If Travelling To The United States, Be Very Afraid

Last month, I wrote about the terrifying saga of Jasmine Mooney. A couple of recent videos remind us, through her story, of the perils travelling to the United States entails.

If you need further convincing, you may want to watch a longer interview with Jasmine Mooney.

Then there was the horrifying detention of Rebecca Burke.

She was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) for 19 days in what her father described as “horrendous conditions”. Now, to be fair, Burke had the wrong paperwork: she hadn’t realised that she needed a working visa instead of a tourist visa in order to exchange domestic chores for accommodation with a host family. But getting imprisoned for almost three weeks over a mix-up and then being led on to a deportation flight – in chains! – back to a country that is supposedly a close ally, is obviously extreme.

Moore and Burke's stories are but two of many.  They are undoubtedly part of the reason behind Canada's travel warning for those considering going to the formerly friendly nation.

Canada has updated its advice to those travelling to the United States, warning travellers they may face “scrutiny” from border guards and the possibility of detention if denied entry.

 The updated advisory notes that if denied entry to the U.S., citizens could be detained while awaiting deportation if they fail to meet entry exit requirements.

“Individual border agents often have significant discretion in making those determinations,” the advisory said. “Expect scrutiny at ports of entry, including of electronic devices. Comply and be forthcoming in all interactions with border authorities.”

The warnings seem to be having an effect.

At least one institution — the Universite de Montreal — put out a memorandum to staff and students about what to expect at the U.S. border and to take precautions including leaving sensitive research data at home and to register with the school on a voluntary basis before travel.

The CBC offers this warning:

U.S. Border Patrol officers can look through a mobile phone, check comments made on social media and examine a laptop without a warrant. They can also take devices or download all of their contents.

Border guards are supposed to be scanning for evidence that a traveller might commit a crime in the U.S. or violate the terms of their entry visa, but negative statements about the country or its president might make them look harder.

From the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Adam Schwartz says finding something 'damning' on a person's phone could be as simple as someone writing,

'I am angry at the president of the United States' or 'I'm proud to be Canadian and it makes me mad that the United States has just imposed tariffs on us or whatever it is".

Given the current climate south of the border and the fact that they are embracing protocols one normally associates with authoritarian regimes, the prudent choice for all Canadians is to avoid any unnecessary travel there until further notice. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UPDATED: Another Reason To Avoid Travel To The U.S.

As I have been writing of late, more and more Canadians are choosing not to travel to the U.S. for holiday purposes. The American attacks on our sovereignty have rightly rankled people, but now there are additional reasons to avoid the increasingly fascist country.

You have probably heard of new rules requiring Canadians visiting for more than 30 days to register as aliens and be fingerprinted. However, there is something else to now worry about beyond administrative inconvenience, as evidenced by the horrifying experience of Canadian Jasmine Mooney. While some may say she brought this on herself because of a visa 'irregularity',  most Canadians do not expect imprisonment upon entering America.

Jasmine Mooney, an actor who is also co-founder of the beverage brand Holy! Water, was detained on 3 March in San Diego, California.

The 35-year-old Canadian citizen’s work visa to the US was reportedly revoked back in November while traveling from Vancouver to Los Angeles, and she was attempting to file a new application.

Her mother, Alexis Eagles, who lives in British Columbia, says Mooney was detained at the San Ysidro border crossing between Mexico and San Diego, the busiest land border crossing in the world, on 3 March with an incomplete application for a work visa. Eagles told the Vancouver Sun that instead of sending her daughter to Canada or advising her to fix her application, US Customs and Border Protection officers arrested her.

What ensued was nothing short of a nightmare. 

She spent three nights in the detention centre, then was transferred. “We eventually learned that about 30 people, including Jasmine, were removed from their cells at 3am and transferred to the San Luis detention center in Arizona,” Eagles said.

“They are housed together in a single concrete cell with no natural light, fluorescent lights that are never turned off, no mats, no blankets, and limited bathroom facilities.”

Every time Mooney was transferred, she was handcuffed and in chains, Eagles claimed.

Mooney told ABC 10 that she was appalled by the conditions inside the private detention facility in San Luis where she was being kept.

“I have never in my life seen anything so inhumane,” she said. “I was put in a cell, and I had to sleep on a mat with no blanket, no pillow, with an aluminum foil wrapped over my body like a dead body for two and a half days.”

The case did not escape the attention of David Eby, C.C.'s premier, who said

he was "profoundly concerned about these kind of actions" by the U.S. administration, saying they "violate the very idea that Canadians are safe in the U.S. when we visit." 

"The nature of our relationship is so fraught right now that this case makes us all wonder, you know, what about our relatives who are working in the States? What about when we cross the border, what kind of experience are we gonna have?" 

Mooney is now back home in British Columbia, but her experience sends a chilling message to all of us. As my mother used to say, "It's better to be safe than sorry." Indeed, all Canadians would be wise to keep such observations in mind if contemplating crossing the border, and err on the side of caution. 

UPDATE: If you would like to read Jasmine Mooney's first-person account of her ordeal, please click here.