There's just too much risk now in crossing the US border, too much danger of tripping over some kind of invisible racist circuit-breaker or annoying some border agent on a power trip -- it's just too much to worry about.
Like, have we ever had any kind of issue in the past with getting a visa for the US? Overstay by even a few hours? And which entry port are we trying to use? And did we ever criticize Trump on social media? Do we have any tattoos? Or funny photos on our phones? Do we draw comics? And even, what's our opinion on climate change?
Jasmine Mooney / The Guardian
I’m the Canadian who was detained by Ice for two weeks. It felt like I had been kidnapped
I was stuck in a freezing cell without explanation despite eventually having lawyers and media attention. Yet, compared with others, I was lucky
I restarted the visa process and returned to the same immigration office at the San Diego border, since they had processed my visa before and I was familiar with it. Hours passed, with many confused opinions about my case. The officer I spoke to was kind but told me that, due to my previous issues, I needed to apply for my visa through the consulate. I told her I hadn’t been aware I needed to apply that way, but had no problem doing it.
Then she said something strange: “You didn’t do anything wrong. You are not in trouble, you are not a criminal.”
I remember thinking: Why would she say that? Of course I’m not a criminal
She then told me they had to send me back to Canada. That didn’t concern me; I assumed I would simply book a flight home. But as I sat searching for flights, a man approached me.
“Come with me,” he said.
There was no explanation, no warning. He led me to a room, took my belongings from my hands and ordered me to put my hands against the wall. A woman immediately began patting me down. The commands came rapid-fire, one after another, too fast to process.
They took my shoes and pulled out my shoelaces.
“What are you doing? What is happening?” I asked.
“You are being detained.”
“I don’t understand. What does that mean? For how long?”
“I don’t know.”
That would be the response to nearly every question I would ask over the next two weeks: “I don’t know.”
...To put things into perspective: I had a Canadian passport, lawyers, resources, media attention, friends, family and even politicians advocating for me. Yet, I was still detained for nearly two weeks.
Imagine what this system is like for every other person in there.
...When I finally landed in Canada, my mom and two best friends were waiting for me. So was the media. I spoke to them briefly, numb and delusional from exhaustion.
It was surreal listening to my friends recount everything they had done to get me out: working with lawyers, reaching out to the media, making endless calls to detention centers, desperately trying to get through to Ice or anyone who could help. They said the entire system felt rigged, designed to make it nearly impossible for anyone to get out.
The reality became clear: Ice detention isn’t just a bureaucratic nightmare. It’s a business. These facilities are privately owned and run for profit.
Companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group receive government funding based on the number of people they detain, which is why they lobby for stricter immigration policies. It’s a lucrative business: CoreCivic made over $560m from Ice contracts in a single year. In 2024, GEO Group made more than $763m from Ice contracts.
The more detainees, the more money they make. It stands to reason that these companies have no incentive to release people quickly. What I had experienced was finally starting to make sense.
This is not just my story. It is the story of thousands and thousands of people still trapped in a system that profits from their suffering. I am writing in the hope that someone out there – someone with the power to change any of this – can help do something.
The strength I witnessed in those women, the love they gave despite their suffering, is what gives me faith. Faith that no matter how flawed the system, how cruel the circumstances, humanity will always shine through.
Even in the darkest places, within the most broken systems, humanity persists. Sometimes, it reveals itself in the smallest, most unexpected acts of kindness: a shared meal, a whispered prayer, a hand reaching out in the dark. We are defined by the love we extend, the courage we summon and the truths we are willing to tell.
We also have to worry about our on-line messages and posting history now:
the First Amendment is dead. if Biden or Obama or Clinton pulled this sh-t with someone's text messages criticizing them, the mainstream media would be screaming for impeachment, and even congressional Dems would have pushed for that. trump does it? fcking *nothing*. newrepublic.com/post/192946/...
— Witty Librarian Resistance (@paulwartenberg.bsky.social) March 20, 2025 at 6:26 AM
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Do not travel to or from the United States without burner phones and laptops
— Brandon Friedman (@brandonfriedman.bsky.social) March 19, 2025 at 6:48 PM
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And whether we have any tattoos. And whether we ever posted a funny photos. And whether we ever drew comics for a living. And even, for crying out loud, if we ever wrote something about climate change that maybe Trump wouldn't like:View on Threads
NEW! Sworn declarations filed last night confirm the Trump admin sent INNOCENT people to rot in prison El Salvador, including a professional soccer player jailed and tortured by the Maduro regime, who entered this country LEGALLY to seek asylum, and who has NO CRIMINAL RECORD in either country.
— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social) March 20, 2025 at 6:40 AM
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The good news? UK comic maker Becky Burke is home after being detained by ICE. The bad news, the new regime’s stricter reading of the previously ignored rules on work will catch others out coming to the US for comic events - comicon.com/2025/03/18/f...
— Richard Bruton (@richardbruton.bsky.social) March 19, 2025 at 12:34 AM
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Or even if we did nothing at all but just didn't look "white"?It's going to be difficult to formally corroborate instances like this for reasons that are, I think, pretty self-evident...but I am certainly hearing rapidly increasing concern from international colleagues regarding physical travel to the United States (for multiple reasons).
— Daniel Swain (@weatherwest.bsky.social) March 18, 2025 at 11:14 AM
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Police encounters inside the United States are also becoming problematic for Canadians:‘Tapwe: Songs of Truth,’ by Cree composer Andrew Balfour will NOT be on the Carnegie Hall program this Saturday evening because apparently Indigenous composers are viewed as a security threat and Balfour was held for hours then refused entry to the States yesterday. slippedisc.com/2025/03/a-ca...
— paulseesequasis (@paulseesequasis.bsky.social) March 13, 2025 at 4:08 PM
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Here is a Bluesky thread about people from around the world who had problems at the US border:View on Threads
Basically, the advice now is "watch out!"I decided to start a #thread 🧵 of stories about legal residents and tourists being (illegally) arrested, detained and/or deported by the Trump regime. I'll only post stories from serious sources, as rumors and conspiracies are really not needed in this authoritarian moment.
— Cas Mudde (@casmudde.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 3:04 PM
....U.S. immigration lawyer Jim Hacking says Mooney's case is part of a rising number of incidents in the past 10 days where individuals with different immigration statuses— including one with a permanent resident card—have been detained or deported in unprecedented ways.
Hacking says he has been advising non-citizens to avoid leaving the United States, as he believes there is a growing risk they may not be allowed to return.
This warning also applies to Canadians with current or past work visas or other forms of immigration status, he adds.
"In the 17 years I've been practicing immigration law, I've never heard of a TN visa holder being detained for days on end and not being allowed to enter," said Hacking, founder of Hacking Immigration Law in St. Louis, Missouri.
Canadians are already avoiding US travel -- half a million fewer trips in just the last month:Canadian MP Charlie Angus: I am here today to urge Canadians to avoid travel to the United States if at all possible and to call on our government to stand up for our citizens who are being denied their rights through arbitrary detention in the United States.
— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) March 20, 2025 at 12:37 PM
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Cross-border trips to the U.S. reach COVID lows with nearly 500,000 fewer travellers in February www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
— Alex Panetta (@alexpanetta.bsky.social) March 18, 2025 at 6:12 AM
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Other countries are also taking notice:View on Threads
Two news stories. TODAY. The world no longer trusts the United States to safeguard its citizens.
— News Eye (@newseye.bsky.social) March 20, 2025 at 11:49 AM
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Americans are starting to notice a certain....emptiness:View on Threads
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There are going to be, I believe, a cascade of economic issues this summer related to the tourist industry. Fewer people will come here to travel. Fewer people will come here to work within the industry.
— Magdi Jacobs (@magdi.bsky.social) March 20, 2025 at 10:23 AM
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And what pisses me off the most is that America's screwed up politics are now going to affect Canada's sports:The outrage towards the U.S. in Europe and Canada is not to be understated either; It's personal. People do not want to invest their money in our society. Whereas we're boycotting individual companies in the U.S., Europeans are boycotting the U.S. in its entirety.
— Magdi Jacobs (@magdi.bsky.social) March 20, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Because also, what will happen now to Canadian fans who want to attend the World Cup. And the Olympics. And the hockey playoffs. And the basketball playoffs? Do we dare to attend these events anymore? Will our athletes be jailed at the border? Does the rest of the world also stay away?Annual baseball pilgrimage to U.S. cancelled amidst rising tensions
— CP24 (Unofficial) (@cp24-rss.bsky.social) March 18, 2025 at 4:15 PM
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Yup. The 2026 World Cup is going to be interesting. I can see lots of international travelers going to the Mexico and Canada venues and a lot of folks saying they love their team but not enough to give ICE a crack at them. If US venues don't sell out that'll be a tell.
— Boston Tom Levenson (@tomlevenson.bsky.social) March 20, 2025 at 2:22 PM
6 comments:
I'm not that surprised by people getting turned around by laptop and phone searches at the border. Lawyers engaged in trade and merger talks have for years carried laptops and phones with nothing on them when crossing the border. Important files are downloaded through secure servers on arrival at the hotel, and uploaded before leaving for the airport. Courts on both sides of the border have ruled that people have a very attenuated expectation of privacy at the border that allows all sorts of invasive searches. The law hasn't changed to recognize the fact that we now all carry much more information about ourselves in the palm of our hands than would fit in a u-haul 40 years ago.
It is awful!
Charlie Angus has emerged as a leading voice of sanity and resistance in this battle with the U.S. Deciding not to run for re-election has liberated him to speak his mind, and we are all the better for it.
I am hoping he will change his mind and run again.
Already considered having my on-line presence admitted into evidence at the military tribunal rooting out pro canadian nationalists in the new 51st state.
Might be nice to do deep searches on all the Americans attending the Pro American literal horse sh*t show known as the Calgary Stampede.
All fentanyl traffickers I'm sure and I hear they get the horses to swallow balloons so three week quarantines would be appropriate there.
Or as the 60s RCMP used to warn " Next time we stop you - you will have dope on you - trust me"
Might tune up Quisling Queen Dani and her chippy threats too. She is more pro American than most Americans and very Anti Canadian . Her record speaks for itself. Anti Canadian hate farmer " eQuAlIzAtIoN PaYmEnTs" and "liberals ate our baby" kinda along the lines of "EvErYtHiNgS BrOkEn" pp but with no pivot.
Elbows Up and Stay Frosty
On a side note - yeah, one of the reasons I was glad to see dope legalized was so ACAB cops couldn't pull that kind of stuff anymore. One time a coworker told me he opposed legalization because police needed to keep people in line by being able to threaten people with possession arrests, and he just couldn't see how wrong and corrupt that kind of thinking wasm
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