Denied for Nothing

As I read the story featured in this post (from thetyee.ca, April 2007, by Linda Solomon), my heart broke and my soul raged. Knowing that this can happen, and does happen, is reason enough for all foreigners to re-think whether the USA is truly a destination that they want to travel to; especially if our acceptance into the country is based on how much we restrict our own freedom of speech in our home country.

Andrew Feldmar is a psychotherapist from BC. He’s 68 years old. He’s a survivor of the Holocaust and has been in Canada since 1956. He’s been married for 37 years and has two adult children (both living in the US). Respected in his field of study, he’s traveled through the US for work and also to visit his family. He’s done work with the UN and helped Chernobyl victims.

He’s also banned from entering the United States.

In the summer of 2006 he was crossing the border to meet a friend in Seattle. He was told that he was flagged randomly for further scrutiny. During this discussion the CBP officer Googled his name (a tactic that is obviously common now in all CBP offices). In the spring of 2001 Feldmar had published an article where he admitted taking acid…almost forty years ago. The officer discovered this article and the reference to taking acid. Not only was he denied entry “due to narcotics use”, but he was also banned from entering the US.

When Mike Milne, a spokesperson for US Border Protection, was interviewed about this he quoted the US Immigration Law Handbook where it says

"Anyone who is determined to be a drug abuser or user is inadmissible. A crime involving moral turpitude is inadmissible and one of those areas is a violation of controlled substances."

“But he was never convicted of a crime!” you may be saying. Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter. Again, from Mike Milne…

“Not necessarily the criterion. You can still be considered dangerous.”

Dangerous…a 67 year old man, who talked about taking a substance forty years ago, is somehow dangerous?! Where is the common sense in this. Where is the logic, the ability to use judgement in determining if this man is truly *dangerous* to the US public…which is what the borders are supposed to be determining!

The expense of continually applying for waivers is too much for him to undertake. As it stands, he is barred from visiting friends and seeing his children because the US government determined that he was a threat to the American public for taking acid 40 years ago; an act that he was never criminally prosecuted for in Canada.

This is cause for us to be outraged and to be afraid. The reach and power that the CBP officers are granted seem infinite, and their interpretation of the facts can have huge implications. Even more worrisome is the effect this has on those that would otherwise share their knowledge and experiences in the open realm. Many reading this might think again on what they post online in articles or blogs. That would be unfortunate.

The American government has every right to control their border in whatever way they see fit. But the American people should realize what this is doing to their international relations both abroad and at home. Americans should realize that billions of dollars in commerce is put at risk as more questionable decisions like the one done in Andrew Feldmar’s case are brought to light. Canadians visiting the US have already been in decline over the last few years…more stories like this aren’t going to help improve that.

The most troubling is how Mr. Feldmar’s statement at the end of the article:

I have been seen and labelled as a Jew, as a Communist, as a D. P. (Displaced Person), as a student, as a patient, a man, a Hungarian, a refugee, an émigré, an immigrant.... Now I am being seen as one of those drug users, perhaps an addict, perhaps a dealer, one can't be sure. In the matter of a second, I became powerless, whatever I said wasn't going to be taken seriously. I was labelled, sorted and disposed of. Dismissed.

This is wrong…this is not justice…this is not making US citizens safer.