is I think it's almost a relief when border police deal with a fellow Canadian. If it's someone from the US I bet 99% of their worry is they have a gun. But US customs seem to have a chip on their shoulder as if they want to torment you.