U.S. border agents inspecting more at British Columbia crossing

Even though the Olympics are offer customs staff remain at high levels. While states and cities and towns reduce services of all kinds even police anything that has to do with security it seems is sacrosanct. This also may help to reduce tourism just what the US needs when the economy is struggling to recover.

U.S. border agents inspecting more travelers heading into Canada
JOHN STARK - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD


Thanks to the increase in border staffing meant to handle the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C., U.S. Customs and Border Protection is conducting more inspections of northbound travelers as they leave the country.
CBP spokesman Tom Schreiber said the outbound inspections have intercepted big drug shipments and fugitives in the past, and making those inspections more frequent should pay off.
"These operations have high-value results," Schreiber said.



For an outbound inspection, a group of uniformed CBP officers use traffic cones to funnel northbound vehicles into a single lane for visual checks and possible questioning and search.
Some see such inspections as one more hassle that discourages cross-border trade and tourism.
"This is part of the ongoing militarization of the northern border," said Bellingham immigration attorney Greg Boos, who crosses the border almost every day. "I think it points out that perhaps CBP has too much staff at the border."
Once a rarity, outbound inspections have become commonplace, Boos said.
"They used to only do this on nights when there was a good rock concert in Vancouver," Boos said. "Now I may be seeing this one out of four times, one out of three times I cross."
Ken Oplinger, president of the Bellingham/Whatcom Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said he also noticed a significant increase in the frequency of outbound inspections in the weeks just before the Olympics.
"It's certainly an inconvenience," Oplinger said. "It does tie up traffic, for NEXUS users especially. It sends an absolutely horrible message."
Schreiber said U.S. agencies have conducted outbound inspections from time to time for decades, even before the 2001 terror attacks that put increased emphasis on border security. But in the past, those agencies concentrated their limited staff on incoming traffic, and outbound inspections were rare. In the weeks leading up to the Olympics, that changed, and the permanent increase in staffing levels is enabling CBP to do more outbound inspections while still covering the inbound travelers.
"It's something we do when resources permit," Schreiber said. "We have the staffing now. It's fair to say that we've been doing more."
CBP does not release specific numbers on its staffing levels.
The inspections of departing traffic are being increased because they have been effective in the past, Schreiber said. In July 2009, a Calgary man was caught at the Peace Arch with 183 pounds of cocaine and 55 pounds of heroin.
In October, another Canadian was caught with 192 pounds of cocaine. And in September, a California man suspected of killing his wife was nabbed in the same way.
As Schreiber sees it, there should be some unpredictability to border law enforcement.
"Being unpredictable is one of the factors we try to layer into our operations," Schreiber said.
On April 20, unpredictability went too far, Boos said. On that day at the Peace Arch, outbound inspections were conducted by shotgun-toting officers.
Duncan Millar, another immigration attorney, said he saw a similar display of shotguns the same evening at the Pacific Highway crossing.
"They were holding these things at the ready," Millar said. "It was very alarming."
The CBP's Schreiber described a shotgun as "a tool that is common in law enforcement," but he said the April 20 show of force was not routine.
On that night, Schreiber said, CBP received reports that the suspect in the shooting deaths of four people in a North Hollywood, Calif., restaurant might be headed north.
"If you see (shotguns) out of the ready rack, there is probably something going on," Schreiber said.
The shooting suspect was later arrested in the Seattle area.
But the added outbound security may have some indirect economic costs if it further discourages cross-border trade and tourism, long a mainstay of Whatcom County's economy. Millar said many of his Canadian clients are now crossing the border as little as possible.
"I've had some of them say, 'Forget it. I don't want to deal with it,'" Millar said.
Reach JOHN STARK at john.stark@bellinghamherald.com or call 715-2274.


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US tightens screening of Canadians with visas

I can still remember the bad old days of the Evil Empire when Big Brother in the USSR used to require identity cards and watch over its citizens. Well the old Soviet watching over their citizens was miniscule compared with the freedom loving individual rights protecting western democracies.Surveillance of citizens since the war on terror has mushroomed as well as surveillance of visitors. Not only must we have several identity cards but if we are visiting on a visa now we must be fingerprinted if we are to visit the great bastion of democracy and great shopping Mall for Canadians the US of A. Now they want all our digits for visa holders. I haven't heard that Canada requires the same of US visitors.


U.S. tightens screening of Canadians with visas
Last Updated: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 | 1:03 PM ET
CBC News
Canadians entering the United States with visas will have to scan 10 digits rather than just two under a newly expanded security program launching later in November.

Under the current US-VISIT program, Canadians and others entering the United States on visas must scan both index fingers and have a digital photograph taken by a border official.

Canadians engaged to marry U.S. citizens must also go through the process, and the U.S. has announced that Canadian students and nurses working in the U.S. will also be subject to the screening.

Washington now plans to install a new line of 10-fingerprint scanners at all 311 Canada-U.S. ports of entry by the end of 2008.

The stepped-up biometrics measures begin Nov. 29 at Washington's Dulles International Airport.

In a briefing Tuesday in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the US-VISIT program affects as many as 10,000 Canadians.

N.B. volunteer banned from US for five years

This seems to be an over-reaction. Why did they not just turn them away as one person suggested and have the one person who was volunteering get the proper documentation? I am to the point now where I do not even want to go to the US. I went to the Philippines through Chicago and coming back was a problem. Unlike Japan where to transfer planes one just goes from one part of the airport to another in Chicago you must go through customs and reclaim your baggage. There was a huge lineup and the computer broke down so by the time I got and rechecked my bags my flight to Winnipeg was gone. I ended up staying overnight because of thunderstorms! I understand why it is cheaper to fly via a US connection!

N.B. volunteer receives 5-year ban from U.S. at border
Last Updated: Thursday, May 31, 2007 | 11:38 AM AT
CBC News
A Fredericton volunteer worker and two of his friends feel they've been unfairly banned from entering the United States for five years after trying to cross the Houlton-Woodstock border last weekend.

Rhyne Wood said he was trying to make a Bangor, Maine, flight to Georgia, where he was to spend the summer volunteering at a home for abused children. Border officials told Wood he didn't have proper documentation.

Mike Dunforth, one of two friends driving Wood to the airport, said he would have understood if guards had simply turned them away, but the three said they were interrogated for six hours, fingerprinted and photographed. They were not able to continue on their trip, and all three received five-year bans against entering the U.S.

"They accused us of making plans to sneak myself into the U.S. to work without them knowing," Wood said. "They asked me, 'How long have you been planning this?' And I said, 'Well, I hadn't really planned on sneaking into the U.S. to work. I'm not doing that.' "

"Five years is a long time you know," said Dunforth. "We work with kids and youth, and taking them different places is going to warrant that we get into the States at some point."

U.S. border officials are refusing to comment on this specific incident.

Lawyers said Canadians going to the U.S. to do volunteer work need a special work permit, and people crossing the border need to be completely honest with guards about the reason for their visit.

Canadian premiers push for relaxed border rules

Interesting that the tourist expenditures of Canadians in US are more than the other way around. I wonder if tourism from the US is down the last while. It would seem that since the Canadian dollar is worth less than the US there would be more US expenditure here. Perhaps it is the snowbirds make the difference!
I wonder if the Canadian government is making any money from the processing of so many more passports.


Premiers push Washington to relax border rules
Last Updated: Monday, February 26, 2007 | 12:23 AM ET
CBC News
Three Canadian premiers are in Washington to press for an easing of the U.S. rules that will require a passport to cross the land border.

At a joint news conference on Sunday to start the four-day visit, Manitoba's Gary Doer, Ontario's Dalton McGuinty and New Brunswick's Shawn Graham said new rules requiring a passport will hurt cross-border trade and tourism.

The premiers said they are getting a sympathetic response from U.S. governors, who will also face the same kind of tourism and economic problems the provinces fear.

Doer met Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, the chairwoman of the National Governors' Association, on Sunday. The governors "are concerned about the economic impact of this proposal," he said.

McGuinty reiterated his call for a "much more secure" driver's licence, with "cutting-edge technology," which he said could eliminate the need for a passport to cross the border.

"We would work with the federal government to have citizenship encoded in the card itself," said the premier, who hopes to roll out the high-tech driver's licences by the end of the year.

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Doer called for the U.S. to delay the passport rules as long as possible. They could come into place as early as next year, or as late as the middle of 2009.

Graham said "our countries are an exceptional case" because there are communities that straddle the border, and people on both sides are used to easy crossings.

The CBC's Henry Champ suggested the premiers would get a good reception because the governors recognize the problems, and because there are more Democrats in Congress.

Canadian Ambassador Michael Wilson, who appeared alongside the premiers, said there has been positive feedback to a pilot project underway in Washington State and British Columbia to see if new driver's licences would pass muster for border security.

On Monday, the premiers will present their case to the governors who are visiting Washington for their association meeting.

In terms of trade and tourism:

Canada is the largest export destination for 38 states, Graham said.
Cross-border trade totals $1.9 billion a day, he said.
American tourists spent $10 billion in Canada in 2004, and Canadians spent $11.7 billion in the U.S., McGuinty said.
The premiers fear cross-border traffic will slow to a crawl if everyone needs a passport. They are also worried some travellers simply won't bother.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said last week that children 15 and under and teens 16 to 18 travelling with schools, groups or teams can cross with certified copies of their birth certificates instead of passports.

It would make sense to extend that exemption to seniors, McGuinty said.