I have Nexus so will preclear in Canada.
In theory it shouldn't be an issue as the CBP as no authority to detain people at pre-clearance facilities. But again, I'd encourage you to have consular numbers in your phone. Also realize the Canadian Consulate has a
WhatsApp number for emergencies. Theoretically, you could also ask for consular assistance from Australia but chances are you'll get better service from Canada.
and there will still be some people who won't believe it because "they don't have CBPs side of the story"
I suppose that argument could be used elsewhere. For instance, people say all these nasty things about Third Reich, but did anyone bother to ask Goebbels for this perspective on the matter? He may have seen stuff that we didn't see! For all we know, that whole event could be a complete misunderstanding.
Joking aside, I have no doubt some of the deportations were justified. But I think it is irresponsible to write off deportations of individuals who seemed to have done nothing or very little wrong. To reiterate my point earlier, one should not be deported for failing to come to a complete stop at a stop sign in any country.
Him and wife were separated and interrogated for close to an hour on last entry to the US. No thanks, there are plenty of places that welcome tourists!
What I will point out is that this experience cannot be uniquely tied to one administration. Indeed, I remember driving to Buffalo to go shopping in 2014 and being detained for over an hour at the land border (including having my car impounded and searched). After an interrogation I was free to go. But for the next few trips to the United States I was treated the same way. It wasn't until I got Nexus that this nonsense went away. Whether there some snafu in their computer system or a bug crawled up the cough of a CBP agent, I'll never know. This might I add occurred under the Obama administration, hardly an administration known to be entirely against human rights.
Where I think the US administration changes things is the probability this capriciousness occurs will increase greatly from being less than 1% to several percentage points. So now when you are travelling you have to consider the remote possibility that you get hassled by the CBP, something which ordinarily you would not need to worry yourself about.
-RooFlyer88
www.bbc.com
