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I'm the Canadian who was detained by ICE for two weeks

theguardian.com

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Re: I'm the Canadian who was detained by ICE for two weeks

#231

Post by otikik »

01HNNWZ0MV43FF wrote: post #175
ssijak wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It’s even worse in other countries." It's not. I take you are comparing to western countries. If you have a valid visa and behave even remotely normal to the border agents you will have no issues. Only in the USA some border agents have the attitude of "I'm gonna get you" or making you feel unwelcome for no reason. Hell, even in "authoritarian" countries like UAE or Quatar I never experience anything but pleasant in…

> Hell, even in "authoritarian" countries like UAE or Quatar I never experience anything but pleasant interactions on the border. Wikipedia seems to indicate I couldn't go to the UAE because I'm transgender https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBTQ_rights_by_country_or_ter...

Unfortunately that table has already started changing for the worse on the particular case of the United States :(

Be strong.

Re: I'm the Canadian who was detained by ICE for two weeks

#232

Post by 01HNNWZ0MV43FF »

the_af wrote: post #101

Why do people want to live in the US and jump through all these hoops and be subject to arbitrary detentions, anyway? The bureaucracy is hellish. Many other countries have decent living conditions and don't randomly mistreat the people trying to make a living, nor do they behave understanding or cruel at the whim of whoever's in office. Or if they do, it's not as bad as in the US. Is it just that the US is closer to…

> Also: why do border officers have so much power? It seems wrong.

The US democratic process is not good at protecting small groups of disenfranchised people: Non-citizens, LGBTQ people, prisoners, etc.

Those people get the burden of making their own allies and fighting their whole lives for rights, while most voters prefer not to think about them.

Hell, black people are 12% of the population and their rights have been on the frontline for over 100 years. So many groups are even smaller.

I'm not sure if any other country does this perfectly. Rawls' veil of ignorance is extremely hard to enforce in practice, no wonder we all live in Omelas.

Re: I'm the Canadian who was detained by ICE for two weeks

#233

Post by culebron21 »

In 1992, I could only dream of going to the US.

When I got money and thought of travelling, I quickly realized it's too hard and humiliating to get visa, and preferred EU instead. And visa-free countries afterwards.

Then I planned to have kids and started contemplating what are costs, social security payments, public kindergartens, sick leaves, costs of ambulance (like if you break a spine), or giving a birth... and the US suddenly turned very, very unattractive. Even without these horror stories.

Re: I'm the Canadian who was detained by ICE for two weeks

#234

Post by Balgair »

JeremyNT wrote: post #169

Flagged, of course, to death. This is an important story of US decline. This woman was here to do business. To work with Americans. If you're flagging this because you're a part of the tech right, who thinks these policies are somehow good for you, maybe hold off on that flag button and let the discussion play out here. Think about what happens if people from the rest of the world are terrified of working within this…

I mean, at this point, do I just flag everything on the front page too? Is that the only recourse I have as a user in good faith? What other method do I have to show my displeasure with this subset of the community?

Re: I'm the Canadian who was detained by ICE for two weeks

#235

Post by ssijak »

blindriver wrote: post #216
ssijak wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It’s even worse in other countries." It's not. I take you are comparing to western countries. If you have a valid visa and behave even remotely normal to the border agents you will have no issues. Only in the USA some border agents have the attitude of "I'm gonna get you" or making you feel unwelcome for no reason. Hell, even in "authoritarian" countries like UAE or Quatar I never experience anything but pleasant in…

You are ignorant about how life is crossing into other countries. In the 1990s, my friend who is a white Canadian drove into Buffalo for dinner with his family, and on his way back the Canadian border patrol asked him where he was going. He answered “Canada” instead of Toronto and based on that they detained him for hours and ripped apart his car. Just recently a woman from the UK was denied entry into Canada and bec…

"woman from the UK was denied entry into Canada and because of that was denied entry back into the US"

You are proving my point, she was again detained by USA for 3 weeks when it could have been resolved much better and faster.

Re: I'm the Canadian who was detained by ICE for two weeks

#236

Post by elif »

drumhead wrote: post #22

If the objective is to scare people off from going to the USA, then they're doing a magnificent job. I've heard other cases of people with green cards being arrested and put in terrible conditions, with absolutely no reason given. This woman was ready to go back home and not enter the US, but instead she was dragged through hell and only released because she was Canadian. All those with different passports get subjec…

RIP due process 1776-2025

Re: I'm the Canadian who was detained by ICE for two weeks

#237

Post by greggyb »

Why is this flagged?

First of all, it's about an entrepreneur traveling to the US for a startup, which is directly relevant to a significant proportion of YCombinator founders themselves.

Beyond its direct relevance to the core founding audience of HN, it is not clickbait or wantonly inflammatory, and is clearly of interest to many based on the comment activity and votes.

Re: I'm the Canadian who was detained by ICE for two weeks

#238

Post by BizarreByte »

transcriptase wrote: post #214
BizarreByte wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again I do not care. The US has done more than enough to instill fear in Canadians like me. Would you travel to a country where its leader is constantly making threats against your country, some as serious as repeatedly calling for your annexation? The current US administration has made it very clear how it feels about me and my countrymen. I don't consider the US safe and I do not need someone to americansplain to m…

I am Canadian. I’ve been to the U.S. a hundred times and nothing has really changed to make me blink at continuing to go. I have friends and family who work and vacation there, and it’s the same for them as it’s always been. The Canadian media and Canadian businesses have been drumming up fear and patriotic rhetoric to drive domestic industries. That’s great - the last 10 years of “Canada is a post-national state wit…

> I’ve been to the U.S. a hundred times and nothing has really changed to make me blink at continuing to go.

Let's hope you never get unlucky, it only takes one border agent having a bad day after all. I've been to the US many, many times and as I said I no longer consider it safe, but we all have different risk tolerance levels.

> when it’s objectively far safer than visiting any all-inclusive hotspot in the Caribbean

I don't visit those places either.

Cry to someone else about how it's all media based fear while ignoring the very real changes in attitudes, policy, and atmosphere, but I personally see no reason to take the risk when I could...just stay in Canada and be safe.

Re: I'm the Canadian who was detained by ICE for two weeks

#239

Post by diggan »

rayiner wrote: post #165
drumhead wrote: post #22

If the objective is to scare people off from going to the USA, then they're doing a magnificent job. I've heard other cases of people with green cards being arrested and put in terrible conditions, with absolutely no reason given. This woman was ready to go back home and not enter the US, but instead she was dragged through hell and only released because she was Canadian. All those with different passports get subjec…

[flagged]

> People should be afraid to come to America.

Currently, it seems the tactics are scaring people who already arrived and are residents. Is that also a good thing or just unintended consequence of trying to scare away the dangerous outsiders?

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