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If you are a US citizen who continuously gets refused reentry at the border, what would happen if you snuck across? Presumably once you were across the border

• VLM 13y ago
  Its very difficult to be refused entry as a citizen. Not impossible, but very difficult. They can F with you WRT interrogation pretty much as they please until you give up or contact a lawyer, or state a belief in your being intoxicated until you get a lawyer and/or blood test, or mess with your belongings (YOU can enter but not that bottle of tequilla and not (you+the bottle)). Another way to mess with you is dual citizenship type stuff like you've legally become a citizen of Canada but haven't officially renounced US citizenship yet. They can also threaten to arrest you if you persist in trying to gain entry while illegally importing something, like, say, a bottle of tequilla or the clothes on your back. The most effective way to be refused entry as a citizen is to be drunk (aka the whole so-cal/tijuana thing). I've heard stories from coworkers who used to visit tijuana back when it was safe (or at least, safer). I'd be mildly interested in any story of a citizen actually being denied (as opposed to them screwing around with obnoxious drunks). Or great Tijuana stories, for that matter.
  • Crito 13y ago
    I suppose the best way to handle this sort of situation would be to refuse the search, turn back away from the border, figure out somebody to hold onto your computer (mail it to a friend in the US? It would cross customs, but maybe you could hope it wouldn't be randomly searched. Alternatively just copy the drive to the internet, then trash or sell the hardware), then approach the border again without the computer. They cannot turn you away for refusing to let them search a computer if you do not have a computer.
    • VLM 13y ago
      Keep the data remote via VPN/SSH/rdesktop/VNC, and the appliance is a lump of hardware that can be reinstalled. This is easy with a laptop running vanilla Debian, not so easy to wipe/reinstall some appliances.
• rbobby 13y ago
  > and could not be removed from the US Nope. You'd be deported. Probably held in a jail (or jail like) facility until you were placed on a plane/bus. You would however have full benefit of the constitution, so anything found during an illegal search probably could not be used against you (assuming you can prove that a search took place and that the search was illegal).
  • Crito 13y ago
    That doesn't make sense to me, where would they deport you to? You'd be a citizen of the US, not the country you were coming from. What if your visa in that country was expired? Would the two countries just deport you back and forth until one got bored? It doesn't make sense to me that a US citizen, in the US not at any sort of border, could be deported under any circumstances.
    • deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]
    • rbobby 13y ago
      Doh... reading comprehension fail... did not notice the important "US citizen" bit (yeah... the key operative bit).