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For those that have crossed the US / Canadian border recently: What was your experience like when dealing with US customs? (lemm.ee)

submitted 22 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/62991105

Hey everyone!

For those that have crossed the US / Canadian border recently: what was your experience when going through US customs? Were you harassed / detained? Any tips to prepare for crossing?

My SO and I were talking earlier about having some family come up from the US to Canada to visit us. I suggested maybe they should wait a bit due to the apparent unhinged behaviour of US Customs; However, while my SO doesn't deny the stories, she believes they might be rare cases & blown out of proportion by the media. She found out that the Vancouver woman that was detained for ~2 weeks also had improper paperwork - which is often left out by the media. While the detainment duration is still totally unjustified, the initial detainment was caused by the improper paperwork.

So I'm reaching out to those that actually cross the border to see what's actually going on; as the media can be fanatical sometimes.

Thanks in advance!

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 17 hours ago

Canadian living in LA: Crossed from LAX -> YVR and back about 6 weeks ago. Zero issues in either direction. Back in February went from LAX -> YYZ and back. I landed exactly 24h before that DC9 flipped on its roof in Toronto. Other than bad weather coming in to YYZ, zero issues. Went from SNA -> YYZ and back for Christmas. Zero issues.

My wife flew from YVR -> LAX and back last week. Zero issues, although she was really nervous from everything she'd read.

IMO there are zero issues crossing the border, at least through airports. I believe most of the goofiness I've heard about was at land crossings, although I've heard from friends that they've had zero issues at land crossings either.

FWIW I'm a 50 year old white guy, and at least half the time I've got one or two teenage boys with me, the rest of the time just me. I work with another Canadian "import" but he's originally from Iran. He said that while he was nervous, he did not notice any increased scrutiny for himself or for his wife, who flew separately recently to Toronto and back.