Travellers crossing the U.S.-Canada border at B.C.’s Peace Arch crossing faced an additional checkpoint when returning to Canada last Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
“It was like, ‘Oh, did we make a mistake? It’s like something’s going on’,” B.C. resident Leslie told Global News.
Leslie is not being identified with her last name as she is concerned she could be flagged at the border next time.
She said she crossed the border into the U.S. on Friday morning with her husband to grab some lunch and groceries. On their way back, traffic came to a halt a couple hundred metres south of the Canada border.
“I don’t want to call it a blockade but… they were stopping people and I held up our Nexus cards and the U.S. customs agent waved us through but as I passed, because our windows are down, he said, ‘Let’s stop and check the next one’,” Leslie said.
She told Global News that they watched others undergo a thorough search, with officers opening their car doors and searching through their vehicles and trunks.
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“It just felt very, very uncomfortable,” Leslie said.
Immigration lawyer Len Saunders, based in Blaine, Wash., says random checks for illegal aliens or contraband happen from time to time.
But he says he’s never seen anything like this.
“They’ve really given no answer,” he said. “It hasn’t happened at every port of entry. I haven’t heard it happening over at Point Roberts or Sumas or Linden.”
In a statement to Global News, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it routinely conducts inspections on outbound traffic as part of its national security mission.
“These inspections are a vital tool in apprehending wanted individuals, as well as in seizing a variety of contraband, which ultimately makes our community safer,” the statement read.
By Sunday, the outbound checkpoint was gone, but both Americans and Canadians feel checks like this will deter more travellers from heading south, further impacting businesses in Blaine and Point Roberts, which rely on British Columbians.
“For the very few Canadians who are coming to the U.S. right now to go shopping, get gas, pick up their parcels, nobody’s going to come down here and stay in line for two hours,” Saunders said.
For Leslie, it’s the perception of increased suspicion from U.S. authorities.
“You just kind of wonder, hmmm, you know, are you going to be the one that gets hauled in and you’re there for hours?”
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