The Minuteman Militia was patrolling both borders about a decade ago.
Canada ... just like Mexico.
http://www.minuteman-militia.com
Jogger accidentally crosses U.S. border from B.C., gets detained for 2 weeks by autho
- Thread starter White_Unifier
- Start date
The Minuteman Militia was patrolling both borders about a decade ago.
Canada ... just like Mexico.
http://www.minuteman-militia.com
Perhaps we could invite them to unwind some police tape along the border to give at least some indication of where the border starts.
The jogger was an idiot. Plain and simple. She missed the border because she was doing idiot things like not paying attention or likely texting insistently on her phone. I am sure she physically had to avoid some obstacle or alter her path to cross the actual border too.
Even if it was completely unmarked (as it is in lots of places), ultimately it is her responsibility to know where it is. And her responsibility to bear the consequences for her not knowing and illegally crossing the border. The Americans were well within their rights to do what they did.
Even if it was completely unmarked (as it is in lots of places), ultimately it is her responsibility to know where it is. And her responsibility to bear the consequences for her not knowing and illegally crossing the border. The Americans were well within their rights to do what they did.
Jogger who crossed U.S. border accidentally warning to Canadians: expert
Canadian Press
More from Canadian Press
Published:
June 25, 2018
Updated:
June 25, 2018 7:34 PM EDT
In this July 24, 2009 file photo, cars line-up heading into the United States at left and into Canada at right adjacent to Boundary Bay at a border crossing at Blaine, Wash. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
VANCOUVER — A French teenager who accidentally crossed the border from Canada to the United States and reportedly wound up detained for two weeks should serve as a warning to Canadians, says an immigration lawyer.
Len Saunders, a lawyer in Blaine, Wash., said while aspects of the case are unique, it should still be considered a reminder to Canadians who walk their dogs or go jogging along the border.
“It’s a warning for Canadians to be careful if they’re close to the border, not to go too far south, because this could happen to a Canadian,” he said.
Cedella Roman, a 19-year-old French citizen, could not be reached for comment. But she told CBC she was visiting her mother in B.C. and was jogging near the border when she inadvertently crossed into the U.S. on May 21.
In an emailed statement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed Roman was arrested by Border Patrol agents in Blaine. At the time, she was nearly 800 metres into the U.S. and was travelling south, it said.
Jogger says U.S. detained her after accidentally crossing border from Canada
“Ms. Roman bypassed the Peace Arch port of entry, which is visible from the beach she traversed to enter the U.S., and she was not carrying identification,” it said.
If a person enters the U.S. at a location other than an official port of entry and without inspection by a border officer, they have illegally entered the U.S. and will be processed accordingly, it said.
Roman was transferred to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a Tacoma detention centre the next day, it added.
“It is the responsibility of an individual travelling in the vicinity of an international border to maintain awareness of their surroundings and their location at all times to ensure they do not illegally cross the border.
“Additionally, it’s important for people travelling near the border to carry identification at all times, so that agents or officers can easily verify their identity.”
Saunders said there are lots of illegal immigrants — typically from India or China — who travel to the U.S. via Canada.
“When (Border Patrol) run into someone who’s French … they don’t know if they’re coming here illegally or just made an honest mistake,” he said.
“If it’s a non-Canadian, I think they just assume the worst and take the person into custody.”
Saunders said he’s heard from Canadians who have been deported from the U.S. after straying across the border accidentally. But the process usually just entails a conversation with an agent who enters their name into a database and tells them to head north, he said.
Canadians often don’t realize the incident was recorded as an official deportation until later, when, for example, their Nexus application is rejected, he said.
“The difference with non-Canadians is the Canadians don’t have to accept you,” he said.
“Where do they send her to, France? She’s not Canadian. That’s why she went through the whole process of possible deportation.”
Typically, joggers or dog walkers don’t stray so far into the U.S. before they’re stopped, he said.
But the beach where the woman reportedly became lost has no border signs, so the mistake is understandable, he said, adding that the length of time she was reportedly detained seems “excessive.”
Holly Pai, an immigration lawyer in Bellingham, Wash., said she could not assure Canadians that a similar incident would not happen to them.
“I would have been more surprised a couple years ago, but everything’s so unpredictable these days,” she said.
“Things that we didn’t see happening in the Obama administration are now happening in the Trump administration. It makes it really hard to advise your clients when you don’t exactly know how things are going to happen.”
Aside from entering the United States illegally, Roman was detained because her identity could not be confirmed as she was not carrying identification, Customs and Border Protection said. It referred questions about the length of her detention to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jogger who crossed U.S. border accidentally warning to Canadians: expert | Toronto Sun
Canadian Press
More from Canadian Press
Published:
June 25, 2018
Updated:
June 25, 2018 7:34 PM EDT
In this July 24, 2009 file photo, cars line-up heading into the United States at left and into Canada at right adjacent to Boundary Bay at a border crossing at Blaine, Wash. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
VANCOUVER — A French teenager who accidentally crossed the border from Canada to the United States and reportedly wound up detained for two weeks should serve as a warning to Canadians, says an immigration lawyer.
Len Saunders, a lawyer in Blaine, Wash., said while aspects of the case are unique, it should still be considered a reminder to Canadians who walk their dogs or go jogging along the border.
“It’s a warning for Canadians to be careful if they’re close to the border, not to go too far south, because this could happen to a Canadian,” he said.
Cedella Roman, a 19-year-old French citizen, could not be reached for comment. But she told CBC she was visiting her mother in B.C. and was jogging near the border when she inadvertently crossed into the U.S. on May 21.
In an emailed statement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed Roman was arrested by Border Patrol agents in Blaine. At the time, she was nearly 800 metres into the U.S. and was travelling south, it said.
Jogger says U.S. detained her after accidentally crossing border from Canada
“Ms. Roman bypassed the Peace Arch port of entry, which is visible from the beach she traversed to enter the U.S., and she was not carrying identification,” it said.
If a person enters the U.S. at a location other than an official port of entry and without inspection by a border officer, they have illegally entered the U.S. and will be processed accordingly, it said.
Roman was transferred to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a Tacoma detention centre the next day, it added.
“It is the responsibility of an individual travelling in the vicinity of an international border to maintain awareness of their surroundings and their location at all times to ensure they do not illegally cross the border.
“Additionally, it’s important for people travelling near the border to carry identification at all times, so that agents or officers can easily verify their identity.”
Saunders said there are lots of illegal immigrants — typically from India or China — who travel to the U.S. via Canada.
“When (Border Patrol) run into someone who’s French … they don’t know if they’re coming here illegally or just made an honest mistake,” he said.
“If it’s a non-Canadian, I think they just assume the worst and take the person into custody.”
Saunders said he’s heard from Canadians who have been deported from the U.S. after straying across the border accidentally. But the process usually just entails a conversation with an agent who enters their name into a database and tells them to head north, he said.
Canadians often don’t realize the incident was recorded as an official deportation until later, when, for example, their Nexus application is rejected, he said.
“The difference with non-Canadians is the Canadians don’t have to accept you,” he said.
“Where do they send her to, France? She’s not Canadian. That’s why she went through the whole process of possible deportation.”
Typically, joggers or dog walkers don’t stray so far into the U.S. before they’re stopped, he said.
But the beach where the woman reportedly became lost has no border signs, so the mistake is understandable, he said, adding that the length of time she was reportedly detained seems “excessive.”
Holly Pai, an immigration lawyer in Bellingham, Wash., said she could not assure Canadians that a similar incident would not happen to them.
“I would have been more surprised a couple years ago, but everything’s so unpredictable these days,” she said.
“Things that we didn’t see happening in the Obama administration are now happening in the Trump administration. It makes it really hard to advise your clients when you don’t exactly know how things are going to happen.”
Aside from entering the United States illegally, Roman was detained because her identity could not be confirmed as she was not carrying identification, Customs and Border Protection said. It referred questions about the length of her detention to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jogger who crossed U.S. border accidentally warning to Canadians: expert | Toronto Sun
Could you point out markings, liar?
But, I think the answer to why she was hemmed up is clear:
They did their job. Properly.
The markings are several feet this side of where the picture was taken. It has been quite a while since I was on the beach in WhiteRock but at that time you would have to be blind, drunk, or stupid(take your pick) to miss the signs.
That there is reservation land .
Could you point out markings, liar?
But, I think the answer to why she was hemmed up is clear:
'TRAUMATIZED': Brits visiting Canada detained after accidentally driving into U.S.
Washington Post
Published:
October 15, 2019
Updated:
October 15, 2019 9:54 AM EDT
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection patch. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The Connors family didn’t plan to be on the unmarked road.
Originally from the United Kingdom, the two couples and their three young children were driving near the U.S.-Canada border on Oct. 3 during a visit to Vancouver when an animal ventured into the road, forcing them to make an unexpected detour. But before they could get far, flashing lights from a police car appeared in their rearview mirror. The officer who pulled them over was American – they had accidentally crossed the border.
The vacationing family says this was the moment their trip turned into “the scariest experience of our lives,” according to a complaint filed Friday to the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security. Instead of being allowed to return to Canada or the U.K., Eileen Connors alleges, her entire family, including her three-month-old son, ended up across the country detained at the Berks Family Residential Center in Leesport, Pennsylvania, where they have spent more than a week living in “frigid” and “filthy” conditions. As of late Monday, Bridget Cambria, the Connorses’ lawyer, told The Washington Post that the British family was still at the centre waiting to be deported.
“We will never forget, we will be traumatized for the rest of our lives by what the United States government has done to us,” Connors wrote in a sworn statement, later adding: “We have been treated like criminals here, stripped of our rights, and lied to … It is undoubtedly the worst experience we have ever lived through.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection could not be reached for comment late Monday. Officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed in a statement to the BBC that the family is being held at the Leesport facility, but disputed their claims of mistreatment. The center, the statement said, “provides a safe and humane environment for families as they go through the immigration process.”
“Reports of abuse or inhumane conditions at BFRC are unequivocally false,” officials said.
But Connors, 24, alleges the mistreatment began shortly after her family was stopped by the American officer.
Even before the tourists could explain why they were on the road, Connors wrote, her 30-year-old husband David and his cousin, who was driving at the time, were arrested.
“You crossed an international border,” said the officer, who allegedly did not read the men their rights and ignored the family’s pleas that they had crossed into the U.S. unknowingly and never intended to enter the country during their trip, despite having the proper visas. The complaint did not specify exactly where the incident took place.
The family asked if they could “simply turn around” and were denied, Connors wrote.
Connors and her baby were separated from her husband and placed in “a very cold cell” at an undisclosed Border Patrol station in Washington state, the statement said. Cambria, a lawyer with Aldea – The People’s Justice Center in Pennsylvania, told The Washington Post that the frigid detention cells have a nickname: “hieleras,” or “iceboxes.”
The Connorses were issued “metal-like, thin emergency blankets” to keep warm, according to the complaint. David Connors was also given a foam cup with noodle soup to eat, but he described the meager meal as “not even apt for animals,” the statement said.
Then, all they could do was wait, Eileen Connors wrote.
“The officers left us in the cell the entire day, with no information, no call to our family back home, no idea when we would be free to leave,” Connors wrote.
When it came time to sleep, Connors said, she refused to allow her son to “lie on the disgusting floor” next to her, at one point even trying to balance the infant on top of her body.
“We are so sickened by all of this,” she wrote. “The idea and memory of our little baby having to sleep on a dirty floor of a cell will haunt us forever.”
In the morning, immigration officers told the Connors that they could be released if they provided contact information for any family member living in the U.S. who could sponsor them, the statement said. Luckily, a relative with U.S. citizenship agreed to help.
“We were ready for all of this to end,” Connors wrote.
But hours later, the Connorses were informed that they wouldn’t be leaving. There was “a change in plans,” and soon after, they were loaded into a van in what “felt like an abduction or kidnapping,” according to the statement.
David Connors was dropped off at the Tacoma Northwest Detention Center, while Eileen Connors and her baby were taken to a Red Roof Inn in Seattle to spend the night.
They were reunited the next morning at a promising location: the Seattle airport.
“I thought, finally we’re going home and felt relieved, even though the officers would not tell me where we were going or why,” Eileen Connors wrote.
But, her relief was short-lived.
When the Connorses got off their flight, they were in Pennsylvania. Their final destination was the Berks Family Residential Center, a facility advocates have decried as “baby jail,” according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The arrival of the Connorses and their infant son on Oct. 5 marked “the first time in a long time that we’ve had a child under the age of 1 in this facility,” Cambria told The Post. The other couple, who had been traveling with the Connorses, and their 2-year-old twins were also transported to Berks, Cambria said.
“I don’t believe that it’s suitable for children that young because newborns probably shouldn’t be around a hundred other kids all of whom are coming from different parts of the world,” she said, adding, “There were a lot silly decisions made along the way. In this instance, when you’re talking about a 3-month-old, those silly decisions can be really dangerous.”
From the moment she and her family were placed in the “iceboxes” in Washington state, Connors wrote, she worried about her son, who has not yet completed his immunizations, falling ill. Those concerns were only heightened once they were at the Berks center.
Connors alleged that she had to bathe her son on a couch inside an office using a washcloth and soap because he was too small for the showers. The baby bathtub she had been provided was “filthy dirty and had broken bits,” she wrote. Her son was also left without clothing, blankets or bibs for several hours because the center’s staff took the items to be washed, the statement said.
“The blankets and sheets in our room have a disgusting smell, like a dead dog,” Connors wrote. “I cannot use them to wrap up my baby for fear they haven’t been washed properly and my baby will become sick.”
On Friday, Connors wrote that her baby “woke up with his left eye swollen and teary” and his skin was “rough and blotchy.” Officials told the Connors that their son was “a bit young” to be at the center, and if they wanted they could sign papers allowing him to be separated from them, the statement said.
“We were shocked and disgusted at the thought of our baby being taken from us, and ever since I cannot sleep thinking that someone might come in and take him from me,” Connors wrote.
Beyond the alleged living conditions, the Connorses also claim that they were not given an opportunity to call their embassy, instead relying on family members to reach out on their behalf. In the statement, Eileen Connors wrote that she learned that the embassy had tried to contact her and her family while they were detained only on Oct. 7, accusing the center’s staff of not passing along the message until it was too late in the day to call back.
After getting in touch with the embassy, Connors wrote, her family’s situation started to improve. She observed staff members cleaning the facility and she was given a playpen and little tub for her son, according to the statement. ICE officials also suggested that the family would get to go home in the near future, but did not provide details, Connors wrote.
On Monday, Cambria told The Post that the Connorses were “hopeful they’re leaving as soon as” Tuesday.
While there have been other cases as recently as last year of people being detained after accidentally crossing the U.S.-Canada border, Cambria said she was most bothered by “the extreme level of enforcement exhibited” toward the vacationing family and their young children.
“Emotionally and psychologically, they’re destroyed,” Cambria said. “They’re very upset about what’s happened to them because it doesn’t make sense. Anyone that reads their statement or hears their story will not understand how this could’ve possibly happened.”
http://torontosun.com/news/national...-detained-after-accidentally-driving-into-u-s
Washington Post
Published:
October 15, 2019
Updated:
October 15, 2019 9:54 AM EDT
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection patch. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The Connors family didn’t plan to be on the unmarked road.
Originally from the United Kingdom, the two couples and their three young children were driving near the U.S.-Canada border on Oct. 3 during a visit to Vancouver when an animal ventured into the road, forcing them to make an unexpected detour. But before they could get far, flashing lights from a police car appeared in their rearview mirror. The officer who pulled them over was American – they had accidentally crossed the border.
The vacationing family says this was the moment their trip turned into “the scariest experience of our lives,” according to a complaint filed Friday to the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security. Instead of being allowed to return to Canada or the U.K., Eileen Connors alleges, her entire family, including her three-month-old son, ended up across the country detained at the Berks Family Residential Center in Leesport, Pennsylvania, where they have spent more than a week living in “frigid” and “filthy” conditions. As of late Monday, Bridget Cambria, the Connorses’ lawyer, told The Washington Post that the British family was still at the centre waiting to be deported.
“We will never forget, we will be traumatized for the rest of our lives by what the United States government has done to us,” Connors wrote in a sworn statement, later adding: “We have been treated like criminals here, stripped of our rights, and lied to … It is undoubtedly the worst experience we have ever lived through.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection could not be reached for comment late Monday. Officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed in a statement to the BBC that the family is being held at the Leesport facility, but disputed their claims of mistreatment. The center, the statement said, “provides a safe and humane environment for families as they go through the immigration process.”
“Reports of abuse or inhumane conditions at BFRC are unequivocally false,” officials said.
But Connors, 24, alleges the mistreatment began shortly after her family was stopped by the American officer.
Even before the tourists could explain why they were on the road, Connors wrote, her 30-year-old husband David and his cousin, who was driving at the time, were arrested.
“You crossed an international border,” said the officer, who allegedly did not read the men their rights and ignored the family’s pleas that they had crossed into the U.S. unknowingly and never intended to enter the country during their trip, despite having the proper visas. The complaint did not specify exactly where the incident took place.
The family asked if they could “simply turn around” and were denied, Connors wrote.
Connors and her baby were separated from her husband and placed in “a very cold cell” at an undisclosed Border Patrol station in Washington state, the statement said. Cambria, a lawyer with Aldea – The People’s Justice Center in Pennsylvania, told The Washington Post that the frigid detention cells have a nickname: “hieleras,” or “iceboxes.”
The Connorses were issued “metal-like, thin emergency blankets” to keep warm, according to the complaint. David Connors was also given a foam cup with noodle soup to eat, but he described the meager meal as “not even apt for animals,” the statement said.
Then, all they could do was wait, Eileen Connors wrote.
“The officers left us in the cell the entire day, with no information, no call to our family back home, no idea when we would be free to leave,” Connors wrote.
When it came time to sleep, Connors said, she refused to allow her son to “lie on the disgusting floor” next to her, at one point even trying to balance the infant on top of her body.
“We are so sickened by all of this,” she wrote. “The idea and memory of our little baby having to sleep on a dirty floor of a cell will haunt us forever.”
In the morning, immigration officers told the Connors that they could be released if they provided contact information for any family member living in the U.S. who could sponsor them, the statement said. Luckily, a relative with U.S. citizenship agreed to help.
“We were ready for all of this to end,” Connors wrote.
But hours later, the Connorses were informed that they wouldn’t be leaving. There was “a change in plans,” and soon after, they were loaded into a van in what “felt like an abduction or kidnapping,” according to the statement.
David Connors was dropped off at the Tacoma Northwest Detention Center, while Eileen Connors and her baby were taken to a Red Roof Inn in Seattle to spend the night.
They were reunited the next morning at a promising location: the Seattle airport.
“I thought, finally we’re going home and felt relieved, even though the officers would not tell me where we were going or why,” Eileen Connors wrote.
But, her relief was short-lived.
When the Connorses got off their flight, they were in Pennsylvania. Their final destination was the Berks Family Residential Center, a facility advocates have decried as “baby jail,” according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The arrival of the Connorses and their infant son on Oct. 5 marked “the first time in a long time that we’ve had a child under the age of 1 in this facility,” Cambria told The Post. The other couple, who had been traveling with the Connorses, and their 2-year-old twins were also transported to Berks, Cambria said.
“I don’t believe that it’s suitable for children that young because newborns probably shouldn’t be around a hundred other kids all of whom are coming from different parts of the world,” she said, adding, “There were a lot silly decisions made along the way. In this instance, when you’re talking about a 3-month-old, those silly decisions can be really dangerous.”
From the moment she and her family were placed in the “iceboxes” in Washington state, Connors wrote, she worried about her son, who has not yet completed his immunizations, falling ill. Those concerns were only heightened once they were at the Berks center.
Connors alleged that she had to bathe her son on a couch inside an office using a washcloth and soap because he was too small for the showers. The baby bathtub she had been provided was “filthy dirty and had broken bits,” she wrote. Her son was also left without clothing, blankets or bibs for several hours because the center’s staff took the items to be washed, the statement said.
“The blankets and sheets in our room have a disgusting smell, like a dead dog,” Connors wrote. “I cannot use them to wrap up my baby for fear they haven’t been washed properly and my baby will become sick.”
On Friday, Connors wrote that her baby “woke up with his left eye swollen and teary” and his skin was “rough and blotchy.” Officials told the Connors that their son was “a bit young” to be at the center, and if they wanted they could sign papers allowing him to be separated from them, the statement said.
“We were shocked and disgusted at the thought of our baby being taken from us, and ever since I cannot sleep thinking that someone might come in and take him from me,” Connors wrote.
Beyond the alleged living conditions, the Connorses also claim that they were not given an opportunity to call their embassy, instead relying on family members to reach out on their behalf. In the statement, Eileen Connors wrote that she learned that the embassy had tried to contact her and her family while they were detained only on Oct. 7, accusing the center’s staff of not passing along the message until it was too late in the day to call back.
After getting in touch with the embassy, Connors wrote, her family’s situation started to improve. She observed staff members cleaning the facility and she was given a playpen and little tub for her son, according to the statement. ICE officials also suggested that the family would get to go home in the near future, but did not provide details, Connors wrote.
On Monday, Cambria told The Post that the Connorses were “hopeful they’re leaving as soon as” Tuesday.
While there have been other cases as recently as last year of people being detained after accidentally crossing the U.S.-Canada border, Cambria said she was most bothered by “the extreme level of enforcement exhibited” toward the vacationing family and their young children.
“Emotionally and psychologically, they’re destroyed,” Cambria said. “They’re very upset about what’s happened to them because it doesn’t make sense. Anyone that reads their statement or hears their story will not understand how this could’ve possibly happened.”
http://torontosun.com/news/national...-detained-after-accidentally-driving-into-u-s
I can think of a few roads in BC here where one could drive a full-sized vehicle (not to mention sleds and other ATVs) and wander back and forth repeatedly without seeing a sign unless at the very ends of the roads. It's easy to get onto one of them somewhere in the middle without realizing one has changed countries.
The shadow of that Predator Drone circling you overhead might be your first clue that you've gone the wrong way.
Anyway it was all lies-they were caught after sneaking across the border I mean within seconds of arriving on US soil-no surprises there the border is hard wired, watched from space, and has regular vehicle patrols.