Ferry trip turns into uncomfortable experience with U.S. Customs

Source: Seattle Times

Why would anyone think to pack a passport for a trip inside Washington state?

Yet that was the jolting advice my family received from U.S. Customs and Border Protection earlier this month as we returned from a weekend getaway to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.

Our group — my husband and me; our 3-year-old daughter; and my mother, sister and nephew — arrived to catch the 1:40 p.m. Sunday ferry back to Anacortes. That happens to be the only Washington State Ferries run that originates in Canada; in this case, in Sidney, B.C., near Victoria. At the terminal, a flier left on the windshield of our minivan warned us that we'd be joining international passengers already on board and that all of us would be subject to a Customs search in Anacortes.

The flier advised us to take a later ferry if we didn't consent. But the next ferry to Anacortes wasn't for another three hours. So we decided to hop on. We figured that a "border crossing" for U.S. citizens returning from a domestic journey ought to be quick.

It wasn't.

Despite three vehicle exit lanes at the Anacortes dock, it took us an hour to crawl toward a Customs agent — the exact duration of our ferry ride. But what really grated was the grilling.

Read more: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travel/2004014650_passport180.html

walking across the border a few dozen miles to the east where there are NO FUCKING CHECKPOINTS....
:eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

Aiding and abetting is a serious charge in these times.

Don't be giving them any ideas.

You see, it's kinda like talking about torture. If we talk about torture, the evil-doers might start preparing the suicide bombers for the possibility of torture after they blow themselves to smithereens.

reward on me!!!
:D

You know, maybe start a charter school and maybe help out a few friends of mine who are kinda down on their luck and having a hard time getting a mortgage.

And then there's the Nigerian guy who keeps emailing me....

By the time you get out, we could be set.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Ressam#Capture.2C_trial.2C_detention_and_interrogation

I suppose a terrorist could try hiking across the northern cascades, but he'd have to get past the cameras and motion detectors.

dumberer, doesn't it?

More and more reports of this BS everyday it seems. How could anyone doubt it's fascism now? I rarely leave the house at night anymore due to the nazi checkpoints. Getting real freaking tired of this shit. :grr:

Your papers please. :grr:

Besides the fact that we went from one extreme to the other almost OVER-FUCKING-NIGHT.
We went from smuggling the odd joint in our checked luggage without even thinking twice about it, to someone rooting through my skid marked underwear and taking off my shoes and NO ONE said a fucking thing about it when it happened.

We went from being able to travel freely whenever we wanted to needing a passport to get BACK into our OWN FREAKING COUNTRY from fucking CANADA and no one said SHIT about it when it happened.

We went from a "terrorist watch list" that had less then 20 people on it, to one that now has what? Several hundred thousand names on it?
Senators and other unlikely people are on it including a member of Code Pink who couldn't travel to Canada and has NO criminal record as is now a de-facto prisoner in her own country and if she can't go to Canada do you think she can go to say Egypt or Spain?
And no one (at least most) said SHIT about it when it happened.

And what scares me is, NONE of the current candidates to replace the stupid selected MONKEY is saying JACK SHIT about it.

That's what scares me.

Those unwilling to keep their democracy don't deserve it.

I have flown with friends a number of times in the Northwest and upon landing they were ordered to taxi to customs for inspection, as though we had darted into BC and landed to pickup a load of weed or something.

You would think they could track us well enough to know we had no flown over the border but apprently not.

Best of all the attitude was usually that WE were wasting THEIR time.

Why are they doing the customs search in Anacortes? It is certainly possible for someone to get off that ferry on San juan Island (AKA Friday Harbor) wait a few hours and thereby defeat the security checkpoint altogether.... Its like doing a flight from HK-> chicago with a stop in LA and having them wait until you get to Chicago to do the checkpoint.....


Silly and Stupid...

How much longer will be it before we have to have passports to leave our city or state, border guards on every highway, asking for your ID?

What are they going to do to people who work with people from other countries? I used to be the only US citizen working with a group of Chinese, Korean, and Israeli immigrants, all who were here legally on expedited I-90 visas--would I be subject to this kind of scrutiny?

Are we going to be watched if we have ANYTHING to do with foreigners? I like to listen to foreign radio stations on my computer--am I going to be surveilled?

DAMMIT, I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK!!!

I must remember to book a ticket soon ... it would be the highlight of my social life! (They don't call me "Victorian" for nothing ...)

They are making it too damn difficult to cross the fucking border, and I know a lot of Canadians are getting damn frustrated. I myself will no longer travel to the states because last time they delayed me for half an hour checking my passsport, car, person and even my damn drivers license AND citizenship card. Too much fucking trouble, and your border agents are like fucking nazis. Fuck em.


edit: I know this thread isn't about Canadians crossing the border specifically, but I just saw it as a chance to rant.