4 ms·

I've had the same thing happen to me re-entering the US on multiple occasions. Once I was kicked out of a border patrol point in northern Vermont in a snowstor

by sneak 3y ago

I've had the same thing happen to me re-entering the US on multiple occasions. Once I was kicked out of a border patrol point in northern Vermont in a snowstorm in February after they had sent my bus on without me hours before. I had to hitchhike to not freeze. Border cops are the worst.

polygamous_bat 3y ago
> Border cops are the worst. They are just a symptom of what happens when you give people power and no accountability.
- hef19898 3y ago
  Well, Frontex, the EU border patrol agency, was imvolved in illegal pushbacks (you cannot deny entry to asylum seekers, not speak of the duty to help people in dostres at sea) multiple times. Even resulting in the death of people. Nothing happened, besides having the head of Frontex being removed. Go figure.
  - eastbound 3y ago
    [flagged]
    - hef19898 3y ago
      That is certainly a.... take on Frontex job. But by that take, tze job of border police is to shoot at people. Well, at least in East Germany that was part of the job description, they aimed at people tryingbto leave so. And invaders require an invasion. That means war, and then it woupd be the various NATO navies and airforces doing the shooting. What Frontex does is just simply illegal and inhumane in some cases.
      - eastbound 3y ago
        [flagged]
    - gpvos 3y ago
      No, they are actually forbidden from doing that. They should stop illegal migrants, that is a different action and different people. To stop invaders we have an army.
sbarre 3y ago
I have heard so many stories - all anecdotal of course but it's been a pattern over the last 20 years - of people crossing the US/Can border on buses specifically being abnormally questioned, searched or detained. I wonder if there's some kind of bias against buses in border guard culture or training? Are you more likely assumed to be up to no good because you're travelling in the cheapest possible way? People of all race/class/status/age/appearance too.. It even happened to me when I was 19, but I did not look very respectable at the time so I chalked it up to that.
- rdtsc 3y ago
  This also includes buses on internal routes but within the 100 miles or so of the border. They would stop a bus and ask everyone to prove they are citizens. I know someone who overstayed their visa who was caught and extradited that way. It’s a way for illegal immigrants to travel relatively cheaply. As opposed to driving or walking. So buses became this target.
  - UncleSlacky 3y ago
    > within the 100 miles or so of the border. Yes, that's a Constitution-free zone: https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/border-zone https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/border-zone
- sneak 3y ago
  Well in my case I can certainly tell you it was because I answered "that's none of your business" to all the questions they asked me. They were livid, and the search they carried out was in an attempt at maximum intimidation. I'm a US citizen re-entering the US with a valid US passport. They have to let me in and I don't have to answer a damn thing (because the appeals court has already ruled they can search everything you have, including all electronics, without probable cause, I refuse to make their job any easier than it needs to be). On a separate incident at a separate border point (the Windsor-Detroit tunnel) they sexually assaulted my then-girlfriend (not a US citizen) during a very thorough body search which was also conducted for punitive reasons only after our refusal to cooperate in their search of our electronic devices (after they had already decided to deport her). (In that case I was driving a rented luxury car, so I don't think it was bus bias, I think it was just retaliation for insisting on our human rights.) US CBP is rotten trash.
jjulius 3y ago
>Border cops are the worst. You used to be able to re-enter the US with just your birth certificate and a driver's license, ~18+ years ago or so. I was 19 and driving back into the US just north of Bellingham, WA, and this rule was set to change later on in the year, but it was still legal to use this method at my time of travel. The border patrol agent literally said to me, "You know, I have half a mind to not let you in right now with these, because that's what's going to happen to you in a few months if you try this shit again." Like... what? He let me in, but that statement was bizarre.
- bruceb 3y ago
  Had two negative experiences at the same place. Some agents are outwardly hostile. There was no provocation.
  - dehugger 3y ago
    I live in the aforementioned city. Lots of locals have similar stories, people that cross quite regularly. No idea why BP are such pricks. Their Canadian counter parts are reportedly quite lovely.
    - iggldiggl 3y ago
      Reminds me of that trip report of a road trip through Canada I stumbled across a while ago (start here if you have some time to spare for some reading: https://mrgris.com/travel/blog/labrador/ https://mrgris.com/travel/blog/labrador/), which also included a visit to Estcourt (https://mrgris.com/travel/blog/labrador/3/ https://mrgris.com/travel/blog/labrador/3/), which has one of those slightly unusual border situations with most of the village in Canada and only a couple of houses in the US (and then nothing but miles and miles of forest until the rest of Maine – so the border post only serves the logging traffic and those few houses). The US border guards at that occasion where highly suspicious and questioned them for three quarters of an hour, whereas the Canadian official was indeed quite lovely and commented about his US colleagues that "ah yes, they have a… different frame of mind."

by sneak 3y ago

polygamous_bat 3y ago

> Border cops are the worst. They are just a symptom of what happens when you give people power and no accountability.

hef19898 3y ago
Well, Frontex, the EU border patrol agency, was imvolved in illegal pushbacks (you cannot deny entry to asylum seekers, not speak of the duty to help people in dostres at sea) multiple times. Even resulting in the death of people. Nothing happened, besides having the head of Frontex being removed. Go figure.
- eastbound 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - hef19898 3y ago
    That is certainly a.... take on Frontex job. But by that take, tze job of border police is to shoot at people. Well, at least in East Germany that was part of the job description, they aimed at people tryingbto leave so. And invaders require an invasion. That means war, and then it woupd be the various NATO navies and airforces doing the shooting. What Frontex does is just simply illegal and inhumane in some cases.
    - eastbound 3y ago
      [flagged]
  - gpvos 3y ago
    No, they are actually forbidden from doing that. They should stop illegal migrants, that is a different action and different people. To stop invaders we have an army.

sbarre 3y ago

I have heard so many stories - all anecdotal of course but it's been a pattern over the last 20 years - of people crossing the US/Can border on buses specifically being abnormally questioned, searched or detained. I wonder if there's some kind of bias against buses in border guard culture or training? Are you more likely assumed to be up to no good because you're travelling in the cheapest possible way? People of all race/class/status/age/appearance too.. It even happened to me when I was 19, but I did not look very respectable at the time so I chalked it up to that.

rdtsc 3y ago
This also includes buses on internal routes but within the 100 miles or so of the border. They would stop a bus and ask everyone to prove they are citizens. I know someone who overstayed their visa who was caught and extradited that way. It’s a way for illegal immigrants to travel relatively cheaply. As opposed to driving or walking. So buses became this target.
- UncleSlacky 3y ago
  > within the 100 miles or so of the border. Yes, that's a Constitution-free zone: https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/border-zone https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/border-zone
sneak 3y ago
Well in my case I can certainly tell you it was because I answered "that's none of your business" to all the questions they asked me. They were livid, and the search they carried out was in an attempt at maximum intimidation. I'm a US citizen re-entering the US with a valid US passport. They have to let me in and I don't have to answer a damn thing (because the appeals court has already ruled they can search everything you have, including all electronics, without probable cause, I refuse to make their job any easier than it needs to be). On a separate incident at a separate border point (the Windsor-Detroit tunnel) they sexually assaulted my then-girlfriend (not a US citizen) during a very thorough body search which was also conducted for punitive reasons only after our refusal to cooperate in their search of our electronic devices (after they had already decided to deport her). (In that case I was driving a rented luxury car, so I don't think it was bus bias, I think it was just retaliation for insisting on our human rights.) US CBP is rotten trash.

jjulius 3y ago

>Border cops are the worst. You used to be able to re-enter the US with just your birth certificate and a driver's license, ~18+ years ago or so. I was 19 and driving back into the US just north of Bellingham, WA, and this rule was set to change later on in the year, but it was still legal to use this method at my time of travel. The border patrol agent literally said to me, "You know, I have half a mind to not let you in right now with these, because that's what's going to happen to you in a few months if you try this shit again." Like... what? He let me in, but that statement was bizarre.

bruceb 3y ago
Had two negative experiences at the same place. Some agents are outwardly hostile. There was no provocation.
- dehugger 3y ago
  I live in the aforementioned city. Lots of locals have similar stories, people that cross quite regularly. No idea why BP are such pricks. Their Canadian counter parts are reportedly quite lovely.
  - iggldiggl 3y ago
    Reminds me of that trip report of a road trip through Canada I stumbled across a while ago (start here if you have some time to spare for some reading: https://mrgris.com/travel/blog/labrador/ https://mrgris.com/travel/blog/labrador/), which also included a visit to Estcourt (https://mrgris.com/travel/blog/labrador/3/ https://mrgris.com/travel/blog/labrador/3/), which has one of those slightly unusual border situations with most of the village in Canada and only a couple of houses in the US (and then nothing but miles and miles of forest until the rest of Maine – so the border post only serves the logging traffic and those few houses). The US border guards at that occasion where highly suspicious and questioned them for three quarters of an hour, whereas the Canadian official was indeed quite lovely and commented about his US colleagues that "ah yes, they have a… different frame of mind."