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Cross posted at PhD in Parenting.
As a child, we vacationed regularly in Maine. As a young adult, I
went on many cross border shopping expeditions. We live less than an
hour from the border to the United States and it is natural that we
would want to spend time there. In the pre-Bush days, officials at the
border would take on a friendly and polite tone when asking where you
were from, where you were going and what the purpose of your stay was.
They’d close with “Enjoy your vacation ma’am. Hope to see you again
soon.” And then came George W. Bush and 9/11 and all of the
overreaction and panic. Yes, it was a devastating event. Yes, it showed
that the United States should perhaps beef up security. But it also
meant that the friendly tone of those border guards turned to one of
suspicion and police officers who would have at one time handed a
vacationing Canadian a speeding ticket with a friendly reminder to slow
down a bit, were now leveraging immigration legislation to throw people
into jail over minor traffic violations.
In 2007, I read the story of Cheryl Kuehn, a 23 year old Canadian university student who was on her way to Florida with family members:
A 23-year-old Carleton University master’s student
is outraged and demanding an apology from Georgia officials after
spending more than 11 uncomfortable hours in a detention centre for
running a stop sign and speeding.Cheryl Kuehn said Monday she was fingerprinted and had her mugshot
taken before being forced to strip naked and shower, don a navy blue
jail outfit and sleep in a cell with two other women while other
inmates jeered and leered at her from adjoining cells.“I was terrified,” said Mrs. Kuehn, who spent Saturday night at
the detention centre in southern Georgia after she was taken into
custody following the traffic stop outside a restaurant along the I-95
near Brunswick, Georgia. “I don’t think it’s a very humane way to treat
someone who had not committed a crime, or even been accused of
committing a crime,” said Mrs. Kuehn, adding the “unjust” treatment she
received in the Georgia jail was completely uncalled for.But officials with the Georgia state police and Glynn County
Detention Center, where Mrs. Kuehn was being held, said they were just
following procedure when someone from another country is stopped for
speeding or other traffic violations - no matter how minor they might
seem. That procedure, they said, includes holding Canadians, including
those carrying a valid passport like Mrs. Kuehn, or other “foreign
nationals,” in custody until the U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement Agency confirms they are legally allowed to be in the
country.
There are many more details in the article, but essentially it
appears that the State of Georgia thinks it is appropriate to take
someone and throw them into jail over the fact that they might try to
avoid paying their speeding ticket. It has nothing to do with the
intent of the law, which is about confirming someone’s right to be in
the country. Instead, it uses a law designed for that intent to make
someone post bond to ensure they don’t skip out on a speeding ticket.
The ridiculousness of it and my outrage over the situation was enough
for me to say that I would not be traveling to the United States if I
could avoid it for the remainder of Bush’s term.
And then came Obama. One of my blogger friends, Amy @ Crunchy Domestic Goddess
was putting together a post for her blog on foreigners reactions to
Obama’s victory. I sent her my thoughts via e-mail and she included
them in her post called The World chimes in about Barack Obama. I commented on a number of issues, but one of them was this:
I also wonder what Obama will keep and what he’ll
get rid of with regards to greater restrictions that have been placed
on foreigners. I used to travel to the US frequently for business, for
family vacations, and for day shopping trips. Now I don’t anymore. I’m
scared and I’m annoyed. I used to get a smile and a few friendly
questions at the border (where are you from, where are you going, how
long are you staying, have a great trip!). Now I get grilled to the nth
degree by a scowling border guard that seems to assume that each person
trying to cross the border wants to do some sort of harm to the United
States (no, really, I just want to shop and vacation….don’t you want my
dollars…guess
