Tourists are Avoiding The U.S. Due to DHS Excesses
Two years ago I was visiting the Thousand Islands, staying on the Canadian side. We decided to visit Boldt Castle, a tourist attraction on the American side.
Boldt Castle is a small island in the St. Laurence seaway. I arrived with my two kids and my parents by private boat. It was early September, the kind of perfect day that makes exploring such a place irresistible. We knew the CBP had been harassing visitors to the island, so we were carried our passports, but we were earnestly hoping to avoid them. They've always been a royal pain. They are particularly nasty to women traveling alone with children, because they tend to imagine the woman is kidnapping her own children. It can be an exhausting task to prove this is not the case. Since it was September, and my kids were home-schooled, I knew there might be extra drama.
When we docked we noticed signs directing anyone coming from the Canadian side to check in with the CBP. We decided to ignore those signs, and hoped to go unnoticed. We kept a low profile around the bored CBP employees wandering around, and everyone had a nice time exploring Boldt Castle.
While we were there two Canadian tour boats loaded down with international tourists circled the island. To my amazement, they did not disembark! I had visited the island every summer of my childhood, and every other year or two for the past 25 years. It was the first time the island wasn't covered with international tourists delivered by Canadian tour boats. This time the tour boats circled the island, describing it's features in Chinese, French and English. The tourists snapped multiple pictures. They waved to us in a friendly matter, chattering and pointing. Then the tour boat tooted it's horn in a merry fashion, and off the Canadians went.
Boldt Castle is an American tourist site, and it was clear that the CBP had made it too much of a nuisance to visit. I know I won't be back. I got my pictures, and I've got my childhood memories. I feel sorry for anyone depending on international tourism in the U.S. The worse our DHS gets, the worse their business is going to get. So far no one is reigning the DHS, TSA or CBP in. They're a bunch of creepy thugs, and nobody wants to deal with them.