Firebug4

Because the state police made the initial stop then called the US Border Patrol which falls under CBP. This gentleman is very much like many of the posters here, when they post how they should handle encounters with TSO's. He tried those type of tactics with sworn LEO's and found that it did not go so well. The fine for what he did is $5000 dollars. It appears that it was mitigated to $500. As is I said they did not just decide that on whim to arrest him. This has been going on for a very long time. The headline is also misleading the pizza place is not just across the street. It is across the street and about two blocks into Canada. If you live in the area there is no doubt that you are crossing the border.

FB

TSO1973

OK so if I read this right, CBP gets called after the guy is picked up. State police made the initial stop. OK that's fine.

That still doesn't justify the link that some posters are making here. It's like saying "the air force screwed up so therefore the army screwed up too because they both fall under the Department of Defense".

Superguy

Ok, so if it's been going on for a very long time, how about actually SOLVING the problem instead letting stuff like this go on for years?

Funny how up until a few years ago, this wasn't an issue. Only in the stupidity of the Wah on Terrah® and not thinking how stupidity like this affects border towns has caused the problems.

If there's a problem with illegals, then fix the damn problem with them and let the people who actually live there alone.

trilinearmipmap

I don't agree with the sentiment supporting this man's actions.

An open and freely crossed border might have made sense a century ago. No longer.

If people in this town are supposed to be allowed to cross the border whenever they wish then how about every other town on either side of the several thousand mile long border?

He violated the law, he knew he was doing it, and he got caught. I am not sure why this is a news story.

mre5765

These towns were developed before the USA declared Canada a terrorist country. What about the people who own homes and businesses in these towns? If the majority of Americans feels like you do, then perhaps they should pony up the tax dollars needed to buy out the homes and business, and put up electrified barbed wire instead.

birdstrike

Why not?

Yes, they should.

Baiting law enforcement to illustrate a stupid law? I salute him. There are better solutions to border control than drawing an arbitrary line through the middle of a community.

PhoenixRev

A century ago?

Try 10 years ago.

I traveled several times between Maine and New Brunswick via the Calais/St. Stephens bridge and there was not much of a border crossing on either side. In 1999, I attended a festival of sorts there where the citizens of both communities freely walked back and forth across the border as the festival encompassed both villages. The two communities were very close and relied on each other.

Of course, now with the "war on terror" the crossing is more like a gauntlet instead of the charming, friendly crossing it once was (with plenty of Canadians complaining about how aggressive the CBP is).

But, at least it stopped the terrorists. You know, the ones that are not smart enough to simply cross the border at some empty, unguarded spot in Quebec or Ontario.

LuvAirFrance

Interesting point. When I've gone through big border stations like Detroit-Windsor or Blaine,WA, I always wonder about border crossings far away from these well-traveled paths. Why did the LAX bomber decide to enter at Port Angeles WA?

KCK

No. That's guilt by non-association. I don't know about you, but I've never had any association with Mr Reid.

mre5765

When one crosses the border at an unguarded and unlocked crossing, one is expected to report in to the nearest CBP office as soon as possible. Since the CBP has patrols near these unguarded crossings, odds are high (perhaps not more than 50% but significantly more than zero) that person crossing will be caught. The patrols can simply look for out of U.S. plates.

The option is there to cross on foot, but a stranger walking in very low density population country is likely to attract attention at the first encounter with a person.

I would imagine that these days, the unguarded crossings have cameras. A terrorist is better off crossing at a staffed station and being cleared. It really isn't that difficult; a cell need only select someone with no background.

birdstrike

That is the wrong question. We're not going to stop bad guys at CBP and should not expect to. CBP is there to enforce Duty, interdict contraband and illegal aliens. Intelligent terrorists will have no problem evading CBP, having shipping any devices they need via un-inspected (10 years later) cargo flights.

If a stupid bad guy gets through with an ineffectual homemade bomb, well, that's the breaks. You want to live in a free country? Accept some personal risks dammit.

We've got our kids dying overseas to save our cowardly butts from the faintest stink of personal risk. That is unacceptable. Simply unacceptable.

PhoenixRev

I am not even talking about unguarded crossings.

What about large gaps of land that have nothing but perhaps a low fence separating the two countries mostly to keep livestock in or out?

If you go to the U.S./Mexico border, crossing the border on foot through the porous border is a daily occurrence. Our border with Canada is much, much longer and I can assure you that the border on the sweeping plains of Saskatchewan doesn't have cameras covering every square foot.

Any enterprising or resourceful terrorist could easily transverse the border and be in the U.S. sight unseen.

Firebug4

Their has been a solution. It appears at least part of that solution worked as he was caught crossing the border illegally. That is the pesky thing about laws. They have to apply to everyone so if the illegal immigrants can't cross the border illegally then either can the people that live close to the border.

It is funny that you bring that up. There has been a proposal on the table for years to erect gates on those three unguarded streets. By the way it was the CANADIAN government that proposed closing the streets. Remember those Colombian and Haitians I mentioned in a previous post. They are trying to sneak into Canada from the US because Canada gives them a better deal when claiming asylum then the US does.

The gentleman can freely cross the border whenever he wants. He just has to cross the border at the Port of Entry, like everybody else, that is located 300 Yards from where he was arrested. The man literally lives about 500 yards from the port of entry. The fact that he lives in the community cannot excuse him from following the law. The community we are talking about has very little if any minorities. It is not hard at all to pick out the people that do not belong. Yet, if the authorities did not apply the law evenly across to board someone would be screaming about profiling. The mere hint of profiling will start a firestorm. The result is the law gets applied across the board and sometimes leaves little room for the authorities to use discretion. Though in this case the gentleman was warned many many times. You can't have it both ways so everybody gets treated the same.


The terrorist threat is still important but this particular spot on the border the problem is the more mundane. It is a hot spot for people crossing in to both countries illegally. We are talking people that have lived and worked in both countries illegally for years. There is a fair amount of drugs and money crossing illegally there as well..

Interesting, that this was brought up as well. We have be discussing a sleepy little town in Vermont. You remember the millennium bomber on his way to try and blow up LAX. Well, in a another sleepy little town in Vermont a little to the east of the one we have been talking about something interesting happened. A woman was caught trying to smuggle men into the United States. She was connected to Mr. Ressam (the millennium bomber). This was not the first time she had brought men into the United States it was just the first time that she was caught. Kinda might make you wonder. This is a small excerpt from one article and the link to the rest. There is much more information available if anyone is interested let me know.

FB

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/...in151674.shtml

I have to tell you in 13 years I have collected duty twice. On this country's land borders duty collection = about zero due to NAFTA. How do you think one is going to catch terrorists if you are not looking for contraband and illegal aliens too which by the way is still CBP's job as well as terrorism? Is catching illegal aliens and contraband less important then it used to be? As for shipping devices into the US short of a nuke why would they have to ship it here you could just steal it from here.

What makes you thing cargo isn't being looked at? I currently work at an airport that a large portion of what we do is looking at air cargo. Is it possible to look at everything? Nope, that is why shippers are required to submit a mountain of information before the shipment gets here so we try to narrow the targets somewhat. That is why there are CBP officer working in foriegn ports trying to look at as much as possible before it comes here. It is not perfect and we will never be able to look at everything but do you just throw your hands up in the air and say oh well it is too hard to why bother? By the way, the terrorists that did harm to the country entered through airports. They didn't sneak across the border. One was stopped in Miami and refused entry. Some of the other 19 had been secondardied for various reasons problems with paperwork, visas etc. They were all let in anyway because of the attuide at the time was we don't want to inconvience any visitors to the United States. We gave them waivers and let them in. Had we made them comply with the immigration laws that were already on the books they would not have been admitted. I certainly don't want to give people a hard time or make thier trips horrible. I do want them to comply with the laws of the United States when they come to visit like they agreed to when obtaining their visas, signed the visa waiver form or, in the case of US citizens and Permenant Residents, live here

While CBP inspections at the border and the airports do not result in arrests of terrorists everyday the information that is gained from interviews with suspected terrorists and even people that are not suspected terrorists but have a connection they may not even know about is useful. They may just find a very small piece that doesn't mean much to the officer but completes a very large picture on some FBI agents case or allows the agent to advance it. Lets face it terrorist investigations are big, multi faceted and take a long time. Just like the uniformed cop is not out solving the crime of century in the course of his duties he provides information to the detectives that are solving the murders and the kidnappings etc.

FB

Dovster

The Coast Guard is also part of DHS. If you are ever in a boat which capsizes, remember to refuse to be saved by them.

Firebug4

That made me chuckle.

FB