Harsh welcome at Detroit border

[EastsideAl]

I can understand the increased scrutiny, but it's the rudeness and ignorance that bothers me most. To see Canadians - our peaceful friends for nearly 200 years now - treated like potential enemy combatants, and to see returning Americans treated like they have just gone to Iran, is infuriating. The nasty demeanor of many customs personnel, their seeming inability to respond civilly to reasonable questions, and their mode of treating citizens who have been pulled in for a simple customs inspection like arrestees in police station is really uncalled for.

To make matters worse for Detroiters and Windsorites who were raised crossing back and forth across between our cities with relative ease, the customs folks now seem to assign a lot of agents to our crossings who are from elsewhere in the country and unfamiliar with our area. And they don't seem to do much training for who and what they're likely to run into here, or the history of U.S. - Canadian interaction in this area - or even local geography.

I was quizzed at length a couple of years ago by a U.S. Customs agent who seemed deeply suspicious as to why I had driven through Canada to get from Buffalo to Detroit, and openly dismissive of my claim that it was the most direct route. Another time I went through a nearly 2 hour freak out from an agent with a southern accent, who went so far as to threaten to detain me and take my passport, when I told the booth agent that I was returning from visiting relatives in Canada. In the middle of this ridiculous grilling the southern accented agent asked me, with a straight face, "How come so many people around here claim to be 'visiting relatives' [[making little hand air quoting motions) when they're coming across that border?" He seemed incredulous, and dismissed it as a fantasy, when I explained that it's because a whole lot of us around here actually do have relatives on both sides. What a bozo, but he's sadly increasingly typical of the people working at our border crossings.

This pointless nastiness and foolishness is harmful to our area, to both our cities, and to our struggling local economies, which have been linked from the very beginnings of this area.

[detroitdoc]

I can understand the increased scrutiny, but it's the rudeness and ignorance that bothers me most. To see Canadians - our peaceful friends for nearly 200 years now - treated like potential enemy combatants, and to see returning Americans treated like they have just gone to Iran, is infuriating. The nasty demeanor of many customs personnel, their seeming inability to respond civilly to reasonable questions, and their mode of treating citizens who have been pulled in for a simple customs inspection like arrestees in police station is really uncalled for.

To make matters worse for Detroiters and Windsorites who were raised crossing back and forth across between our cities with relative ease, the customs folks now seem to assign a lot of agents to our crossings who are from elsewhere in the country and unfamiliar with our area. And they don't seem to do much training for who and what they're likely to run into here, or the history of U.S. - Canadian interaction in this area - or even local geography.

I was quizzed at length a couple of years ago by a U.S. Customs agent who seemed deeply suspicious as to why I had driven through Canada to get from Buffalo to Detroit, and openly dismissive of my claim that it was the most direct route. Another time I went through a nearly 2 hour freak out from an agent with a southern accent, who went so far as to threaten to detain me and take my passport, when I told the booth agent that I was returning from visiting relatives in Canada. In the middle of this ridiculous grilling the southern accented agent asked me, with a straight face, "How come so many people around here claim to be 'visiting relatives' [[making little hand air quoting motions) when they're coming across that border?" He seemed incredulous, and dismissed it as a fantasy, when I explained that it's because a whole lot of us around here actually do have relatives on both sides. What a bozo, but he's sadly increasingly typical of the people working at our border crossings.

This pointless nastiness and foolishness is harmful to our area, to both our cities, and to our struggling local economies, which have been linked from the very beginnings of this area.

I couldn't agree more. Literally exactly how it is at the border.

[Scottathew]

I can understand the increased scrutiny, but it's the rudeness and ignorance that bothers me most.

I agree.

These folks are not friendly at all. I understand their job is very serious, but I've heard story after story from people I know about being randomly selected and being treated like a criminal.

One guy I knew, his name was a very generic Chris Davis, lighted up something in their records as having warrants for his arrest. He was detained at length, treated like a criminal, and when the ordeal was over and it was discovered that he was not a wanted felon and just a normal guy trying to cross the border he was offered no apology or thankfulness for his cooperation.

I've been pulled over twice by normal city cops, and in each instance the officers were very polite and did nothing but reciprocate the respect that I gave them.