Border Patrol Checking by Border

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Sounds like your travelling companion is an admitted prime candidate for deportation. If so, tell him/her to pack enough toiletries in carry-on to last through detention.
 
jis said:
About searches, a favorite technique used by them is when you refuse, they say they will need to get a dog or warrant because they suspect you are carrying drugs or some such and until they can, they need to detain you, so off you go off the train as it sails away.
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Yup- that’s the exact line they used on me. Naturally I then agreed to let them search my bag.
 
MARC Rider said:
That sounds like the checkpoint I endured in Vermont in the mid 2000s.

Now, if I were a coyote smuggling Quebecois refugees in search of Anglophone culture and a privatized medical care system, I'd just send a scout car ahead, and if encounters a checkpoint, it can phone to the smuggler's van, which gen then get off at the next exit, and take side roads to avoid the checkpoint.
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Sending a scout car ahead has always been the way the illegals have operated in So.Cal between San Diego and LA. There is a checkpoint about 1/2 way that opens and closes during each day. I’ve myself have seen numerous time cars stop next to the fast lane, people jump out, climb over a fence between the North and South bound traffic, cross 4 lanes of busy traffic to jump into a nasty terrain. How they make it across the road or out of places they run to is beyond me. Sometimes they turn off early and drive through the
Camp Pendleton Marine Base. Quite often at a rest stop nearby I’ve watched Border Patrol just walk up to a car, jerk people out and hook em up. Never say a word.
 
crescent-zephyr said:
Yup- that’s the exact line they used on me. Naturally I then agreed to let them search my bag.
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It is a shame that they get away with that. At a border or near border checkpoint it makes sense, not away from the borders. It is the job of other law enforcement not CBP. Judges are getting less tolerant, and some people in Congress, particularly NE senators are ramping up the pressure to stop crap like that.
 
PVD said:
It is a shame that they get away with that. At a border or near border checkpoint it makes sense, not away from the borders. It is the job of other law enforcement not CBP. Judges are getting less tolerant, and some people in Congress, particularly NE senators are ramping up the pressure to stop crap like that.
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I think we are conflating things here. It is the drug interdiction folks that threaten detention based on finding dogs or warrants or whatever. Usually that is either the local Police or DEA or a combination thereof. Border Patrol has had the tacit understanding that they are allowed to do legality check within 100 miles of the border based on no court ever having told them that they can't AFAICT. So they will just detain you anyway, without the niceties of dogs or whatever.

From others experience I have learned that one thing you want to stay away from is getting into the Border Protection Detention system. It is a surreal la la land. Better to just show the right document and skip. Yes probably most of it is extra-legal, but that is one thing where I don't see any reason to volunteer myself as a Guinea Pig. Anyone else that wants to is of course most welcome.
 
Border patrol will walk a dog around a car at a checkpoint and if it alerts that does constitute a reasonable suspicion. They do use dogs. Rarely on a train. Sadly, they have been caught lying as to what the dog did. The point is, that they are engaging in activities that have nothing to do with the reason they exist. Interestingly, the original post in this thread actually references them performing an enforcement duty that is their function.
 
I used to travel a lot. As a result, I have been through US immigration hundreds of times. No less than five times I have been sent to "the room" for minor perceived infractions. Because I am a middle aged white male, I've been able to politely talk my way out each time. Others would not be so fortunate. Do not mess with DHS people.

The most amusing one (although not at the time) was when the VIA Canadian stole my passport. They had to pull our car in Winnipeg for a mechanical while we were off doing the VIA city tour. They moved all our luggage but didn't move our documents in the official room document pouch, and I didn't catch it until we had left Winnipeg. They were extremely embarrassed and obtained an official letter from the Canadian government explaining the situation. The US consulate in Vancouver didn't want to talk to me, they said to explain it at the border. The border was not amused. The room is not fun. The guy ahead of me, another American, started yelling at people and got carried away to the cooler. I eventually got in.
 
Brian Battuello said:
I used to travel a lot. As a result, I have been through US immigration hundreds of times. No less than five times I have been sent to "the room" for minor perceived infractions. Because I am a middle aged white male, I've been able to politely talk my way out each time. Others would not be so fortunate. Do not mess with DHS people.
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I so agree with you!

As I always point out to my more privileged friends - arm chair quarter backing about what to do with Border Agents is particularly easy when you yourself are in a low risk group :D
 
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Brian Battuello said:
I used to travel a lot. As a result, I have been through US immigration hundreds of times. No less than five times I have been sent to "the room" for minor perceived infractions. Because I am a middle aged white male, I've been able to politely talk my way out each time. Others would not be so fortunate. Do not mess with DHS people.

The most amusing one (although not at the time) was when the VIA Canadian stole my passport. They had to pull our car in Winnipeg for a mechanical while we were off doing the VIA city tour. They moved all our luggage but didn't move our documents in the official room document pouch, and I didn't catch it until we had left Winnipeg. They were extremely embarrassed and obtained an official letter from the Canadian government explaining the situation. The US consulate in Vancouver didn't want to talk to me, they said to explain it at the border. The border was not amused. The room is not fun. The guy ahead of me, another American, started yelling at people and got carried away to the cooler. I eventually got in.
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I used to see American kids not Registered for the Draft denied entry @ the Border between BC and Washington and taken away to "the Room" .

Evidently it was on the Computer, and if you were over 18 and weren't registered, you were arrested!
 
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I endured an Amtrak border crossing - once! It was on the Maple Leaf, traveling from NY Penn to Niagara Falls, Ontario. Nearly two hours stuck in your seat. You could not even get up to use the restroom!

On subsequent trips, we simply left the train at Niagara Falls, NY and took a taxi across the border. A ten-second inquiry by the border agent, a flash of our passports and we were on our way. Instead of sitting in our seats on the train, we were enjoying dinner at a restaurant.

If we were going further into Canada, say Toronto, this may not have been an option. But for Niagara Falls it certainly was.
 
NYP2NFL01 said:
I endured an Amtrak border crossing - once! It was on the Maple Leaf, traveling from NY Penn to Niagara Falls, Ontario. Nearly two hours stuck in your seat. You could not even get up to use the restroom!

On subsequent trips, we simply left the train at Niagara Falls, NY and took a taxi across the border. A ten-second inquiry by the border agent, a flash of our passports and we were on our way. Instead of sitting in our seats on the train, we were enjoying dinner at a restaurant.

If we were going further into Canada, say Toronto, this may not have been an option. But for Niagara Falls it certainly was.
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Well, you could buy a ticket from Amtrak to Niagara Falls, NY, take a taxi across the border, then buy a ticket from VIA from Niagara Falls, Ont., to Toronto. You can probably get to the Niagara Falls, Ont. Train station before the train gets there.
 
Exvalley said:
Illegal border crossings from Quebec are more common than most people think. Much less than down south, but not insignificant.

Here is a story about a coyote working the northern border: Vermont man charged in human smuggling case on Canada border
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This may be true, but notice that they didn't catch them at a random interior checkpoint on a busy interstate highway where it's easy enough to get off and drive around the checkpoint. They actually had sensors at the border and did an investigation focused on real evidence.
 
jis said:
After a close call or two, I acquired a Passport Card and carry it in my wallet at all times. However, I have never had to actually use it on a train. It is used mostly at airports with TSA. I have used it to travel by train to Canada and back though. Works very well, and I don't get asked inane questions about my travels to Israel or Muscat and Oman.
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With modern e-visas a swipe of a serialized passport card should be all that is required for most global travel but instead we have to carry a booklet with several pages of filler content that leaks up to ten years of your travel history to overzealous inspectors and entry level desk clerks all over the world.
 
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You had to bring up the Maple Leaf. Our dedicated civil servants decided that I just might be smuggling my 5 year old daughter into the US, despite having birth certificates and a notarized note from Mom. We have different last names, but never had a problem with that before. Once they decided we were somehow suspicious, they took us to opposite ends of the cafe car where we could see but not hear each other. They asked me my full life history and went through every pill in my bag, while she played 20 questions about where she lived and with whom. It helped that they finally got Mom on the phone, but only partially. I will say they were very polite with both of us. When they were done, a supervisor pulled me aside and asked if I had any concerns about the way we were handled. Being extremely eager to get us and the train on its way, I assured him I was absolutely delighted with their sense of caution. I did ask very politely if they had any particular reason for singling us out, and he said they did, but he couldn't tell me what. Maybe they were looking for a kidnapped kid.

Okay, that's two of five room visits. Stop me.
 
Brian Battuello said:
Our dedicated civil servants decided that I just might be smuggling my 5 year old daughter into the US, despite having birth certificates and a notarized note from Mom.
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This is becoming an increasingly common issue. Even when your trip is legitimate and you've taken all reasonable precautions you can still find yourself in a trafficking accusation nightmare through no fault of your own. Employers are asking staff to report any concerns with unusual behavior but the rank and file are poorly equipped for this task and the limited training some receive does not do enough to counter personal biases and exclude harmless behavior.

https://viewfromthewing.com/delta-f...er-of-trafficking-his-special-needs-daughter/
 
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Some really tragic stories in there. At least I was never accused of anything, they were just investigating. Again, I've never been detained further than the room, officially known as "secondary inspection". I did have a college girlfriend fail secondary. She was given a choice of going to an airport holding cell or renting an airport hotel room and a security guard at her expense, which was actually a pretty reasonable solution. She wasn't supposed to make any calls but she called around 3am to report that her (female) security guard, who SHE was paying for, was sound asleep. I suggested we hang up before she woke up. The next morning her university was able to provide the correct paperwork and she was released.
 
Most at border crossing issues involve Customs Officers, not BP, and at or close to border interactions, which can be very frustrating, are at least related to the reason these agencies exist. Not to go on fishing expeditions hoping to make a drug arrest or justify a civil asset forfeiture.
 
PVD said:
Most at border crossing issues involve Customs Officers, not BP, and at or close to border interactions, which can be very frustrating, are at least related to the reason these agencies exist. Not to go on fishing expeditions hoping to make a drug arrest or justify a civil asset forfeiture.
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I thought a lot of the Civil Asset Forfeiture involved local police in places like Albuquerque, and had nothing to do with Border Patrol.

I agree that the Border Entry Points do not have Border Patrol Agents. They have Customs Agents and Immigration Agents. Many of course confuse the latter two either as the same or conflate with Border Patrol. Border Patrol are the CBP Agents that are not at the Border Checkpoint, but basically everywhere else, wherever they can get away with sticking their nose into beyond actually pattroling the land and surface borders.
 
The specific method and process of forfeiture varies by situation and circumstance. The authority to search without cause is distinct from the authority to seize without charge but the level of coordination allowed between different groups and departments can short circuit fundamental liberties and protections that require a meaningful separation of powers to exist as more than a theoretical construct.

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Link: https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2020-09/OIG-20-66-Aug20.pdf
 
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