van_guy wrote:
The rudest border patrol guys are US especially after 9/11.
That's because we hate people and try to make your stay as miserable as possible, there is nothing called the 'american dream' we're vicious cannibals, I thought everyone knew this, our motto is Sparta. "Damn it woman! Can't you see the sign NO CELL PHONES!!!" (psycho bitch) - "You can't touch this, I'll have to arrest you if you do, its in my hands" (that was the nice guy, he could find what he was looking for on my papers, I pointed it to him, apparently this against the rules, if that stupid woman did it to me, there probably would have been an altercation)- "What the hell are you doing?" (psycho bitch) - customs in Calgary at Christmas. "What are you doing in the United States? You have a boyfriend/girlfriend studying here? How close are you? Are you going to marry him/her? You're only allowed (insert days) then you must leave" - what friends go through who aren't from Canada. "Your french? But your last name is middle eastern, your going to have to come with me" (72hrs later released) - BBC News reporter moving from Toronto to Chicago, born in Montreal.
I used to be shocked at seeing grown people cry at American airports and humiliated. The worst was probably the woman in Denver who had to be patted down (breast check). Probably the most humiliating experience she'll ever go through. One of these days I just want to scream "f*ck YOU FASCIST PIGS" and throw my shoes. Its depends on the airport, some airports allow certain things others are more totalitarian.
Funny thing is I've gone across with my wife and kids in a station wagon and they won't even look at my passport. I have an iranian friend who travels back and forth to teh US nearly weekly - and he has to allow at least 1-2 hours to get through customs every time.
Its the law to racially profile people because its a 'known fact' according to 'the rules' that terrorists ain't white and have funny names. If it was just your wife and kids going across they'd have a higher likely hood of being questioned. Oh and if you're from an 'enemies list' of countries trying to get in is pure hell. For Russians its still the Cold War, a friend of mine who was lived in Portland for 5 years was banned for no reason for ever coming into the states again. Sorry I wish it was different, but its best advice I can give about travelling across the border is be with a white person at all times, that's my best advice. Its not ever going to change, unless some weird things start happening like another civil war to defeat the "dittoheads" which number anywhere between 25-50 million on some estimates. The US is the most paranoid schizo country on the planet this side of Burma, North Korea, and Zimbabwe. It's only going to get worse.
