Letters to the Editor
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So long, Canada - can you take me with you, eh?
RE: The poster who mentioned Derby Line.
Right near Derby Line is Beebe Plain. Check out this link, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Rue_canusa.jpg (Can't use hyperlink tags so you must copy and paste) One side of the street is Quebec, one side, VT. What is going to happen now, a guy crosses the street to borrow a lawnmower and he has to go through a border inspection?
"Sir, did you buy that lawnmower on your trip?
No, Um I walked across the street and borrowed it from Joe over there."
This is so plainly ridiculous, and I believe the utter surlyness of the Border Jack-booted thugs is precisely *because* the Northern States have a relaxed atmosphere with Canada. We must destroy that in the bud. Can't let those people in Niagara Falls NY forget that across the river be furriners!!!! The more paranoid DHS becomes, the more paranoid, and less willing to accept foreign ideas the sheeple of the USA become.
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There are some mistaken comments about the EU
It is true that the EU is not a "country" but citizens of EU member states are treated as if they are citizens of another EU receiving country. This means for example that when they travel into an EU country and are subject to passport controls, they just line up with the Citizens of that country and are treated the same way. So for example if an Italian is flying from the US to Paris, he joins the EU citizens line.
Within the EU there is an agreement called the Schengen accord. That agreement abolished border controls between a large number of member states -- these countries are Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden. In addition Switzerland is generally pretty liberal about its land borders as are Monaco, Andorra and Liechtenstein. Finally some new member states may have problems joining Schengen until they have tight enough security over passports and their non-EU borders.
There is a separate issue over the UK and Republic of Ireland. When the Schengen accord was made, a combination of factors (Northern Ireland, Euroscepticism) means that the UK decided not to join. Because the Republic of Ireland and the UK are in an effective customs union (no passports and no customs between the UK and Ireland) this meant that the Irish could not join without tearing up the UK/Ireland arrangement. Later, the issue was that the promised land for illegal aliens entering the EU was very much the Republic of Ireland (the wealthiest economy) and the UK (nearly as well off.) Thus there is no passport requirement between Ireland and the UK, and IDs are only required to get on planes.
Even between the UK, Republic of Ireland and the rest of the EU, if you are an EU national the whole system works pretty smoothly. It helps that an asshole immigration officer is being an asshole to his own citizens in line as well as other EU citizens.
Now while any EU citizen can go to any other EU country, they have the right to deport for criminal activity and other issues -- I wont't set out the rules here, they are complex.
I recently took a train trip, to evade the Heathrow Terminal 5 meltdown -- London (St Pancras) -> Paris - Night Train -> Munich -> Dusseldorf -> Cologne -> Paris -> London. Passports were checked leaving London for Paris and Paris for London. Smooth, efficient, polite, no problem. I was 1st class on the Sleeper and the concierge took my passport in case there was a spot check in the night, but on all the other cross border traisn no problem (and I have tekn many in the Schengen area including through Switzerland.
Now in the US I can stand in the US line and in the EU in the EU line. Moreover I have an Iris registration for the EU. But I have stood in the non-US line and indeed in the non-Japanese and Japanese line in Tokyo, in Korea, etc. etc. No where have I been the recipient of such suspicious questioning as in the US, such snottiness. And then I get out and have to wait for my colleagues in the "furriners" line -- which can take hours. I have personally onserved the difference between the lines in the US -- and the difference between the Dulles line and say New York, LA and SFO. The assholes are far from DC -- I think this is because their bosses know that DC arrivals is a dangerous place, people come in there that can really kick up a stink about the behaviour that is normal in other airports.
By the way, every now and then there is a discussion about cutting a deal between the EU, Canada and the US (and Australia and New Zealand plus perhaps Japan and Korea) that means that citizens of all would be treated in the same way as the EU -- i.e., automatic rights to work in each (right of establishment as it is known in EU law), no Visas, freedom to travel, subject to the same restrictions as the EU. I think this is a seriously good idea and one from which US nationals would probably be the biggest beneficiaries.
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Don't see the big deal.
I went to Vancouver last year. All I had to do is show my passport in both directions. (Is that the huge new burden? The author didn't even list the new, draconian regulations that supposedly have come down. Maybe they don't exist.) Also, I didn't find the officials particularly pleasant, but so what, they aren't trying to sell me anything.
BTW, Canada's been a foreign, independant nation, seperate from the US for the entirety of the US's existence. It has it's own laws even. Quirky place.
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@Apegirl and Amtrack
I don't know about Amtrack buses, I've never run across them in this part of the country, but it's interesting that the border officials believe you have to be desperate and poor to take the train. I've always preferred it going from NY to DC no matter what my financial status, but now it's becoming the choice of many business people who used to fly between DC and NY and NY and Boston because it generally gets there on time (not a big feature of the airlines these days), doesn't require that you get there hours early to get through security and although it's still more expensive than it should be for the Metroliner or the Acela higher fuel costs have made it worthwhile when you take everything into account compared to the airlines.
Except for the quiet car (which I prefer, for this reason), Amtrack will let them chat on their cell phones during the entire trip. The airlines won't. They can have their laptop open the entire trip, not just when the airline tells then they can. Overall, it makes more sense for them. I'd love to see some security official try and treat these folks like second class citizens. However, you don't cross anything but state borders on these trips and the security check boarding the train is a very quick one.
Unfortunately, although the increased ridership is keeping the NE corridor profitable, it's not enough to make Amtrack, overall, a profitable enterprise.