Why I won't be travelling to the USA any time soon

[robkelk]

Simply put, the US government appears to not want people to visit the USA. I say that because of the measures they are putting into place at border crossings with Canada.

Opinion piece by a Ph.D. candidate in American Studies at Rutgers: Canadians travelling to or through U.S. should pay close attention to their withering rights

The United States and Canada share what's been known as the longest undefended border in the world, because of the neighbourly sentiment between the nations. Now defence has become irrelevant, because Canadian lawmakers have effectively invited an invasion by U.S. border authorities.

Even if a Canadian official is "unwilling" to conduct a search or has deemed a detainment unnecessary, a U.S. official can override that call. In other words, Canadian law enforcement can now be countermanded within Canada by Americans.

This new authority also allows U.S. border guards to deny Canadians their right of withdrawal. Before the amendment to the law was enacted, if a person felt at all uncomfortable in the course of preclearance questioning she could simply leave, retracting her intention to cross the border with no penalty.

Now, as a result of amendments, the guard is entitled to detain her if he finds "reasonable grounds" to do so. And the request to leave in itself could be construed as reasonable grounds.

Scarier still is the provision that undergirds every amendment to the agreement: that U.S. border officials will not be held accountable for impropriety.

In the exact language of the bill, "no action or civil proceeding may be brought against a U.S. preclearance officer in respect of anything that is done or omitted in the exercise of their powers, or the performance of their duties and functions under the legislation."

So there will be no repercussions for anything committed in the exercise of their powers.

(emphasis is in the original article)


If that's how the USA wants to treat visitors even before they arrive in the USA, I'll spend my vacation money elsewhere.