BajaNomad - Border Identity Mixups From Baja?

Border Identity Mixups From Baja?

toneart - 7-11-2010 at 08:24 AM

Below is a news article that appeared in Yahoo News. The incidents involve the U.S./Canadian border. My question is: How many of us experience this kind of ID mix-up when returning from Baja, and how were you treated (by vehicle, air or sea)?I know that some of us trigger something that sends us to secondary, but what about ID mix-up? If so, please report here.

Quote:
"NY woman questioned again and again over ID mix-up
By MICHAEL HILL, Associated Press Writer Michael Hill, Associated Press Writer Sat Jul 10, 3:49 pm ET

SARANAC LAKE, N.Y. – Sylvie Nelson's border crossings are anything but routine. Customs agents sometimes order her out of her car. Twice, they handcuffed her in front of her young children. Once, agents swarmed her car and handcuffed her husband, too.

She tells them: It's not me you want, it's a man with the same birth date and a similar name. Agents always confirm that and let her go.

Then it happens again. And again.

"I can understand one missed identification," Nelson said. "But over and over and over again?"

Nelson, a 44-year-old white woman, keeps getting snared at the Canadian border because she apparently shares some key identifying information with a black man, possibly from Georgia, who is in trouble with the law. While such cases of mistaken identity at border points and airports are not unique, Nelson's case is unusual in that only some of her crossings set off an alarm and because federal officials have not fixed the problem after almost two years.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials told The Associated Press they cannot discuss Nelson's case, and they have shared few details with her. Still, it's clear from their correspondence with Nelson and her congressman that they acknowledge the problem, saying they have taken "positive steps" to address it.

The nation's 4,000-mile boundary with Canada is tested regularly by people trying to smuggle cigarettes, drugs and illegal immigrants. In New York, the drive-through crossings also are kept busy by steady streams of shoppers, tourists and people with personal ties to both countries, like Nelson.

Nelson was born in Canada, married an American and lives with him, her 6-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son in Saranac Lake, where she runs the chamber of commerce. She became a U.S. citizen in 2008.

Nelson crosses the border several times a month to visit relatives, friends and her family's second home, using her Canadian passport to leave the country and her U.S. passport to get back in.

Her U.S. passport first triggered an alarm in August 2008. Agents told her the mix-up would be corrected, and she crossed without incident many times after that.

In December, she was ordered from her car and handcuffed as she came back from a Montreal shopping trip with her children. Nelson was mortified and melted into tears but was soon told she was free to go.

It happened again in February at a different New York crossing. Agents surrounded her car and her husband also was handcuffed. Again, she was let go.

"They never apologize," Nelson said. "They basically tell you that they're doing their job for the better good of the world."

Nelson has struggled to get information from Homeland Security officials. They will not tell her who she is being confused with or why the problem persists. She doesn't know why her passport triggers alarms some days but not others.

Much of what she knows comes from bits of information gleaned at her border stops or from U.S. Rep. Bill Owens, who has been trying to help her.

There is no indication Nelson is on the terror "watch list" that makes headlines when babies or politicians are mistakenly entered into the database. She believes another agency's computerized index of criminal justice information may be at fault.

Nelson says the man appears to be wanted in DeKalb County, Georgia, though neither the county sheriff's office nor the Georgia Bureau of Investigation came up with a match for a man with Nelson's birth date and last name.

Owens said he was told the problem endures because of a "technology issue."

Customs spokeswoman Joanne Ferreira said the agency cannot discuss individual cases for legal and enforcement reasons. Ferreira wrote in an e-mail to the AP that "CBP strives to treat all travelers with respect and in a professional manner, while maintaining the focus of our mission to protect all citizens and visitors."

A customs official told Owens in a May 19 letter that there were "positive steps" in Nelson's case. She triggered an alarm since then, though her last two crossings were uneventful. Nelson now warns agents at the border about her problem before they scan her passport. She is no longer handcuffed.

"I think it's been reduced from embarrassing and nerve wracking to just frustrating," Owens said.

The head of New York's Champlain crossing gave Nelson his cell phone number so she can call before crossings so he can help. She refuses to call ahead, reasoning that the government should be responsible for fixing its own problem.

"Right now, I'm frustrated," she said, "but the terrifying could be right around the corner. Who knows?" "

DENNIS - 7-11-2010 at 08:29 AM

I know exactly how she feels. Whenever I go north through the border, they treat me just like I'm Osama Bin Ladin.
I'm really not. I don't even have a beard. :no:

Timo1 - 7-11-2010 at 08:37 AM

Happens to me every time I cross
My name is Tim Young
They have me crossed with a Tim Grady
I'm white....He's black
I have no record except an exonerated DUI 24 years ago in Riverside Ca.
This other guy is raising hell in Walker county Georgia
Has a record a mile long
The CBP guy that last interviewed me was about the politest customs guy
I have ever dealt with
This was in Tecate NB
I can't say the same for the customs guy at the Seattle airport
The Tecate guy explained to us about the mix ups and how frustrating
it is for them
He asked....Can you imagine how many Jose Rodriguezes we process daily ??
He also suggested I apply for a pardon at my expense for what the other guy is doing.....WTF ???
We have and will be traveling to Baja
Its too bad the biggest hurdle is crossing into the US...either direction

Bajajorge - 7-11-2010 at 09:20 AM

From reading the posts it sounds as if the State of Georgia, USA has problems with their record keeping.

Timo1 - 7-11-2010 at 09:23 AM

Actually....all the trouble originated in Ca.
Then he moved to Georgia and continued his ways
This according to the guy at Tecate

toneart - 7-11-2010 at 09:35 AM

The point is, according to the article, is that it is a technological glitch.
Well, human beings have to enter the data into the computers. The frustrating thing is, why can't human beings correct the entries?

My take is that the bully pulpit that is Homeland Security wishes that level of intimidation to keep us ALL in a constant state of fear. It is all FEAR based, and that is the stuff that is currently motivating the majority of voters.

BajaBlanca - 7-11-2010 at 10:01 AM

funny tidbit - once when we were crossing the border into sunny California, the border patrol agent asked for our passports. fine. Then he asked for our car registration ???? So, Les asked "why do you need my car registration?"

The guy looked Les in the eye and said:

"I am the ONLY one who gets to ask questions here. "

I guess he was having a bad hair day but jeeeeeez louiiiiiiiiiise

DENNIS - 7-11-2010 at 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BajaBlanca
jeeeeeez louiiiiiiiiiise

That was one of my mother's favorite sayings. That and, "God's Teeth!!!" I think Ernie Pyle coined that one during the war.

Anyway........if that's as bad as it got with the gate guard, you had a good day.

BajaBlanca - 7-11-2010 at 10:14 AM

I have never been pulled into secondary in all the times we have crossed...having said that, I will probably be jinxed from now on :no:

Bajahowodd - 7-11-2010 at 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by toneart

My take is that the bully pulpit that is Homeland Security wishes that level of intimidation to keep us ALL in a constant state of fear. It is all FEAR based, and that is the stuff that is currently motivating the majority of voters.

Guess it works, eh? The 9/11 disaster was incredibly horrific. But the Bush administration took full advantage of that situation, which lasts up to today. I just have a major difficulty in trying to understand the dichotomy that is the nation with the largest military and defense in the world, in numbers that far exceed the next ten nations combined, with the seeming cowered public who will vote for what they conceive as security, no matter what freedoms may be compromised. Just don't get it.

toneart - 7-11-2010 at 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bajahowodd

Quote:

Answer to your last question: Lack of cognitive thinking skills; blinded by ideology; Fox News/Limbaugh/Murdoch Clear Channel media bias; Neocon dirty tricks/lies manipulation repeated until accepted as truth (actually becomes subliminal); and....FEAR!

They consistently vote against their own self interests and yet think just the opposite. Fascism poses as a benevolent dictatorship. It promises to relieve people from the responsibility of doing their own thinking.

"Fascism is a radical and authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to organize a nation according to corporatist perspectives, values, and systems, including the political system and the economy." - Wikipedia

Bob and Susan - 7-12-2010 at 05:57 AM

i'm on the list now...

everytime recently ... secondary

dog comes out...quick sniff...adios

who do you contact to get off it

anyone successful with something like this

ELINVESTIG8R - 7-12-2010 at 06:01 AM

One or more in here need a tinfoil hat! :lol:

CaboRon - 7-12-2010 at 07:05 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bajahowodd

I just have a major difficulty in trying to understand the dichotomy that is the nation with the largest military and defense in the world, in numbers that far exceed the next ten nations combined,.

China maintains the largest standing army on this planet :lol:

Taco de Baja - 7-12-2010 at 07:35 AM

The only ID mix up I had was a border patrol agent in 1996, or 1997 who thought he was a doctor.... He reached into the car, put his fingers on my wrist and asked if I always had high blood pressure!

I responded that "No, I have low BP, and by the way you can't determine BP taking someone's PULSE."

Yep I got sent to secondary.... :lol:

The fact that my friend and I had 10 days of beard growth, a truck full of camping gear, and surfboards, probably triggered his initial question more than breaking his mother's heart in not becoming a doctor.

wessongroup - 7-12-2010 at 08:26 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by toneart

Quote:

Originally posted by Bajahowodd

Quote:

tone, see we are ... not to far apart once again...

Tano - 7-12-2010 at 08:43 AM

There is an old Chinese proverb that says, “Computers are too dumb to make mistakes on their own.”

bajajazz - 7-12-2010 at 09:35 AM

I don't know if it would've changed the outcome, but I wonder what might have happened if the Axis powers had the advantage of the computer technology that exists today? Surely, the Germans' ability to liquidate Jewish populations would've been enhanced, the ability of resistance groups to move about Europe would've been enormously hindered and Stalin's NKVD would've had a field day fingering potential subversives.

The possibility (if not the fact) of governments' use of computerized dossiers to identify and control any individual or group who might be in disagreement with the current party line is a scary factoid indeed, particularly if paranoid maniacs on the order of Hitler or Stalin were in charge of the intelligence gathering. Come to think of it, J. Edgar Hoover fit that role rather well.

toneart - 7-12-2010 at 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bajajazz
I don't know if it would've changed the outcome, but I wonder what might have happened if the Axis powers had the advantage of the computer technology that exists today? Surely, the Germans' ability to liquidate Jewish populations would've been enhanced, the ability of resistance groups to move about Europe would've been enormously hindered and Stalin's NKVD would've had a field day fingering potential subversives.

The possibility (if not the fact) of governments' use of computerized dossiers to identify and control any individual or group who might be in disagreement with the current party line is a scary factoid indeed, particularly if paranoid maniacs on the order of Hitler or Stalin were in charge of the intelligence gathering. Come to think of it, J. Edgar Hoover fit that role rather well.

Yup! The old cliche' is "It can't happen here", is wrong. It can happen anywhere. The reference was The Holocaust, but it could apply to political dissidents who espouse ideas the go counter to a Fascist government in office. It doesn't become an official policy overnight. It happens incrementally, while the citizens are placated by disinformation in the media. Look out! They are gaining momentum and have the desire and intent. The database is bulging with your and my information.

"First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me."
--Pastor Martin Niemöller

tjBill - 7-12-2010 at 06:38 PM

I have who gets sent into secondary all the time.

He has the same name as a criminal who threatened a judge.

toneart - 7-13-2010 at 04:46 PM

I suspected that there would be Baja stories on this subject. Thank you for posting them here.

I guess that, once your ID gets programmed into the system, it goes out to multiple organizations; bureaucracies. Once it is in there, it is either too difficult to reverse, or the lack of will to do so prevails, as in "it's not my job".

When important information needs to be coordinated between agencies, it gets botched and not shared. When information such as ID errors gets in there, it is willingly shared and seems to be impossible to get out. Homeland Security should be able to get a handle on it, but I guess that is too much to expect. :mad:

BajaBruno - 7-14-2010 at 09:52 AM

Bob and Susan, the first thing the border guys do is check your license plate number. They have their own system to track those numbers and any agent along the border can enter whatever nasty information they want about you. If you happen to get surly with an agent, or s/he just doesn't like the guests in your car, info can be entered that will send you to secondary every time. This happened to me several years ago, so I just went to DMV and got new license plates issued for my truck. No more problems.

Things may have changed lately, and maybe they have the same system for passport numbers now, but if you are repeatedly sent to secondary with minimal conversation, it's most likely a notation on your license plate file.