US Customs jumpy

**GRALR** · September-01-09, 12:03 AM

A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. Is freedom in America gone? You only have freedom if you do as you are told. If the powers that be decide you cannot travel then you are trapped. It does not mater if you have your papers that show where you are born, you have to have more and more and more forms of ID
Just take a plane and go through the humiliation of the d h s. Firsst it was metal detectors now it is xray machines the the operators get to see what you are hiding.

Imagine if you were traveling in 1973 then transported instantly to 2009, what do you think you would say? Being searched and humiliated, removing shoes, subject to interrogation etc. We have been slowly-incrementally boiled alive to accept things that our fathers would have screamed at!

**Bobl** · September-01-09, 07:29 AM

Originally Posted by enough already

AHHHHHH! Stop it!

carry the passport!

is it too much to ask?

Really?

it is about 1/8th of an inch thick.

$45?

if you need the money that bad, please let me know, and I will pay your fare, just like I am paying the taxes to keep your stupid schools afloat!

Thank you, for your kind offer. Perhaps you could instead send the two installments of $45 to the school district that failed to teach you grammar and writing skills.

**Lowell** · September-01-09, 08:31 AM

Here is what the illusion of security brings - the new security xrays. I think we should require these of all visitors and every American citizen re-entering the US from Canada, along with the passport of course. Then we can sleep better at night and there will never be a terrorist attack. You have to love the hands over head surrender pose.
Attachment 2919

**Bobl** · September-01-09, 09:07 AM

Yes, Lowell.
Of course, the rude behavior of some of the border guards should be made mandatory from all. After confronting us as we cross, a new pose could be demanded for the photos. "Bend over, sir"!

Vox · September-01-09, 10:01 AM

Originally Posted by Roq

Nope. My girlfriend didn't have a passport and she got her enhanced license in two weeks.

Me too. I'm still pissed about the 25 dollars more for the enhanced license, but it's still cheaper than a passport.

**upinottawa** · September-01-09, 10:29 AM

Thankfully "backscatter" [[see Lowell's photos above) is currently limited to use at U.S. airports [[and not customs).

The Canadian goverment is currently negotiating a comprehensive free trade agreement with the European Union. One wonders if Canada would ever take the next logical step and actually seek EU membership some time in the future. If that were to happen, one day Canadians could enter Germany, France, Poland, etc. without passing through customs or displaying a passport.

Of course, should that same Canadian wish to visit Detroit's Mexican Village on a Monday night the border process will likely be more complicated...[[that being said, the Euro will probably be worth 3 times the U.S. greenback by then, making "at par" nights less of a deal for Canadians).

**Detroit** · September-01-09, 11:26 AM

Originally Posted by eriedearie

Crossed over the Ambassador Bridge yesterday with hubby and grandson. We all had our proper credentials. Strange question asked by the border guard, was "have any of you ever been denied entry into the US?" When we answered no, he sent us on our way.

Now why would he ask that? If one of us would have said yes, what would the next step have been? Besides, why would someone that has been denied access into the US actually answer yes? Are the border guards not supposed to have the most up-to-date information on all of us at their fingertips? At least that is my understanding when they are in their little booths pecking on their keyboards.

If they want to take the time to look it up I am sure they can. Remember, every car that comes into the United States is photographed including the license plate. The ask you questions to get reactions out of you. It is a very common question for them to ask you. I also hate when them start asking the passenger[[s) in the car all the questions. It is annoying to me since I am the one that knows where I am going. The Border Nazis are horrible. I do not in any way shape or form trust them. I have been told by one guy to get the hell out of here before I get searched. It is crazy. I will not go to Canada anymore. I do not like the way the Canadian or US Customs treat people. I guess they don't realize they are the persons first impression of their country.

**Bobl** · September-01-09, 11:46 AM

Detroit:

In hundreds of crossings, I have never encountered rudeness on the Canadian side. I would add that the crossing from First Nation/Walpole Island to Algonac has always been pleasant. Even on Sept 11, 2001, upon our return from Grand Bend, when we were behind a truck with Tennessee plates that had two undeclared guns aboard, the border agent, who knew us from frequent trips, managed a smile and a joke!

**Bobl** · July-15-13, 10:21 PM

Sorry to add this one:
It was a perfect day, sitting at the park and watching the St Clair River flow. Got the walk in, down the road past old Uncle Dick's [[gone fifty years) and the former location of our Hughes family cottage [[gone thirty five years). Yes, I am old. Too old to put up with the crap we got from US Customs when we left. Friends, do Colleen and I look at all threatening? I think those gendarmes were on steroids.
President Obama and Prime Minister Harper: "Tear down this wall".

**sumas** · July-16-13, 05:27 AM

That sucks. This thread has been up for more than a few years. Canada and the US need more fluid borders. Haven't been to Canada for years, which given, we have many friends there seems stupid. I am plain stubborn and refuse to get a passport to visit a sister country. US is the stupid one.

**poobert** · July-16-13, 12:03 PM

This used to really bother me but I crossed the border six times this summer with no delay, no problems, no rudeness. I think they have eased up these days.

If you want to visit other countries, you need a passport. Canada is very much a foreign country.

People have cited Europe but I no longer thing the EU is really a great model for much of anything these days. Besides, not every European country is in the EU. Try driving through the former Yugoslavia. It's like every other house is a border crossing.

Get a passport, clean the freaking crap out of your car, think before you speak, and speak clearly and concisely and you shouldn't have any problems.

**bailey** · July-16-13, 12:08 PM

Originally Posted by sumas

That sucks. This thread has been up for more than a few years. Canada and the US need more fluid borders. Haven't been to Canada for years, which given, we have many friends there seems stupid. I am plain stubborn and refuse to get a passport to visit a sister country. US is the stupid one.

..or you could get the enhanced license when you renew your DL which would allow you to come and go across the border.

Also, curious if the UK, all of Europe...or EVERY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD is "stupid" because they would require the use of a passport [[and not the extremely easy to get enhanced US driver's license) to enter. Some would even require you to get permission, as in a Visa to enter prior to your travel there

Canada is a separate country... get over it.

talk about an entitled mentality. jesus this thread is rife with it.

**sumas** · July-16-13, 12:26 PM

Originally Posted by bailey

..or you could get the enhanced license when you renew your DL which would allow you to come and go across the border.

Also, curious if the UK, all of Europe...or EVERY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD is "stupid" because they would require the use of a passport [[and not the extremely easy to get enhanced US driver's license) to enter. Some would even require you to get permission, as in a Visa to enter prior to your travel there

Canada is a separate country... get over it.

talk about an entitled mentality. jesus this thread is rife with it.

Sorry chum or should I say chump! US and Canada have always enjoyed easy relations. Yes, I think it silly that I need anything other then id to cross such friendly borders.

I personally find it pathetic that you have zero issues being branded and id'd.

**bailey** · July-16-13, 12:33 PM

Originally Posted by sumas

Sorry chum or should I say chump! US and Canada have always enjoyed easy relations. Yes, I think it silly that I need anything other then id to cross such friendly borders.

I personally find it pathetic that you have zero issues being branded and id'd.

You are ridiculous and incoherent.

You find it "silly" you need anything other than "id" to cross the border yet you find it "pathetic" that one needs to be "branded and id'd" to cross a border. Want to try that one again?

What I have no issues with is procuring and producing proper identification when crossing an international border. You apparently think otherwise as if Canada is some sort of vassal state of the US.

**sumas** · July-16-13, 01:13 PM

I totally enjoyed being called incoherent, oops forgot ridiculous,

Just, what was cogent to your argument?

I have serious issues with profiling, passports and id crap.

Canada is a friendly country and allied nation. Love it. Why would you assume I have a negative image of a great nation.

**ghettopalmetto** · July-16-13, 01:48 PM

Originally Posted by sumas

Sorry chum or should I say chump! US and Canada have always enjoyed easy relations. Yes, I think it silly that I need anything other then id to cross such friendly borders.

I personally find it pathetic that you have zero issues being branded and id'd.

Guess what a passport is? It's identification. If you find it too difficult to drop a one-page application, photograph, a birth certificate, and $120 in the mail, then why would you bother to visit a foreign country?

Within the past two weeks, I visited five countries, all of which are friendly to the United States. So friendly, in fact, that you don't even need a visa to enter any of them. You can just show up and they stamp your passport. But you still need a passport, or they send you back home. It ain't hard.

With that said, how can there be a 26-nation Schengen Area with no internal border crossings, but we increasingly close our border with Canada? Then again, EU residents need a passport in order to exercise their right of free movement....

**Lowell** · July-16-13, 02:15 PM

Originally Posted by bailey

...Also, curious if the UK, all of Europe...or EVERY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD is "stupid" because they would require the use of a passport [[and not the extremely easy to get enhanced US driver's license) to enter.

Nope. Once you are in the European Union, you do not need a passport to cross between countries. This has been the case for decades now. In the early 90's I drove from Germany into France, two countries that murdered millions of their young in wars between them in the 20th C. No one stopped me. No one asked me for a passport, where I was born and on and on.

We need a treaty like that with Canada, a country with whom we have been at Peace for nearly 2 centuries and allies in many wars.

**bailey** · July-16-13, 02:24 PM

Originally Posted by Lowell

Nope. Once you are in the European Union, you do not need a passport to cross between countries. This has been the case for decades now. In the early 90's I drove from Germany into France, two countries that murdered millions of their young in wars between them in the 20th C. No one stopped me. No one asked me for a passport, where I was born and on and on.

As a US Citizen you still need a passport to get into Germany THEN you can drive all over part of Europe without being hassled at borders. You'd also need one entering and leaving the UK from the EU.

Further, just because they have "open" borders doesn't mean one is not required to have a passport or national ID card with them when travelling.

We need a treaty like that with Canada, a country with whom we have been at Peace for nearly 2 centuries and allies in many wars.

That's only going to work if we require all citizens to get a nationally standardized ID or passport. and of course agree to stuff like this:

Enhanced police cooperation. This includes rights of cross-border surveillance and 'hot pursuit', which authorises police officers from one country, who catch criminals in the act of committing serious offences, to pursue the perpetrators across the border on the territory of another Schengen State

Which will never happen because 'MERICA! and Freedoms! and/or JEBUS!

**ghettopalmetto** · July-16-13, 02:28 PM

Originally Posted by Lowell

Nope. Once you are in the European Union, you do not need a passport to cross between countries. This has been the case for decades now. In the early 90's I drove from Germany into France, two countries that murdered millions of their young in wars between them in the 20th C. No one stopped me. No one asked me for a passport, where I was born and on and on.

We need a treaty like that with Canada, a country with whom we have been at Peace for nearly 2 centuries and allies in many wars.

That's not entirely accurate. Ireland and the UK [[as well as a few others) are members of the EU, but are not in the Schengen Area. There are border controls, for example, between the UK and France.

On the other hand, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein are non-members of the EU, but are part of the Schengen agreement, and do not have border controls with their adjoining neighbors.

Open borders with Canada are an idea I'd welcome. But then again, you'd have to implement an enforcement mechanism. For example, I was riding a bus from Estonia into Latvia. We actually drove through a [[now-closed) border crossing without stopping [[My thought: Weren't both nations part of the U.S.S.R. when this border crossing was constructed???). Further down the road, however, we were stopped at a checkpoint by Latvian immigration officers, who checked the passports of everyone on the bus. Any open border with Canada would *gasp* require United States citizens to obtain passports and well, we just can't be letting Murricans think there's a larger world out there.

**Wheels** · July-16-13, 02:41 PM

So let me get this straight. We should open our border with Canada, but we need to build a wall between the US and Mexico?

**bailey** · July-16-13, 02:44 PM

Originally Posted by Wheels

So let me get this straight. We should open our border with Canada, but we need to build a wall between the US and Mexico?

well, mexico is not nearby...so needing a passport to enter there and have border controls is not a minor inconvenience for some people.

**ghettopalmetto** · July-16-13, 02:46 PM

Originally Posted by bailey

well, mexico is not nearby...so needing a passport to enter there and have border controls is not a minor inconvenience for some people.

If you live in Michigan, that is. Maybe we could have open borders with Canada, but build a wall at the Quebec border. You know, so people speaking funny languages don't corrupt our pristine WASPyness.

**preserve** · July-16-13, 02:58 PM

Is the weather making you all so grumpy?

**dtowncitylover** · July-16-13, 03:16 PM

Originally Posted by bailey

Further, just because they have "open" borders doesn't mean one is not required to have a passport or national ID card with them when travelling.

This is very true. As an anecdote, I was traveling via train some summers ago from Strasbourg to a smaller city a couple stops south. Not a big trip, just a day trip. But the train stops in Geneva on its way to Marseille. Therefore an "international" train. I did not know that. I stupidly left my passport [[hid of course) in my hotel room. and only brought my driver's license. I did not know further that the French national police police the trains. Not just at the stations but on the trains Unlike here. So here are these heavily armed French police asking me for ID and me freaking out that I didn't have a passport and had to explain this was my driver's license. They realized I was American and wasn't going far so they let me alone. But I learned that I will never travel, domestically or internationally, without my passport anywhere I go.

**Jimaz** · July-16-13, 03:29 PM

Originally Posted by ghettopalmetto

... Ireland and the UK [[as well as a few others) are members of the EU, but are not in the Schengen Area. There are border controls, for example, between the UK and France.

On the other hand, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein are non-members of the EU, but are part of the Schengen agreement, and do not have border controls with their adjoining neighbors....

I recently found an informative video about this: The European Union Explained*.

It gets, um, complicated.