So I was crossing the Canadian-US Border Returning To the US........

sponge wrote:

It is always worth bearing in mind that when you arrive at the U.S. border and are passing through Customs you can check your Fourth Amendment rights and many other rights literally at the border, because while at Customs these rights are essentially non existent. Regardless of how inane or brutally inefficient a request at the border may be, you simply have to smile and wave and do exactly as instructed. The Customs Act of 1789 was one of the first laws in the U.S., and it has been that way ever since.

Even though the same is not legally correct in other situations, the same concept holds true.

On the front line, enforcement personnel are too stupid or scared, or angry or insecure to grant you your rights. There is no point in asserting them if you run into a power tripper - you won't win. He will call his blue line cronies and they will beat the shit out of you and then fabricate a story that implicates you and casts them as angels.

Suck it up and then sue the motherf***ers later. It sucks, but such if "freedom" in the US.

Canadanians took my laptop for over an hour. The hard disk crashed a few weeks after that.

NO real problems getting in and out of Canada till the Civil War. I lot of a run aways eneded up there and they don't want that to happen again.

I laugh at most of you. First of all most people were blaming the canadian border patrol about this situation. If you are travelling back into the US it is the US border patrol you should have the problem with.

Also aren't you all happy the border patrol is searching people and being cautious. Imagine what kind of things would happen if they just let everyone across the border without any hassles.

If only we could have such tight butts working the Mexican border.

Haven't read the other responses, but I know a lot of Saudies and pretty much they go through this and more every time they go near a US border. They mostly remain calm because it happens a lot. I am surprised that they don't hate the US.

bingo

just another hs coach wrote:

If only we could have such tight butts working the Mexican border.

He asked you to spread your legs because he wanted to see if he had the big bad Johnson...hahahaha sorry!

Maybe just tell him that "I am Robert C Johnson, not Robert E Johnson" when you deal with Border guards next time.

The way I deal with all customs and immigrations guys, everywhere in the world is just stay calm and look them straight in the eye when I talk to them. Border guards are trained to look for non-verbal clues such as people looking away or being nervous when you talk to them.

Jason

better safe then sorry. I mean I'm sure it sucked but the alternative would be worse

Rojo,

I'd like to shed some light on this topic.

First of all, US Border Patrol is completely seperate from US Customs & Border Protection (CBP), although they are both under the Dept of Homeland Security (DHS) umbrella. When you attempt to drive across the border from Canada into the US and arrive at a CBP Port of Entry, that PoE is run by CBP, not Border Patrol. So the "guy in the booth" or the guy who looks at your passport when you arrive at the port is a CBP officer.

The information you received from the officer is indicative of their standard process. The officer told you that there is another Robert Johnson who IS considered armed and dangerous. So, once they realize (with the help of their computer systems) that you MIGHT be the Robert Johnson who is armed and dangerous, they don't take any chances. Their first priority at that point is to preserve your safety, the safety of other travelers, and the officers' safety. That's why all the other officers came running out--it's their standard process, and they acted to protect everyone's safety.

Let's say you were indeed the criminal Robert Johnson. In that case, they certainly don't want to waste 30 seconds looking at your passport and then their computer screens to make SURE you're the criminal and not the benevolent version of yourself. In that amount of time, the malevolent RoJo could have drawn a weapon, accelerated through the gate, or committed some other violent act. The point is that they recognize that you MIGHT be him, so they act quickly and decisively to preserve the everyone's safety (including your own).

I can't say whether this would help you avoid the situation that occurred recently or not, but if you're planning on driving across the border with any level of regularity, you may want to consider enrolling in their trusted traveler program by acquiring a NEXUS card.

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/trusted_traveler/nexus_prog/

The question you should be asking is whether you should change your name, preferably to one that is not identified with outstanding warrants or is on the no-fly list.

Racial Profiling wrote:

Glad to see the police aren't racially profiling anymore and are coming down on WASPy looking people trying to capture resistance fighters. The stereotype is that the resistance fighters are olive skinned Arabs or Mediterraneans. Many Middle Easterners are very WASPy looking. Maylaysian and Indonesian resistance fighters look Chinese. Chechen resistance fighters look like half-Mongol Polish and Russians. Egyptian resistance fighters look Afro-American. My frat bruddah decades ago was 100% Egyptian, midnight, played B-Ball like Kobe.

"Resistance fighters"? Are you being ironic, or do you belong to the Weather Underground or something? The border guards, a--holes that they are, aren't looking for heroic, noble warriors. They are looking for the kind of f--kers who fly planes into buildings, indiscriminately murdering thousands of innocent people in the process. They are called 'terrorists', in case you didn't know. A buddy of mind was killed by some of them in the Bali night club bombing. Terrorists. Not 'resistance fighters'.

Hi Robert,

I don't have an answer to questions #1, 2, and 4. However, as a licensed clinical psychologist, I feel pretty comfortable responding to #3. You were essentially helpless in that situation. A man with a gun and authority was threatening you and there was not much you could do about it. Bringing the extra 9-10 officers would feel like a further threat. The fact that they did not explain what they were doing likely made the experience more stressful as you really do not know what will happen next. I think most people in your situation would feel upset, scared, helpless, angry, or confused. I am gald you were able to stay calm as people with power issues often react defensively and aggressively when their targets start to question their power (which could have resulted in more serious consequences). It is likely that you will continue to feel a little shaken up for awhile and you may have some pretty negative feelings about police or other autority figures too. The intensity of those feelings should dissipate over time. However, if you continue to find yourself reliving teh event, becoming very upset when something reminds you of the event, have trouble sleeping, become irritable, jumpy, or start avoiding people and places because they remind you of the event, then you should definitely seek help. A psychologist would be better suited to address this issue than a psychiatrist. Hope that helps.

please

rojo wrote:

The agent does the normal chatter (which I thought he was good at) of "Whose car is this, where are you going, where are you from, How do you know each other? etc. He then basically repeated the same questions very fast in a different order to see if I was lying."

Did he really say all this? It must have been pretty weird to listen to the end of that discussion where he starts speaking in the third person using past tense.

I get grilled every time I go to Canada. Not sure what the deal is... I've seen literally, a muscial band in front of me zip through dressed like a goth circus act. A middle age business man... dangerous.

border patrol wrote:

Imagine what kind of things would happen if they just let everyone across the border without any hassles.

I'm trying, but I guess I don't have a very good imagination. What kinds of things do you imagine would happen if they just let everyone cross the border without any hassles?

Bear of Bad News wrote:

border patrol wrote:

Imagine what kind of things would happen if they just let everyone across the border without any hassles.

I'm trying, but I guess I don't have a very good imagination. What kinds of things do you imagine would happen if they just let everyone cross the border without any hassles?

The borders should be open without all the harassment. It's ridiculous and 99.9% of the time, unwarranted. The government has convinced us that there are terrorists on every corner, so the gullible public believes it. Totally presposterous.

Bumping in case others have had trouble at the border....