$^%%#@%& US Customs and Border Patrol

 We left Toronto on Jan 10^th, with the intention of getting to San Diego by Jan 15^th.  That plan has been blown all to hell by the &^%$^*( US Customs.

In all fairness, we did have a car full and then some.  They thought we were trying to move there.  Yeah, like we would want to live in the US!!!! 

On day 1 we were sent to the “office” to answer some questions.  The room we were taken to was more like a jail than anything else.  We were not allowed to bring in our phones or any water or food.  We weren’t allowed to use the bathroom or even to stand up!!!  We were informed that we would need to get proof that we had a home in Canada.  Meaning, we had to bring a list of stuff as per their instructions.  Things like the deed to house, our renters agreement, proof of employment, financial viability, etc., etc.

We were taken into a back room and body searched and finger printed.  At one point a female officer called me up and asked me if I had ever been arrested.  I said “no, never”, which is true.  She asked me if I was sure.  Of course I was.  After another hour or so, the officer handling our case (McCue) called me back up and asked me where I was in 1976.  I said “Montreal”.  He said are you sure you weren’t in New York protesting or something.  “Isn’t that what they did back then?”, he said.  I said no, I was just a teenager then.  He got pissed with me and said “no you weren’t.”  I said I didn’t know how old I was at the time and he said “yes you do”.  Gosh, have you ever tried to do math while you are under stress?  Ok, so I was 21.  Big deal.  So he said they ran my fingerprints.  He said “you understand that fingerprints don’t lie.  Is there something you want to tell me?”  I said “no, I have never been arrested.”  He said “ok, we’re going to send your prints to the FBI.  You can wait here until we hear back, which could be several hours.  I’ll give you some time to think about it.”  About an hour later he came back and asked me if I had anything to tell him.  I said “no, I have never been arrested.  I understand that fingerprints don’t lie.  You obviously didn’t run my prints or you’d know that.”  He said “actually I did run them”.  I said “I know you are turning us back, so what does it matter if I was ever arrested anyway?”  And he said, “You’re right, I don’t have to hold you.  You can go.”.  4 hours later!!!

When we got checked into a motel, we called the FBI first.  The FBI confirmed that the border patrol did indeed send them my prints.  But they were rejected due to poor quality.  They also informed us that the US Border Patrol is not capable of running fingerprints, so the customs officer lied to me.  We then called the Detroit US Immigration office, for a couple of reasons.  First one was to file a complaint about the officer’s intimidation tactics and his lying.  The second reason we called was to find out if we could go to an alternate border crossing with the information.  We were informed that we could go to any border crossing.  There was no way we wanted to go back there (Windsor/Detroit Ambassador Bridge crossing – avoid it at all costs!).

The next day we went to RBC to get a printout of my employment records at RBC as well as 6 months transactions to show income and bill payments, including mortgage and tax payments.  We got a copy of Neil’s book listing from Chapters and a copy of our tickets back to San Diego in May to prove that we would be returning to Toronto.  We took this to Windsor/Detroit Tunnel crossing.  When we were back in their “office” we were told that we had to go back to the Ambassador Bridge crossing, that what we were doing was considered “border shopping”, and that it is illegal.  At that point, I broke down and cried.  This appealed to the officer in charge and he became more gentle with us and said he would allow us to use that crossing without charging us.  Long story short, after another 4 hours we were once again turned around because we did not present the deed to the house.  I explained to the officer (Kerby) that it was back in Toronto and that I didn’t even know where it was off hand.  He said if we got a statement from the bank indicating that I own the house, the balance owing and that we are not in arrears, that would be acceptable.  Once again, we were body searched, finger printed and returned to Canada.

So, we ran to the bank again, but we were too late.  The next day, we got the necessary statement and returned to the Tunnel crossing.  Unfortunately, the same officer was not on shift and they started all over again with the “you didn’t bring the deed” and “you have to return to the Bridge”.  One officer even came forward and said he heard the officer instruct us to return to the Bridge.  Yes, he did, but he changed his mind later, but, of course, this guy didn’t hear that.  OMG, I thought, this is a nightmare.  Anyway, we asked to speak to the supervisor.  The wait was almost 2 hours.  During that time, Kerby came on shift.  Thankfully, he cleared everything up and they ended up letting us through.  WHEW!!!

We running 2 days behind schedule, but we’re finally in the US. 

(Would you let us in?)