Canada

I was a TN-1 visa holder 15ish years ago. I always wondered if I completely settled my outgoing IRS responsibilities on my abrupt way out thanks to the 2008 bubble bursting. All paid up but maybe they wanted a final $0 return?

At this point I would not travel there and risk finding out the hard way.

They are rare, but a handful of people being denied due process and held in a cold detention cell for WEEKS is an excellent reason to not take any chances.

Normal people refusing to cross the border is an important consequence of authoritarianism.

Having said that, what is motivating? Your partner probably has nothing to do with geopolitics, and everything to do with wanting to see her family. It probably isn't useful to discuss the facts of our current political environment when they aren't really what are motivating her.

I really feel like if you're coming i to it looking for a fight you're going to find one. Other then that you're probably fine. Unless your brown of course, but that's always been a thing.

Hm. I've seen her paperwork mentioned a few times, maybe they've stopped writing it because they think everyone knows now. I remember getting so annoyed at "DNA, the building blocks of life" but it really was new information to a lot of people. Honestly, the paperwork issue is what terrifies me. I had that same "paperwork" style issue maybe 20 years ago, and I'm so glad they just denied me entry.

I haven't had any recent interactions, but if your family is white US citizens, I doubt there will be a problem. If they are pending on any immigration status, I would suggest they contact a lawyer before crossing the border.

No issue at all. Same as it always was. I didn't see anyone having issues.

If coming up to Canada from the US, you won’t even deal with US customs, only the Canadian CBSA. You will be fine coming INTO Canada.

If the Vancouver woman you referred to is the same one I read about, she was addressing the paperwork issue and was arrested anyway. She told ICE she would pay for her own ticket to return to Canada and was detained in torture conditions anyway. When legal, press, and Canadian government attention were brought to bear, she was told “if you had just said you would pay for your own ticket you could have avoided all of this.”

Unless you are a white US citizen with significant money, I wouldn’t recommend leaving the country.

I know someone who got turned away recently because they asked her what she thought of trump's policies and she was foolishly honest

I've crossed from Canada to the US (and back) twice since Trump took power. The questions asked by US border agents were the same as previous crossings.

I'm a Canadian citizen, so I suspect US citizens would have an even easier time. FWIW my party's documents were in order.

I think there's a lot of hyperbole at the moment. My crossing experience was unchanged.

We used to visit US multiple times a year in the past, but no more. It's always been a tense experience, but now I don't even want to subject myself to this treatment - even if the chances of being detained are negligible. As far as I'm concerned, US is a hostile nation and I have no desire to contribute to their economy or tacitly support their aggression by visiting them.

You should consider that snafus with paperwork have undoubtedly happened for as long as there has been a border between the two countries.

It's not the paperwork that's the issue.

It's the harrassment and incarceration that's the problem.

Consider this: If family coming to Canada isn't a concern, why not go and see them instead?

If you have your shit together, you're fine. Afaik everyone who has had problems, has had a paperwork issue or did something stupid to trigger them. That's when their disproportionate response starts.

Risk is likely very low but until things get better I wont risk it. The potential consequences are too high.