Any Canucks having issues at the border and/or Airports?

[Marie2016]

We just got back,,,,it was very busy ,,,rushed,and stressful experience. My kids have decided not to go to Disney next year,or anywhere in the USA.
Many families we spoke to are saying they will not return next year. Since I won't violate the DIS rules on Politics all I can say is I hope things get better.
Best wishes to all those traveling in the future.
Hugs Mel

Sorry you guys didn't have a good experience. I hope things get better in the near future. Wish you could enlighten us more on your experience as I think it's important for people to know regardless of the politics.

As a side note, the bottom line is the USA is a sovereign country and can and will refuse entry to anyone for any reason and don't even need to give a reason. The ONLY people who have rights to enter are American citizens.

 

[samsteele]

We just got back,,,,it was very busy ,,,rushed,and stressful experience. My kids have decided not to go to Disney next year,or anywhere in the USA.
Many families we spoke to are saying they will not return next year. Since I won't violate the DIS rules on Politics all I can say is I hope things get better.
Best wishes to all those traveling in the future.
Hugs Mel

Also very sorry to hear of this as you have provided so much helpful info & advice to other DIS'rs - sad that your own vacation & experience was poor.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

As a side note, the bottom line is the USA is a sovereign country and can and will refuse entry to anyone for any reason and don't even need to give a reason. The ONLY people who have rights to enter are American citizens.

They "may" or "can", but not necessarily WILL.

 

[Aladora]

As a side note, the bottom line is the USA is a sovereign country and can and will refuse entry to anyone for any reason and don't even need to give a reason. The ONLY people who have rights to enter are American citizens.

On the flip side, Canadians need to know that we have the right to refuse any and all extraordinary search or questions...but if you do refuse, we will be denied entry. It seems obvious but some people believe that they are legally required to hand over cell phones and passwords as well as letting themselves to be subjected to questions about their political beliefs. We have the right to say no and to turn around and go back to Canada.

But I really hope it will not come to that, I want to ride Hyper Space Mountain!!!

 

[Blackadder337]

I've crossed a few times at Niagara Falls, Windsor / Detroit, Sarnia / Port Huron, and have flown to Orlando from Toronto. Some trips were work related, some were pleasure. No change in questions there either, maybe a slightly longer wait, but not much longer... No problems at all.

 

[Marie2016]

They "may" or "can", but not necessarily WILL.

You're correct, I agree. Everyone needs to do what is within their own comfort zone.

 

[Sprockie]

We live near the Johnstown and Ivy Lea borders. We cross frequently. I didn't notice any difference in questions or time in line. I have been pulled over in random x ray type scans of the vehicle, a thorough sniffing by dogs, and the odd time for random inspections. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. I haven't seen it happen any more frequently though.

 

[samsteele]

Before recent developments, I had one random inspection at Thousand Islands crossing. It was unsettling because it had never happened before & I had always breezed through customs. The customs officer had just come on duty (relieved another officer at the wicket) and when I told him I was going to WDW for the Epcot F&W Festival and was not meeting family in Orlando, he had me turn off my vehicle and then pop the back hatch to search. He went through my suitcase & when he found granola bars and a bag of cornflakes (I bring easy breakfast food for my room), I received a warning about declaring food. Who knows what triggered it except 1) it could simply have been a random inspection 2) saying F&W Festival may have led to his suspicion I was bringing in food?? 3) I was the sole occupant in the vehicle, crossing alone and was not visiting family in Florida. Any or all of these could have led to the search. I know the ladies waiting in the car behind me were just as alarmed as I was. US border guards call up so much info on each of us based on metrics, past patterns of entry & destination that I had always assumed I was low risk & of little interest.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Everyone needs to do what is within their own comfort zone.

Absolutely. I have never argued that point.

I only take issue to potentially inflammatory suggestions that are based solely on media reports (well known to be politically biased on one side or another) and not based on personal experiences. Fear perpetuates fear, often unfairly. While the Canadian media would like us to believe that crossing the border is difficult to impossible for non-Americans, most folks seem to be still able to cross with little to no change from before the current President took office. Not one person who has responded to this thread has been denied entry to the USA, and those that have been randomly (or not) selected for secondary inspection ran that same risk for years.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Before recent developments, I had one random inspection at Thousand Islands crossing. It was unsettling because it had never happened before & I had always breezed through customs. The customs officer had just come on duty (relieved another officer at the wicket) and when I told him I was going to WDW for the Epcot F&W Festival and was not meeting family in Orlando, he had me turn off my vehicle and then pop the back hatch to search. He went through my suitcase & when he found granola bars and a bag of cornflakes (I bring easy breakfast food for my room), I received a warning about declaring food. Who knows what triggered it except 1) it could simply have been a random inspection 2) saying F&W Festival may have led to his suspicion I was bringing in food?? 3) I was the sole occupant in the vehicle, crossing alone and was not visiting family in Florida. Any or all of these could have led to the search. I know the ladies waiting in the car behind me were just as alarmed as I was. US border guards call up so much info on each of us based on metrics, past patterns of entry & destination that I had always assumed I was low risk & of little interest.

I would have surmised that they were more concerned about you bringing in alcohol moreso than the food. But that's just a guess.

 

[Sue M]

On the flip side, Canadians need to know that we have the right to refuse any and all extraordinary search or questions...but if you do refuse, we will be denied entry. It seems obvious but some people believe that they are legally required to hand over cell phones and passwords as well as letting themselves to be subjected to questions about their political beliefs. We have the right to say no and to turn around and go back to Canada.

But I really hope it will not come to that, I want to ride Hyper Space Mountain!!!

Me too!! Going to DL in Sept!

Handing over Cell Phones and passwords??? Wow . Has this happened to anyone? I've never been asked that. Is this something new? Seems like a huge invasion of privacy. What are they doing? Reading your mail? I have nothing to hide, but this is just creepy to me. Has anyone experienced this?

Nothing to do with present admin in the US, but in the past I've had both nice and nasty US border/customs agents. Some people just thrive on intimidating others because they can. This won't change. The majority of agents have been pleasant.

 

[Sprockie]

Before recent developments, I had one random inspection at Thousand Islands crossing. It was unsettling because it had never happened before & I had always breezed through customs. The customs officer had just come on duty (relieved another officer at the wicket) and when I told him I was going to WDW for the Epcot F&W Festival and was not meeting family in Orlando, he had me turn off my vehicle and then pop the back hatch to search. He went through my suitcase & when he found granola bars and a bag of cornflakes (I bring easy breakfast food for my room), I received a warning about declaring food. Who knows what triggered it except 1) it could simply have been a random inspection 2) saying F&W Festival may have led to his suspicion I was bringing in food?? 3) I was the sole occupant in the vehicle, crossing alone and was not visiting family in Florida. Any or all of these could have led to the search. I know the ladies waiting in the car behind me were just as alarmed as I was. US border guards call up so much info on each of us based on metrics, past patterns of entry & destination that I had always assumed I was low risk & of little interest.

I was under the impression it was just meat and fruit or vegetables that need to be declared - and I can totally understand that. I had one grill me about taking my kids out of school. He asked if they were geniuses and didn't need to go to school. There's plenty of them like that, and fortunately, just as many or more who are fine.

 

[Donald - my hero]

Absolutely. I have never argued that point.

I only take issue to potentially inflammatory suggestions that are based solely on media reports (well known to be politically biased on one side or another) and not based on personal experiences. Fear perpetuates fear, often unfairly. While the Canadian media would like us to believe that crossing the border is difficult to impossible for non-Americans, most folks seem to be still able to cross with little to no change from before the current President took office. Not one person who has responded to this thread has been denied entry to the USA, and those that have been randomly (or not) selected for secondary inspection ran that same risk for years.

While i agree with the majority of what you say, my family is not 100% sure that the treatment our D-I-L was not related to the recent changes. Traveled before multiple times with the Dual Citizenship she has held since birth with zero problems. They flew on the first day of the "travel ban" and this was the first time she was subjected to extra screening . They also were not allowed to go through the border check together in Pearson even when they explained that NO they are not sisters, but married "that doesn't matter to me" but our son & his wife were allowed to be questioned together (travelling on the same flight). Coming back into Canada, customs had no problem with them going through together. What does need to be taken into account is that every person who works at the border is just that, a person who has personal bias. The travel ban was (and is still being) referred to as a Muslim ban and Turkey is a predominately Muslim country so the question we all have is, if she was flagged due to that for extra screening. The same-sex marriage issue was embarrassing for them but doubtful it has anything to do with the other, nothing to compare it to though since it was the first time they have crossed a border since being married.

 

[bankr63]

I'm sorry to read this. We have already decided that our trip next month will be our last one to the USA for a while. Between possible border issues and our cruddy dollar, it just does not seem as worth it as it used to be.

I agree on the dollar front. We have already decided that next March is going to be Mexico. It's not that our dollar is cruddy, it is that the US greenback is doing so much better than other world currencies. The C$ has held up better against the Peso and most other world currencies, so the US just seems to be such a poor deal right now. The border doesn't really bother me much, the screening seemed a bit more to us this time, but still painless and fairly fast. We'll see how things are looking for a 2019 trip in another 12 months.

 

[Marbel]

We drove down a couple of weeks ago (already??), crossed at I81, a bit anxious because 4 out of 6 of our family members were born outside of Canada, none from countries in the travel ban, and we are all Canadian citizens travelling on Canadian passports. No dual citizenship. We had no problem at all. No extra scrutiny or questions. We cross several times a year but this was the first time since the travel ban.

 

[Lesverts]

On the flip side, Canadians need to know that we have the right to refuse any and all extraordinary search or questions...but if you do refuse, we will be denied entry. It seems obvious but some people believe that they are legally required to hand over cell phones and passwords as well as letting themselves to be subjected to questions about their political beliefs. We have the right to say no and to turn around and go back to Canada.

But I really hope it will not come to that, I want to ride Hyper Space Mountain!!!

This is a complicated grey area and will get more grey with 'insert political statement here'. If you are traveling by land, you are on American soil at customs and dealing with an American officer. Failure to comply can result in arrest. So in many ways you are stuck in a catch-22.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Handing over Cell Phones and passwords??? Wow . Has this happened to anyone? I've never been asked that. Is this something new? Seems like a huge invasion of privacy. What are they doing? Reading your mail? I have nothing to hide, but this is just creepy to me. Has anyone experienced this?

My DH and I have been "regulars" (or so it feels like) at the Ambassador Bridge secondary inspection since November of last year. Between fulfilling our Visa requirements (first for him, then for me) and importing his vehicle, we've occupied a spot in secondary on multiple occasions from then until February 2017. The drill has always been the same: keys and cell phones on the dash, take whatever cash you have with you, leave everything else in the vehicle and go inside. They search my purse fully but I've always been allowed to keep that on my person as well.

I have no idea if they actually went through our phones, but it hasn't worried me whether they did or did not. There was nothing of concern stored on them, so unless they were looking for photos of my kittens or my mom's phone number, they would be woefully disappointed LOL.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

While i agree with the majority of what you say, my family is not 100% sure that the treatment our D-I-L was not related to the recent changes. Traveled before multiple times with the Dual Citizenship she has held since birth with zero problems. They flew on the first day of the "travel ban" and this was the first time she was subjected to extra screening . They also were not allowed to go through the border check together in Pearson even when they explained that NO they are not sisters, but married "that doesn't matter to me" but our son & his wife were allowed to be questioned together (travelling on the same flight). Coming back into Canada, customs had no problem with them going through together. What does need to be taken into account is that every person who works at the border is just that, a person who has personal bias. The travel ban was (and is still being) referred to as a Muslim ban and Turkey is a predominately Muslim country so the question we all have is, if she was flagged due to that for extra screening. The same-sex marriage issue was embarrassing for them but doubtful it has anything to do with the other, nothing to compare it to though since it was the first time they have crossed a border since being married.

Oh, I have no doubt that in all likelihood your DIL was singled out due to the country of her birth......and I'm truly sorry that it cast a negative shadow on your trip. Trust me, I am in no way defending the current border restrictions or the President's policies: that's not my issue to weigh in on. I was just making the point that ANY Canadian (or other non-American) crossing into the United States runs the risk of being delayed in secondary inspection; even those with no ties to the countries currently involved in the travel ban. Same goes with additional screening by the TSA officer at the airport: if you want to get on that airplane, you accept the possibility that you might be singled out for extra attention there, too (my DS and I both have......it was quite the experience).

 

[kittyab]

My DH and I have been "regulars" (or so it feels like) at the Ambassador Bridge secondary inspection since November of last year. Between fulfilling our Visa requirements (first for him, then for me) and importing his vehicle, we've occupied a spot in secondary on multiple occasions from then until February 2017. The drill has always been the same: keys and cell phones on the dash, take whatever cash you have with you, leave everything else in the vehicle and go inside. They search my purse fully but I've always been allowed to keep that on my person as well.

I have no idea if they actually went through our phones, but it hasn't worried me whether they did or did not. There was nothing of concern stored on them, so unless they were looking for photos of my kittens or my mom's phone number, they would be woefully disappointed LOL.

If you have to leave your phone on the dash and it is not locked by a password.... they went through it.

 

[kittyab]

My DH is worried they will ask for passwords for cell phones and social media. We did get Nexus passes last year, so I am hoping it won't be too bad.

It wasn't very smooth when we flew down last fall. It depends on the person's mood, some agents are friendly and some are not. Some TSA agents are decent and some are down right grumpy.