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Crossing US Borders in the Age of Blogging

March 27, 2005 in Main Page | No comments

… maybe dangerous to your health, depending upon whether the strip searches include your various cavities.

Who knows what might be lurking inside ? Sad, but true, story.

Welcome, my friends, to the show that never ends. Jeremy Wright of Winnipeg was not allowed to cross the Canada/USA border, either because there is no job called “blogger” or because everyone knows you can’t talk to people you’ve never met without using a telephone.

I’m still not 100% sure what happened at Customs at the airport. Really, totally unsure. However at the very least I was denied entry and flagged for followup any other time I try to enter. As far as I can tell, I am not “banned” from entering. I’m not sure why the border guard said I was, threatened to throw me and jail and seize my assets, etc.

I don’t know if any of what I experienced is even allowed by DHS (Department of Homeland Security). And I don’t even hold anything against DHS, Americans, etc. At the end of the day it’s this guy’s job to protect the border from, as he said, “ingrates and other seedy characters”.

There are quotes that stick out in my mind, like the “blogging ain’t a job” qoute that everyone’s bandying about. And there were threats. And there was lots of talk and many humiliating moments. There were also jaw-dropping ones like:

Him: Why would you visit someone in the states you’d never met (I mentioned I was planning to visit several people whilst down there)

Me: Well, I have met most of them, but I’ve talked to them dozens or hundreds of times online.

Him: Do you have any of their phone numbers?

Me: No, but I talk

Him: You can’t talk to someone without a phone number. Stop lying to me.

Me: No, really, I can talk from my computer to theirs

Him: Don’t be a smartass. If you don’t have their phone number, and you’ve never met them, how can you have ever talked to them.

Me: … (at this point I’ve learned that sarcasm doesn’t help, nor does answering questions he doesn’t want to hear the answer to)

Him: So, you’re trying to tell me that you’re going to visit someone who you’ve never met, never talked to and who knows nothing about you? And I’m supposed to believe this?

Me: … (This was two hours in, and minutes before I demanded to be released)

Anyways, I’m not going to New York. The company basically needed someone there this week, and the only way to get a Visa is through a fairly standard 2 week process. Which I understand, and I’m not mad about, it just means I’m not going.