Back to the Borders, On to the Barricades

I’m back in the Excited States, where the border problem continues to rage. As a result of last month’s report of border problems, a new website has been instituted in hopes that we can do something to Fix the Border. Pat Capozzi, who lost his Nexus pass for ‘no reason given’ sent me an email about this saying,

“We have created a website to help consolidate our efforts on making the 'powers that be' listen to our needs and respond by modifying the Nexus program to be a more realistic solution to the cross border problems in Point Roberts. Right now we are looking for:
1. Nexus horror stories. We've all heard them. "Someone was eating a hamburger as they crossed the border and had their card pulled for bringing beef across. etc." We need to hear the stories from the people whom they happened to. Please send us your stories.

A good friend of mine was also just informed by the powers that be-have badly that her Nexus pass will not be renewed. She has had a Nexus card for the past five years and has never had any problems, but it was time to renew. She filled in the application and sent her $50 payment. A month or so later, she was informed that her payment had been accepted and that her application for renewal was denied. The letter she received informed her that the reason for this denial is “OTHER” although no explanation of what that might be was offered. Now in a country that has decided that habeas corpus is no longer one of life’s little necessities, I suppose we ought not to be surprised that the government can deny you access to a border transit program either for no reason, as in Pat Capozzi’s case, or for some “Other” reason, as in my friend’s case.

The Nexus lane coming into Point Roberts is open only from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. When it is open, there are rarely more then a half dozen cars in the lane at any one time and transit time is rarely more than 5-8 minutes. Tonight, I returned to the Point after a trip to Vancouver Island about 7:30 p.m. It was Friday night at the beginning of a rainy weekend in May. It is not the peak transit time for travelers to Point Roberts. Nevertheless, we spent a half-hour in that line, waiting to get through. My friend whose Nexus card renewal was denied will rarely get the opportunity to wait only a half-hour in the regular lane. She will have to make the choice of either staying on the Point as a semi-prisoner or moving away. Most of the people I know here feel this way: Sooner or later, they will take our Nexus cards away from us for some reason or some other reason or no reason at all, and then we will have to leave here, a place we moved to in part because the U.S. Constitution gives us the right to travel freely within the U.S.

I feel as if I am sending out a message in a bottle: If you know anyone who can do anything to help publicize this problem, help correct this problem, please, help us. The first thing you can do is to go to the FixNexus website and read how five people (remember that there are fewer than 1,500 full-time residents here) have been treated. There are many more stories just like these, but these will give you a feel for our situation.