Apsabresgirl75

I was a Nexxus member
and signed up because I was dating a Canadian. I visited about every other weekend. Sometimes more for over three years. I went through the fort Erie Border and then I started getting flagged every time in Nexus. We started going through lawyers at that point too because I was talking about moving in with him to get his sponsorship so it would stop. I wasn't bringing anything but me and clothing every other weekend for threeyears. The relationship ended sadly in 2011. Still in 2016, I'm still flagged.

kwflyer

Actually, regarding police encounters in Canada, one's charter rights apply when they are either psychologically, physically or verbally detained, so any encounter with a Canadian police officer can amount to detention. However, police are not required to tell you this if you have been detained but not arrested, which is where the recent carding controversy came from). Not so with CBSA, who should be considered supercops, and have much more power than CBP given their extraordinary powers (can enforce any law passed at any level of govt on top of immigration/customs law at POE) that would otherwise require warrants/judicial oversight.

Charter rights do not apply at the border (both in primary/secondary) for foreign nationals/non residents of Canada as investigative detentions are considered 'routine', as the expectation of privacy is severely diminished.

A Canadian, experiencing a delay at the border (save for questions found on an E311 which are considered routine and required to answer) can be found to be detained at any point, with full Charter rights, if:

a) they are knowledgeable in relevant case law and,

b) can get a CBSA officer to disclose/confirm certain things to them during inspection, which the CBSA are very good at not doing

In terms of OP's case, s/he can do an FOI on their traveller history and see what comes back. Given OP is a foreign national, I wouldn't be surprised if much is blacked out due to national security reasons.

OP also needs to know that Canada has access to all US government databases and their traveller history to/from all US Ports (regardless if travel transited Canada). Any problems with CBP (including port running), CBSA would have knowledge of.

Frequent crossings from a foreign national is a red flag. So is consistently using one port of entry and pivoting to another. Given your admittance that you choose a different port of entry (bridge vs tunnel) probably brought your ATS score over the edge for a more invasive secondary search.

CBSA officers are not required to truthfully answer questions regarding a traveller history (unless subpoenaed to do so), if there were risk factors indicated on OP's file. The last thing the CBSA would want to do is tip off the OP, especially if they are not a citizen/PR. "Nothing to worry about" or " I don't see anything wrong" is the same type of rhetoric one gets from an airline agent who wants to make you go away and become someone else's problem.

If one is crossing that often, I would expect to be searched both physically and electronically (permanently stored), which CBSA can do without a warrant. Expect additional scrutiny on

B1

According to an on-line dictionary, port running is defined as "The practice of openly evading a customs inspection at a port of entry by refusing to stop one's vehicle when requested." For whatever reason the original inspector believed this applied from a previous incident. In that case, they would expect serious smuggling or evasion had occurred. FWIW, I have been a Nexus and GE member for years. It makes things much easier at airports and at the Niagara frontier crossings, with the special Nexus-only Whirlpool Bridge being a delight.

kwflyer

Bolded parts are big red flags for CBSA.

Nexus does not guarantee scrutiny at the border, especially if high risk factors are present.