3 ms·

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 specifical

by 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.
- BonoboIO 3y ago
  Is the border patrol’s salary good? Are they mad and frustrated and want somebody to suffer or is it a well payed job, so they do it for fun?

by sbarre 3y ago

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.

BonoboIO 3y ago
Is the border patrol’s salary good? Are they mad and frustrated and want somebody to suffer or is it a well payed job, so they do it for fun?