Denied for Ignorance

This story is from 2005, but the main issue still applies today: how have acceptable professions and an understanding of our changing world been incorporated into border relation policy?

Meet Jeremy. He tried to tone down the attention he got from his story, in part by removing some posts that were maybe more rant than logical substance, so I’m not going to provide links to his blog or related articles out of respect for that. Besides, this did happen 4 years ago, I’m sure he’s moved on.

Jeremy was travelling to the US for, from what I can tell, a meeting with a current or potential client, and also to meet with some people he had met online. For those of us, especially in the age of twitter, this sounds absolutely sensible: I have people on Twitter that have followed me, I’ve followed them, and I’ve never actually met them otherwise. Also, Jeremy’s main income came in part from blogging activities…again, something that in today’s world isn’t out of the question (arguments on the sustainability of that business model is another discussion).

Jeremy had a horrible time going through customs however. For one, the border guard stated that

Blogging ain’t a job.

Maybe what he meant was “Blogging ain’t a job listed on our NAFTA accepted professions” or maybe he just didn’t think that anyone could actually make a living being a blogger. Regardless, is it really a border guard’s place to determine whether a profession is legitimate or not?

Another issue was in how they communicated. An excerpt from his blog post:

Him: Why would you visit someone in the states you’d never met (I mentioned I was planning to visit several people whilst down there)

Me: Well, I have met most of them, but I’ve talked to them dozens or hundreds of times online.

Him: Do you have any of their phone numbers?

Me: No, but I talk

Him: You can’t talk to someone without a phone number. Stop lying to me.

Me: No, really, I can talk from my computer to theirs

Him: Don’t be a smartass. If you don’t have their phone number, and you’ve never met them, how can you have ever talked to them.

I have many friends in the US who I talk to every day via Twitter, comments on their blogs, or IM. Some I have never seen face to face. Some I have never talked to verbally, either by phone or by computer. This, for many, is normal. Why is this not explained as part of border guard training so that they can ask questions that should matter when determining a persons admissibility and not just trying to trip them up and make them nervous?

There was also mentioned that he was strip searched as well. I think the obvious issue here is that unless there was a suspicion of drugs or other contraband on his person, this in addition to the two hours he was held was unacceptable.

The unfortunate part of crossing the border is that you don’t know what you’re going to get: someone young who understands or someone older who is out of touch and not aware that society has moved forward. If there’s one lesson learned from this, its that we as travellers need to understand what the language of the border is…not to present falsely, but so that we avoid potential hang-ups on terms or words that are harmless but may be so alien that the default response is to treat them negatively.