GUWonder

CBP and condom counting to profile people as prostitutes? Sure, it happens -- at the federal and state/local LE levels.

Condom counting being used by NY law enforcement to profile (primarily) women as prostitutes has prompted a bill in the state legislature that would ban such profiling method at the state level. The police oppose the bill -- probably much like CBP would oppose anti-profiling legislation like this at the national level too.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/04/27...s-as-evidence/

Badenoch

The same applies going into the U.S. The CBP will turn you away from minor offenses that occurred in the distant past even if you have received a pardon from the Canadian government.

Being "in transit" doesn't matter to the CBP. All they know is that you are entering the U.S.A. and all rules apply.

I often find the CBP's behavior appalling but as a foreign national there is little choice but to tolerate it and the complaints of the woman in the original article will fall on deaf ears.

I also suspect if a young American woman showed up with a purse full of condoms in the company of a man who is someone else's husband it is very like the CBSA would have similar questions.

AArlington

One thing the story did not mention was how this couple appeared -- was s he young and attractive while he was old, fat and bald?

Seems to contribute to the suspicion by the border agent.

GUWonder

CBP and CBSA are sort of cut from the same cloth, so it probably would be much the same -- except Francophone Canada seems relatively less obsessed about prostitution than the US and less judgmental about "safe-sex" adultery.

TravellingSalesman

While it seems obvious that those involved acted in an appalling manner, the one bit I can't find fault with is that they treated her like somebody trying to enter the US- because that's what she was. Once in MIA she could have just walked out of the airport, arriving as a domestic passenger.

I should very much hope that CBSA understands its remit doesn't extend to counting condoms or checking marital status.

Badenoch

Not specifically but they can ask or check anything they choose and Canadian law requires that you answer truthfully.

And it seems the CBSA is equally guilty of some bad behavior.

http://o.canada.com/news/cbsa-airpor...nt-humiliation

sbrower

By memory (not personal experience), the Mann Act also was more of a concern about 30+ years ago when the age of consent varied between states. If you traveled with someone who was below the age of consent in State "A" to State "B" where the age of consent was lower than the person's age (making sexual conduct legal), for the purpose of engaging in sexual conduct, then it could result in a prosecution under the Mann Act.

TravellingSalesman

Totally agree with you that CBSA have their fair share of power-trippers. But specifically I would hope that they don't care whether you're coming to Canada for adultery and/or voluntary prostitution.

GUWonder

Mann originally named the act the White-Slave Traffic Act and that is what became "the Mann Act" from the start. I don't think an act with such a name would pass nowadays in Congress.

The Mann Act has been used to prosecute people for "interracial" relationships, bigamy/polygamy, hiring prostitutes across state or international boundaries, and even for engaging in consensual sex with people in the jurisdiction(s) where the age of consent allows for sexual relations but one party's away/home jurisdiction may not (even as the act takes place in a jurisdiction where it is not a crime). I had forgotten about this act until a handful of years back when the then-Gov. of NY (and a former prosecutor against prostitution) was caught having his favorite prostitutes coming to his hotel in DC (despite them both living elsewhere). His favorites didn't need to carry that many condoms, as supposedly he wasn't a fan of them ... or something else.

relangford

Why would possession of condoms imply prostitution, especially for a woman travelling with a man? Would CBP be charged with enforcing the Mann Act or other similar law? A little OT: with SCOTUS throwing out the Defense of Marriage Act, does that also mean that polygamy and polyandry are now legal?

TravellingSalesman

I guess the argument is that it's going to be adultery or prostitution, both of which the CBP agent appeared to look down on.

RandomNobody

[nitpick] Polygamy is the gender neutral term. Polygyny is the female to the male polyandry.[/nitpick]

Airbridge

"Clay Nikiforuk is a recent Creative Writing graduate from UBC " Hmmm it shows!

GUWonder

Some of the best writers of historical non-fiction have been creative writing students too. A good writer is a good writer and some great writers cross genres rather well. Let's not forget that the Founding Fathers were great students of some of the best creative writers of and before their time and they, as students of government too, relied upon their non-fictional pieces of "creative writers" -- Jefferson, Hamilton, Jay, Madison and Franklin come to mind as having relied upon such "creative writers". Apparently the US Founding Fathers had a different kind of respect for "creative writing" students too.

Indeed, and polygamy need not even be limited to government-recognized marital status. Polygamy exists in the world even absent marriage; and it exists even for some of the married.

relangford

While it exists in UT and AZ (and elsewhere), weren't Mormons forced to officially renounce polygamy in order for UT to become a state?