Closer to the Border

It's been a year since the residents of Point Roberts held their landmark meeting with the Customs and Border Protection personnel.  At that meeting, there were a lot of armed border agents and a lot of residents looking like those weapons were understandable.  The residents were very, very angry, and the agents had to sit for a couple of hours and listen to us count and recount the ways in which they had been behaving pretty abusively toward us.

At the end of that meeting, Michelle James, the head of the Northwest office, promised that they would do better and would come back in a year to see whether we felt differently than we did that night.  Last Thursday night, about 125-50 people filled the Community Center (and a lot of that number was CBP and Canadian customs and border personnel, this time much less obviously armed).  Happily, the community people also seemed less metaphorically armed.  And that is because Ms. James has been as good as her word: conditions have improved vastly at the border.  Oh, sure, we've still got a bunch of irritations, but it's not like it was last year when people seemed in fury or despair, as often as not.  The CBP met with thank you's and cogently put questions; no one seemed on the edge of tears, as I was, for example, last year.

First some current data.  At the Point Roberts border station, 43% of the crossings involve people with Nexus cards.  Overall, there are 175,000 Nexus cards issued in the western U.S., with 86,000 cards issued by the Blaine enrollment center, alone.  Of the approximately 1,500 Point Roberts residents, 1,066 have Nexus cards.

Some history: Last year's biggest complaint, perhaps, was about what appeared to be random denials or seizures of Nexus cards.  Ms. James ordered a review of every situation in this area in which a Nexus card was either revoked or denied.  They found 167 such instances, but they were unable to locate the people involved in all of those cases.  However, about a third of them were contacted after the review and 14 of those individuals had their Nexus cards restored.

Some future news: At the end of June, Point Roberts border crossing will get an agriculture specialist five days and week.  This will make it possible to determine whether it would make sense to have a full-time agricultural specialist stationed in Point Roberts.

During the past year, there has been considerable increase in U.S. staff which has made it possible to keep that second lane open all the time, which has made a big difference to everyone.  The Canadian side is still working to improve their lineups...or maybe to de-prove them.

Agricultural issues continue to be a lively matter of concern.  The current problem (for us if not for them) is that the U.S. has a clearly defined 'in transit' policy for people coming from Blaine/Bellingham, etc. directly to Point Roberts.  The policy is this: if you buy it in the U.S., then you can take it 'in transit' into Point Roberts as long as you have a same-day receipt.  This was very exciting sounding to those of us at the meeting.  But then the Canadian folks dropped their dime: Canada has no comparable 'in transit' policy from Blaine/Bellingham to Point Roberts.  Which is to say, if you can't bring something into B.C. in the first place, it doesn't matter that you are going to Point Roberts and have a same-day receipt.  Thus, e.g., oranges could go from Bellingham to Point Roberts under the U.S. 'in transit' policy; cherries can't because you can never take cherries across the border to Canada, whereas you can take oranges across the border into Canada.  So, the 'in transit' policy gives people going to Point Roberts some leeway, but not complete leeway.  No stone fruits, e.g., go into Canada, so no stone fruits, with or without receipts, go 'in transit' into Canada.

Questions were posed about the practice variations by which some of the (especially new) border guards seem to feel a need to ask an awful lot of questions of us Trusted Travelers, whereas other (especially older/more experienced/been here longer) border guards move us through rapidly as if they did indeed trust us.  Not much to hope for with this problem, though.  The CBP position is that there is a learning curve on this job and they are learning on us.  So, I guess, try to think of yourself as a teacher.  However, the P.R. port director assured us, being a learner does not justify disrespect, rudeness, or abuse.  If we have a complaint with how we are being treated by an officer, however, this was the strong message: Do not deal with issues 'on the line.'  Take your concerns to Port Director or the Supervisor inside.  Or call 945-5211 during the Monday-Friday day shift to discuss the problem.


Finally, about those random inspections down at the Peace Arch where they search your car when you can't see what they are doing.  Travelers are separated from the agents at that point to ensure the agents safety.  The traveler, it is said, may behave badly.  I noted that the agent might behave badly, as well, and was advised that there were always bad apples, blabla, but the bottom line was the agent's safety is what matters.  Although, there was later a suggestion that a new/trial program currently in use in Detroit could be introduced here.  It would allow people to stay with their cars when the inspection was just a matter of random inspection, as opposed to 'for-cause' inspection.


And, finally, I wrote here several months ago about, during a random inspection, being asked whether I was travelling with scissors.  The explanation was simple: again, it is agent safety.  If the agent is going to be putting their hands into places they can't see, they want to know whether there are sharp implements in the car that they need to be careful of.  That explained why, when I said that I was travelling with scissors but that they were in my purse, the agent said, 'Oh, good, that way they won't find them.'  He meant find them unexpectedly and painfully.  Fair enough.


After 90 minutes, everybody went home and felt a lot better about things than they had last year.  We've still got some ideas about how things could be better, of course, but then we are American in that way.

Border Manners

We had a couple of ‘incident’ days at the border this past week. Ed was coming back in the evening from Bellingham, thus crossing two borders (Peace Arch and Point Roberts), and they were doing much longer question interviews, and were opening car trunks, etc. The Nexus lane was closed at this time, so this was happening in the regular lanes.

The next day, I crossed the Point Roberts border around noon and noticed, as I went through the Canadian side that there was a very extended car line-up to get into Point Roberts. I didn’t have a lot of business in Tsawwassen, and thus offered up a request to the skies that the CBP get this mess cleared up within the next half hour, say.

Alas, within a half hour I was back, and the lines had gotten only longer. There were two lines, one leading to the Nexus entry, the other to the regular lane (or lanes). I was too far away to be able to tell whether there were two regular lanes open. If I had known there were two, it might have been worthwhile going into the regular lane. On occasion, the Nexus lane computers get bollixed and people in the regular lane move quickly through (since they’re looking at passports there), whereas people in the Nexus lane wait and wait because some problem has arisen with reading the Nexus cards.

Anyway, I just stayed in the Nexus lane and hoped for the best. I waited, but lots of cars came up, saw the line and made amazing u-turns or drove up over the curb and over the park grass to turn the corner ahead thus avoiding going to the border. It was like dodgem cars there for awhile; at least until I advanced well beyond the end of the line, but still far from the border.

My general policy while waiting in line in a car if it is a slow-moving line is to turn the motor off until there are at least three car lengths in front of me. Saves on gas, saves on emissions. And it seems only right to do it while waiting in line in B.C. which advertises itself as an ‘idle-free Province’ (or words to that effect). So, I’m sitting and waiting and then after awhile, starting the car and advancing 50 or so feet, then turning the motor off again.

This line is truly moving slowly. Hard to imagine what they’re doing up front. The regular car lane doesn’t seem to be moving any faster, so maybe it’s leading up to only one lane instead of two. And then, a car from the regular lane suddenly pulls over in front of me in my (at the moment) 2-car length empty space. And then, five minutes later, it happens again.

At this point, I realize that no good deed comes without a downside. The fact that Nexus card holders can now go in any lane means that they can car hop from lane to lane opportunistically. When I get to that stop light intersection--a long block before the border--the light turns red and now there are additional spaces to jump into. At this rate, the regular lane will soon be faster. At this rate, I will be in this lane forever. At this rate, I will go back to letting the car idle throughout the experience, creeping ahead inch by inch constantly, giving no opportunity to the lane jumpers. Emissions, gas, all irrelevant, as I am experiencing fully my irritation at these drivers who can't stay put, even though they have no real information about what lane is going to get them through faster.

Almost 40 minutes after I got into this line, I get out the other side. There were, indeed two regular lanes, although those lanes weren't moving any faster than the Nexus lane individually, but perhaps (a thinly-held judgment drawn after the fact) were a little faster as a single choice in the range of say 2-3 minutes. The CPB folks are indeed inspecting cars, opening trunks, lifting up interior compartment lids, although I must not look like a dope runner because they just pass me through.

Maybe there’s some other way to think about this lane changing stuff, but I do remember how people took to very aggressive behaviors back in L.A. during the 1970’s gas shortage when cars cut into lines at gas stations. Probably not a good idea right at the border where all the CBP folks are armed. But still. Isn’t it bad enough that we have Goldman-Sachs and their like grabbing every opportunity to fleece us without our doing it to one another?

A Salute to the Border Folks

And today, not the trash, not the garden, not the animals: it’s the border.

A little over a month ago, the border people held a meeting up here and promised us that if we would only give them a chance, they would show us that things could be better. We didn’t really have much choice about giving them a chance, I suppose. They do what they do and we respond. But the thing is, they have done better. And here is the evidence:

1. They now appear to be opening a second regular lane at the border whenever a line starts to form. That means that people without Nexus cards aren’t stuck in blocks-long lines. We came through the border in the regular lane this week midday, a Tuesday, granted, which shouldn’t involve long lines in any case, but it’s summer and it was the day before Canada Day. A holiday mid-week is a little hard to figure with respect to the border, but when we arrived, there were two regular lanes with only two cars in each and we zipped right through.

2. This isn’t really a result of the meeting in Point Roberts, but it dovetails with the above fact that is a result. The border lanes are now configured so that if you have a Nexus card, you can go through any lane. Because on occasion the Nexus lane is longer than the regular lanes, that means if you have a Nexus card, you can go into the shorter lane, which is more efficient for everybody.

3. As a result of the border meeting and the bitter complaints about Nexus cards being taken for silly or no reason, the Seattle office (a shout out here to Michelle James who is the head of this region) ordered a review of all Nexus cards that had been denied or taken from Point Roberts residents. This was announced in the newspaper on June 1. I know of at least two people who have now had their previously denied/removed Nexus cards restored. In at least one case, the person received a personal phone call making arrangements for the final interview to be conducted and a personal letter after the card was issued. Furthermore, no additional fee. I don’t know how many cards have been removed/denied or restored, but at least this is clear evidence that the CBP are not only trying to do the right thing, but are actually doing it in these cases.

So, THANKS! to Michelle James and her staff.

Review Revealed

The border people have announced that they are willing (doubtless because of P.R. residents’ endless complaining) to conduct a special, amazing review of everyone from P.R. who has lost his/her Nexus card or who has been denied a Nexus card. Since there is normally no accountability for CBP with respect to this (that is, they don’t have to and don’t necessarily tell you why it is being lifted or denied, let alone look into the matter), this is seen as ‘special treatment.’ Further, these folks at CBP say, ‘at the conclusion of the review a recommendation will be made to the NEXUS ombudsman [located in New England] concerning a redress or reapplication process for any applicants or former members that may be merited.” (as quoted in the June All Point Bulletin.)

So, we’re all pretty happy to have such special treatment, although I must say it sounds a little like the kind of special reviews that some people on land leased in Cuba are getting: the reviews where you already know the answer to the question. There is no timeline on this review, says the CBP spokesperson, and there is further no real clarity about who is doing the review, although someone in Blaine has apparently completed doing something. Where to next? No indication. At the end of all this time, says Mr. CBP, “if there have been any errors in the administration of the program those few individuals will be contacted shortly and invited to reapply for NEXUS privileges.” (I think we could try to diagram that sentence, but it would then appear that the ‘errors of administration’ refers to ‘those few individuals’, so who knows what the CBP might have in mind?)

Now, I don’t want to be too picky about this, but “IF THERE HAVE BEEN ANY ERRORS”? Surely we might concede up front that there have been errors. Any government agency spokesperson who suggests that it is possible that their agency is operating error-free in the administration of their programs is surely at worst a knave or a fool, and at best unbelievably naïve. Why can’t the spokesperson just say, ‘We will address any errors that were made’? And, when they find such errors, why can they not correct them, instead of inviting people ‘to reapply’ which means asking them to ante up another $50/person? These are often people who have already reapplied at least once. I know these are hard economic times, but the feds can surely afford to pay for their own errors.

So maybe I, at least, am so far not so happy. Watch what they do, not what they say: advice that is always good to remember when dealing with politicians and government people generally.

Border Letter

It’s been several weeks since the border meeting here in Pt. Roberts and I’ve finally decided that I want to write a letter to Ms. James, who is the CBP Field Office Director for a large region including Pt. Roberts; the one who came with her large contingent to meet with us here in P.R. By now, of course, she has probably lost track of the meeting at which she had to listen and we got to talk. Well, maybe not. But I imagine that as cranky as we are here, we are yet only a very small potato on her plate.

But, the thing is, I want to write to her about things that she has no control over, so it doesn’t really matter whether she is thinking of us while we (or at least I) am thinking of her. Not going to change because they are things that nobody in the government could possibly care about. There are three of these things.

First, is the name of the Nexus Program. I don’t mind that it is called the Nexus Program (just as I didn’t care that the previous program was called the Pace Program). Both are largely meaningless names so neither provoked much response from my lizard brain. However, when she and her colleagues refer to it as the “Trusted Traveler Program,” the lizard goes into full enraged mode. It is NOT a Trusted Traveler Program. It is a Distrusted Traveler Program. After all, if they are routinely checking to see whether people with Nexus Cards are bringing nuclear warheads into the country, we can’t really be thinking that they trust us, can we? And when they ask us where we are going when we come to Point Roberts and they have our name and address right in front of them, but they need to see whether we sound guilty...well, I think they don't trust us. They need either to use the latter name when referring to it so that we all know where we stand , or they need to stop using ANY name other than the Nexus Program. I urge the second choice.

Second is also something of a language issue. Ms. James and her colleagues should stop telling the public to understand that, in the difficult work lives of her many CBP minions, said minions are occasionally liable to be having a bad day. It is not that I don’t want to or can't understand that, it is just that I don’t want to hear about how understanding I should be. Well, I don’t want to hear about it unless they are also willing to understand that occasionally the Nexus Card holder may also be having a bad day: the kind of day wherein they forget to notice that their spouse or child or grandchild has left something in the back seat of the car that shouldn’t be there when crossing the border. The thing is, when I have a bad day, I am likely to lose my Nexus Card; when the CBP folks have a bad day, I am likely to lose my Nexus Card. There’s something there that suggests we don’t have the kind of level playing field that would encourage my sympathy for their bad days.

The third and last is more of a process issue. Apparently, from all the stories I have heard from people who have lost their Nexus Cards, the individual CBP agents standing in their little booths are allowed to look you over and decide whether you have offended them sufficiently with your lettuce head or grandchild’s sweater and then confiscate your Nexus card on the spot. That seems to me a whole lot like letting the beat cop send you directly to prison without his first having to go through some tiresome legal process. I believe Lewis Carroll already caught the Red Queen in that maneuver: ‘Off with their Nexus Cards!” Sentence first, verdict later. Maybe better if they recommend, but somebody else makes the actual decision after thinking about it for more than five minutes.

That’s what I’m writing to Ms. James about.

Concerning Our Concern Alleviation

The border people are coming up to alleviate our concerns next Tuesday (6:30, Community Center), apparently. I’m not even sure what those concerns would all be, but the concerns I am most familiar with are the lack of any clear rules about denial of or loss of Nexus privileges and the absence of any appeals process other than writing to a guy in Vermont who writes back to say, ‘I have looked into your case and you were denied/had revoked your Nexus card because we have a ‘zero tolerance program.’ What they don’t tolerate remains very mysterious.

However, it is not that New England ombudsman who is coming to talk to us. It is some lower echelon ‘muck’a’muck’ from Seattle who is going to address us. All our personal experience here in Pt. Roberts is that the border people under Chertoff and now under Napolitano DO NOT give you reasons for denials or revocations of Nexus cards.

Here is Congressman Larsen, in February (speaking to the Bellingham Herald):

Yet the [Nexus] program has many flaws including a rigid "zero-tolerance" policy for NEXUS card applicants and the absence of an appeals process. I have called on Congress to hold hearings on the NEXUS program. . .


On the other hand, here is the current text (Feb. 9, 2009) on the DHS website with respect to Nexus denials or revocations:

To qualify for one of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Trusted Traveler Programs, all applicants must voluntarily undergo a thorough background check against criminal, law enforcement, customs, immigration, agriculture, and terrorist indices to include biometric fingerprint checks, and a personal interview with a CBP Officer.

In the event you are denied or revoked from the SENTRI, NEXUS or FAST programs, you will be provided information in writing detailing the reason for this action. The letter will also contain guidance on how to seek additional information, if necessary.

If you feel the decision was based upon inaccurate information, you may contact the local trusted traveler Enrollment Center to schedule an appointment to speak with a supervisor. A list of locations can be found on the Trusted Traveler Programs web site. ( Trusted Traveler Programs )

If necessary, you may also write to the CBP Trusted Traveler Ombudsman at:

US Customs and Border Protection
300 Interstate Corporate Center
Suite 303
Williston, VT 05495
Attention: CBP Ombudsman

Thus we see that on Feb. 9th, DHS says there is an appeal process, and on Feb. 14th, Congressman Larsen says there is NO appeal process. It’s so hard to know whom to believe nowadays. But we’ll go to the meeting and see if, somehow, everything has changed.

Privacy Theft

It’s been almost a year ago that I got my Nexus card renewed; that would be the time at which the Nexus agents gave me a new name, one that I have never, ever used, and insisted that that was to be my real name from now on. Next time I have to renew the card, I guess we’ll go through some further unhappy conversations since my Nexus card now has a name that doesn’t match any of my other official ID cards.

But in the meantime, they’ve issued us all NEW Nexus cards. These cards are said to contain some amount of private data (which I take it means data that they have, not data that I have, although I may have it as well, I suppose), encoded in their little plastic bodies by means of microchips. And, this fabulous little microchipped card comes with its own secret covering, which looks to be the same kind of covering that the bank gives me for my ATM card, but may, indeed, be made of Kevlar, or have its own microchips for all I know.

I must always keep my Nexus card in this little coat. I must immediately destroy my old Nexus card, which has no coat and no microchips upon activating my new Nexus Card. I don’t know what happens if I don’t destroy it, but my first intuition was that the new one probably wouldn’t work, so I’d better hang on to my old one for awhile in case I need a backup.

But I used the new Nexus card yesterday, and it did work, so I guess I can bear to get rid of the old one. Actually, I’d be happy to get rid of the old one: it has a picture, alleged to be of me (with the odd name, of course), but it actually looks like a fish with glasses. The new Nexus card has the same picture, but it is covered up by some kind of holographic seal or something which almost completely obliterates the picture. Couldn’t happen to a worse picture. An act of kindness from Nexus.

But my question is about the little coat that the Nexus card is obliged to wear at all times. I am told (by whom I do not know—street talk) that I must keep the coat on the Nexus card at all times because people driving around with radio frequency scanners (And who would that be? The police? Terrorists? Identity thieves?) will pick up the secret information off my Nexus card and drive away to do something with it. Become identity thieves? Become terrorists? I really am not easily able to imagine this happening with any frequency. But it is technology and I’m not all that techno-savvy.

So I accept that you have to keep its coat on at all times (except when going through the border because if it has its coat on then the border people can’t read it anymore than the scanner thieves can read it) to protect something. But what’s actually on the card that needs protecting? My name? Well, actually, not. My Social Security number? The places that have my social security number are legion. When I lived in Massachusetts (1970-75), that’s what they used for your driver’s license number, which was then copied onto every check you ever wrote. My passport number? My awful photograph? My bank accounts, my brokerage accounts (not much left there), my insurance? My secret diary? My passwords????

Somehow, I have the feeling that this is just one of the last acts of incompetence brought to us by the Bush Administration. After all, if it’s so dangerous to have this information floating in the air, couldn’t it be encrypted? And if it’s so dangerous to have this information floating in the air, maybe the government shouldn’t have the information in the first place or shouldn’t be putting it on a card that is highly likely, sooner or later, in my hands or those of someone else, to lose its coat, its hat, its mittens, its every protection? And then will it be my/our fault if the terrorists come again? I'm checking with Dick Cheney about that.

You Can Keep Your Shoes On

A bad border experience yesterday, after several months of good ones, so I guess the border people haven’t entirely internalized their new polite professionalism. In this case, the Nexus agent didn’t like how the Nexus card was being held to the card reader: ‘ Up!’ he ordered,’Get it up here!’ He sounded like a guy who was having a very bad day and didn’t want to be further irritated by the mortals passing by. I can imagine feeling that way myself, but of course I’m not in his line of work. He continued to be irritated by the fact that the car’s driver had nothing to report in the way of goods being brought into the U.S. He was not impressed with the news that we were coming from Point Roberts to the rest of the U.S. A little more surliness and he deigned to let us through. Then, he called out, still in full surly: ‘You got a problem with anything I just said to you?'

Well, what are you going to say to that? ‘No, sir,’ seemed about right. He’s got all the power here and the traveler has none, so it’s unwise, at that point, to be discussing one’s assessment of his professionalism. Especially when, only the day before, a friend told me she had just been turned down for a Nexus card for no reason. This is her second go round. She had a Nexus card for five years and when it came time to renew it, the terrorist chasers said, ‘No.’ When she asked, ‘Why?’, they answered, “Not going to say, but you can reapply if you’d like and, by the way, send us another $50.’ (It sounds a little like a shake-down, no?) She thought about it for awhile—over the summer when the lines are their worst--and decided to try again since it really is inconvenient, to say the least, to live here without being able to avoid the border line-ups. They just refused her again, on the grounds that she is, according to their letter, “not eligible for the Nexus Program.’

What could that mean? The legal requirements are that you must be a U.S. or Canadian citizen/legal resident and have lived in the country for the last three years; not have a criminal conviction; and not have a previous border violation. She’s okay on all those things. The last eligibility ”requirement” is that one not have given false information on one’s application. So, if they think your name is Sam and you are pretty sure your name is Robert, then you are giving them false information if you say your name is Robert. Catch 22 is what that is called, I believe. And they won’t tell you any more than that they refused you because they refused you.

(Actually, there is one more eligibility requirement that is right beyond Catch 22--maybe 22 through 1,000: you are not eligible for Nexus if you "fail to meet other requirements of NEXUS." It does not specify what these other requirements might be, so it is certainly possible that my friend failed to meet them, as it is possible that any of us might fail to meet them, since they are not specified and I suppose they can just make them up on the spur of the moment.)

So, it’s no good to go arguing with them too much right there at the border if you don’t have a lawyer on retainer and in your car, is my view. Thinking back about their position on plants that might have dirt on them coming into the Point without special certification: well, I suppose we should be grateful that they don’t also make us take our shoes off and leave them at the border.

The No Help Line

Today, Ed decided to see if he could do better in trying to confirm his address for his Nexus card. Unfortunately, nothing he did turned out to have any different results from my own, which I described yesterday. Now, he too has a complicated secret name, but he doesn’t know mine and I don’t know his (just as I don't know mine and he doesn't know his); he has security questions whose answers he must look up, and he can’t find any way to confirm his address. It is possible, he thinks, that he could change his address, but what would he change it to?

His response, so much more trusting of the internet world than mine, was to contact the help line. Here’s what he wrote:

was instructed by a document numbered 08-024 handed to me at a nexus inspection booth to update/confirm my mailing address by august 15, 2008. i attempted to do so but got stopped at the final step. after creating a goes account, i was able to access a page titled nexus application/enrollment showing my information. as far as i can tell, there is no way to update or confirm my mailing address. only three actions offered at the top of the page: print, replace card, terminate membership.

how do i update/confirm my address, please?
thanks, ed


In less than twelve hours, he received the following reply:

Dear goes user,
Please as soon you received your new passport, go to the nearest
enrollment center so they can update the new passport in their system.
Thank you

Jorge L Robles
CBP GOES Support

Okay, neither of us has a new passport, so that’s no good. Maybe we could at least change our address now that we are members of the GOES (NO GOES) program website, but before we can do that, I guess we’ll have to move somewhere else so that we will have a new address to change to. Probably somewhere far away from the reach of the Nexus program, border agents, and the Dept. of Homeland Security.

The Border Strikes Again

This week, when crossing the border into the U.S., I was given a printed flyer advising me that in the fall I would receive a new and improved Nexus card (the famous ‘trusted traveller’ card that homeland security might give you if they feel like it). In order to receive this card, they tell me, I must ‘update or confirm’ my mailing address by mid-August. Okay. I’m okay with that. Apparently Canadians in the Nexus program will not get the new and improved card because when I cross into Canada, the border guard do not provide me with a similar copy of this request.

A few days later, I again crossed the border into the U.S. and am offered the original printed form, but now with a second sheet…not printed by a commercial printer but printed off a local computer printer. It purports to give me more instructions about how to update or confirm my mailing address. The very nature of this piece of paper gave me some cause for concern. It says this:

“getNEXUS.COM
1. Apply for NEXUS online
2. PRINT—Prior to LOGGIN {LOGGIN?????] onto GOES
Step by Step Instructions for Applying Online for NEXUS and SENTRI
3. Register in English
4. Next
5. START—GOES user registration”

I’d not give those five steps a stellar grade as instructions. But who knows, maybe it’s going to be easier than I think. So I go, as the original printed form advises me, to the “Global Online Enrollment System” website, where I am required to register as a GOES user, even though I already have a NEXUS card. The security requirements of the password are fairly onerous since they require me to have a number in the first place of the password. I have a stable of passwords that I use, but none of them has a number in the first slot, so I have to add yet another password to the stable. If I kept racehorses in this stable, I would be rich in experiences, but probably poor in earnings. Then, I have to pick five of eight security questions, to only two of which I would be remotely confident of the answers, which means they will also have to be recorded in that place where no one but I can ever find them, and maybe not me either. More repetition of providing names (including ‘Maternal Name’: What is my maternal name? What is my mother’s last name? My mother’s married name? My mother’s maiden name? Not a clue how to answer that, so I guess the last one and keep going, only to find, later, that the correct answer was my mother’s married name, which they already seem to know since it has been filled in on the blank 'Mother's Maiden Name'). FinallyI push ‘next’, and there I am registered as a GOES user, which means I’ve already gone through Step #5 above, but have not yet confirmed my mailing address. Nor, am I able to find anywhere that that could happen, anywhere that they are interested in having me do any changing of information or confirming of it either.

So I try the second option on the original printed material they gave me and go not to the GOES website but to the NEXUS website. The NEXUS website wants to know the secret name that the GOES website has just given me, a name no human could ever remember, but I must always use and I must always keep it very secret. Since I wrote it down on an old envelope two minutes ago, I am able to tell this to them and they log me in and offer me the following information:

“If you applied to the NEXUS program using a paper application and do not have an online account, you should register for a GOES user ID by following the instructions provided on the GOES Web site. Once you have registered, you can log in to your account to update your contact information at any time. The purpose of this simple registration process is not to submit a new application but to ensure that your mailing and e-mail address information is up-to-date.”

So, now I’m being sent back to the GOES site where I already could not find anything that would make it possible for me to confirm anything at all. Time elapsed to fail to complete this ultra-necessary procedure? Fifty minutes so far, doubtless more to come since I haven’t done it yet.

Feeling more secure? You can imagine how reassured I’m feeling. And August 15 will doubtless be here before I know it. And there will be another reason to take my NEXUS card away: I refused to confirm my mailing address, which has not changed for 14 years.

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.

Run, Sheep, Run!

Driving around the eastern edge of Vancouver yesterday on the way back to Point Roberts, it was startling to see that spring had come to Vancouver, even though it had not yet made it 20 miles north to the Sunshine Coast. In fact, on the previous morning on the Coast, we had awakened to an inch of snow on the ground, some of which was still there as we left to go south. In Vancouver, though, no sign of snow. Furthermore, the cherry trees (both light and dark pink ones) were in full bloom and, on many side streets especially, this pink haze extended as far as the eye could see. Every front yard was spiffed up with leaves all raked up from the overwinter and forsythias blooming everywhere. Little round gardens in lawns were stuffed with blooming pansies, heather, and primroses around the perimeter and daffodils standing tall and yellow in the middle. The day was still pretty cold, but the sky was blue and the sun was all out as we headed down to the Excited States.

The border crossing was nothing today, happily. The border agent was a guy who knows us, there was no one in line before us or after us, and he was happy to discuss with Ed what was the future of the lumber that was strapped to the top of our car (remodeling). ‘Take it slow,’ he smiled. ‘No need to rush with building.’ And off we went to the post office and the International Market.

At home, though, our daffodils weren’t blooming, although our forsythia was. Indeed, it didn’t look much different from when we had left two weeks ago. However, we live in the middle of tall, thick trees, so we get less benefit from the sun. Picked up the newspaper (comes to you on the first of each month or the day before) to find that border issues were back in the news. Apparently, the Voters’ Association had sponsored a meeting while we were away and the border Jefe from Peace Arch (the main U.S.-Canada border crossing here) had offered himself up to answer questions. Alas, it appeared from a very carefully phrased news account, he didn’t like the questions. Complaints, complaints, complaints. So, he gave the complainers (AKA U.S. citizens who happen to be residents of Point Roberts, Washington) the straight skinny on their condition. “You,” he said, “Are sheep; and we are the sheep dog who must keep you safe from the wolves that are trying to harm you.”

Well, thanks for sharing. We are sheep. The sentence has real resonance. Dumb, stupid sheep; how dare we complain to the sheep dog? Especially the sheep dog who, if we get feisty or refuse to obey orders, will be happy to corral and pen us and, if necessary, nip at our ankles to keep us in line. If he turns out to be a rogue sheep dog, I guess he could do us even greater harm. One of those bad apple sheep dogs. And the wolves who are after us in Point Roberts? I’d like to know who they are. When the terrorists want to take over Pt. Roberts, you will know that they have lost whatever wits they might once have had.

To accompany this infuriating report, the paper gave us a long letter from a reader, explaining how he had recently had his Nexus pass (the fast lane card) taken away from him. He was coming through the border, he showed them the card, they looked at their computer, and the computer said, ‘Take this Nexus card away.’ When the man asked why it was being done, the border guard said that the computer did not give any reason. And he, of course, was just following the orders of the computer, which came from...who knows where, when, or whom. The letter writer reported that he had requested assistance from the sheep dog Jefe we met above, but that he was reminded there is no appeal (“This is a trusted traveler program, sir”—and, I guess, for some reason they’ve decided not to trust him), but there is an ombudsman located in Vermont. Write a letter to him, El Jefe advised, after himself determining that the computer showed no explanation for the order to pull the card. My guess is that my fellow sheep might as well be writing to the Dead Letter Office. At least that’s the report I’m hearing about the fabulous ombudsman in Vermont.

So, it’s spring in Vancouver, but it’s still cold and dark in Point Roberts. Fortunately, we sheep have warm coats. We may also have long memories.

The Border: Go Directly to Jail!

Much of this border interchange, brought to me by the Dept. of Homeland Security, is vastly irritating but nothing more. It is what the Republicans are always complaining about as the inevitable nature of government bureaucracy. Surely it has long seemed to me, in that spirit, that any government ought to be particularly careful in figuring out where people have the most interaction with the government and ensuring that that interaction is friendly, helpful, and understandable. But apparently, that is not one of the seven principles of running this country, these days. Suffice to say, however, that having seen the border before and after 9/11, the behaviors after 9/11, inspired by this administration, have been more obstructionist, more irritating, and ultimately more outrageous. To some extent, this is understandable. I do not doubt but that the guards have all had opportunities for training programs in which some political appointee says to them, “How would YOU like to be the person who authorized the entry of a deadly terrorist into the country? You simply can’t be too careful.” Something on the order of, “Burn them all; God will recognize his own.”

Well, no one would suggest that they are not being too careful nowadays. I always hope that the deadly terrorist who comes to the Pt. Robert’s border crossing has some further plan for getting to the rest-of-the-USA. Perhaps he can get a teenager to smuggle him down in the school bus in the teenager’s backpack? Otherwise, he’d better bring a boat with him and be prepared to deal with the Marina people as well on his way to the water. Or maybe a very small, fold-up airplane to use at the grass airstrip that we have for small airplanes and helicopters.

The Nexus go-thru-fast card is advertised as the next big step in ID’s. It can be made good for airport security (go-thru-fast lane there, too), but first you have to make another trip to the airport to get your irises scanned. I used to have a before-9/11 fast lane airport pass, but it only knew about my fingerprints. When they took my fingerprints on that occasion, they told me I’d make a good burglar because my fingerprints are hard to identify (too much hand sewing and gardening, apparently). So late this career counseling and encouragement! But the iris scan is not achieved yet, mostly because going to the airport requires me to deal with TSA. Not on my schedule.

So the Nexus card may be coming to you and you may like to know why you might not get one or why you might not be able to keep it. Point Roberts residents have had quite a bit of experience with being rejected and with being thrown out of the program. Ever had any kind of conviction, no matter how trivial, misdemeanor or felony? Well, you are not going to get a Nexus card. People have been rejected for having a ‘drunk and disorderly’ conviction over three decades previously with nothing since then. DUI’s, failure to pay child support, drug possession, unsafe driving, failing to fill out your application form correctly (a form which gives you, as I recall, two lines to record every name you have ever used in your life. Which, if you’ve dabbled in a lot of identities or tried marriage with multiple enthusiasms is not an adequate space, as in: Judith Elizabeth Wilson, Judith Wilson Hurst, Judith Wilson Albaum, Judith Wilson Ross, Judy Ross, Judith W. Ross, Judy W. Ross. It was that line-up that caused my agency person to designate me, for all time, Judith Elizabeth Ross. They didn’t reject me for the Nexus program for my failure to include all these possibilities, but I was chided for having failed to include them all and for having failed to know my right name, and I was warned that they could reject my application for this, but chose not to as an expression of good will, I guess.

Getting the card, though, may not be the same as keeping it. They can take it away from you for just about any reason, and they do: e.g., for violating the food ordinances; they can take it away from you if you have work materials in your car when you go through the Nexus lane; or if you have a person in the car with you who doesn’t have a Nexus card, or doesn’t have it with him at the moment; or if you have your daughter’s sweater, but not your daughter with her Nexus card in your car (you may not take anything in your car that belongs to anyone else through the Nexus lane). That last one creates a particularly difficult question for me, though. It’s about laundry. Our 650 sq. foot house doesn’t actually have enough room for a washing machine. It’s not a big inconvenience as we don’t use up that many clothes and I can always cross the border to the laundromat a mile away. But the laundry…is it mine? Certainly it consists of Ed’s clothes AND my clothes? And can I take Ed’s clothes to the laundromat in Canada? Or can I claim that, as the doer of laundry, for that period of time, the clothes actually all belong to me? But then am I taking work materials in the car with me? And if I take all this laundry, across the border, will I have demonstrated that I am unworthy to be trusted by my country to have this special pass? Will they think I might be a terrorist with a laundry fetish? Will they take my card away from me? And will I go berserk if they do? I don’t know the answers to any of those questions, but so far I have not discussed this matter in detail with Homeland Security.