With some colleagues this weekend we had planned to go take a bike ride through Vermont and North New York state and then back to Montreal. We were pretty confident that nothing would prevent us to go over the border as none of us never had any trouble. Then one of the guys did the worst thing you can do: He cracked a joke to one of the customs guy. This was the signal to look into each of our lives and us to spend an hour waiting for their checks and one of us even got strip searched. The reason for all of this crap was:
-One of the guys was originally french, obviously so as he has a big french accent, but he has had his canadian citizenship for more than 7 years, they still denied him entry.
-Another one was caught with a joint in 88 while getting through the US border in Minnesota. When they asked him if he ever had any problem getting through the border he said no because since then he had gotten through many times, even worked in the US, with a work visa, for a year. He thought that it wasn't a problem anymore, apparently not. He was denied entry also and was clearly informed that if he continued explaining himself he would soon be charged with lying to a federal officer, a felony.
So we went and spent our cash in Canada instead. There was a dude from the department of homeland security there all dressed up with a bulletproof vest, two guns and a mean streak and was extremely rude even though we were all cooperative. This was at probably one of the smallest border control ever, 2 customs officer and a small building hosting them.
So much for friendly neighbors
-One of the guys was originally french, obviously so as he has a big french accent, but he has had his canadian citizenship for more than 7 years, they still denied him entry.
-Another one was caught with a joint in 88 while getting through the US border in Minnesota. When they asked him if he ever had any problem getting through the border he said no because since then he had gotten through many times, even worked in the US, with a work visa, for a year. He thought that it wasn't a problem anymore, apparently not. He was denied entry also and was clearly informed that if he continued explaining himself he would soon be charged with lying to a federal officer, a felony.
So we went and spent our cash in Canada instead. There was a dude from the department of homeland security there all dressed up with a bulletproof vest, two guns and a mean streak and was extremely rude even though we were all cooperative. This was at probably one of the smallest border control ever, 2 customs officer and a small building hosting them.
So much for friendly neighbors
