# I Haven't Crossed the Canada-US Border Since December 2024 > [!metadata]- Metadata > **Published:** [[2026-03-20|March 20, 2026]] > **Tags:** #🌐 #travel #immigration #canada ![[00 - Meta/Attachments/i-havent-crossed-the-canada-us-border-since-dec-2024-hero.jpeg]] I used to cross the Canada-US border twice a month. Sometimes more. Living in Toronto, the US border is barely 90 minutes away. Buffalo for groceries and outlet shopping. Rochester for a weekend getaway. Sometimes just a drive across the Peace Bridge because it felt like crossing the street to visit a neighbour. I haven't made that drive since December 2024. Not because I lost interest. Not because I got busy. Because somewhere between late 2024 and early 2025, what used to feel like a routine drive started feeling like a gamble I wasn't willing to take. And every week since then, a new story has confirmed that instinct. ## The Story That Broke Me This Week On [[2026-03-14|March 14, 2026]], Tania Warner — a 47-year-old woman from Penticton, B.C. — was detained at a mandatory interior checkpoint in Sarita, Texas. She wasn't sneaking across a border. She wasn't undocumented. She held a valid U.S. worker's visa and had lived legally in the United States for approximately five years. She was coming back from a baby shower. Her seven-year-old daughter Ayla, who has autism, was detained alongside her. They were first held at the Ursula detention center in McAllen, Texas, then transferred to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center. Her husband Edward told [CBC News](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-woman-texas-ice-facility-9.7135607) that his wife was having anxiety attacks and that his daughter was "a little freaked out." Democratic Congressman Vicente Gonzalez confirmed Tania holds valid work authorization and called for her immediate release. As I write this, they are still detained. A Canadian mother with a valid visa. A seven-year-old with autism. Held in an immigration detention facility. For going to a baby shower. ## This Isn't an Isolated Incident Tania's story hit me hard, but it's not the one that started my fear. That honour belongs to a steady drip of stories that began piling up through 2025 — each one more absurd than the last. **Jasmine Mooney**, a Canadian entrepreneur from B.C. with a valid U.S. work visa, was detained for 12 days at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego in [[2025-03-03|March 2025]]. She had crossed from Tijuana at the San Ysidro port of entry on her lawyer's advice to renew her visa. ICE claimed she "was detained for not having legal documentation" — her lawyer disputed this. She slept on a mat with no blanket or pillow and later described the conditions as "the most inhumane thing I've ever seen." Senator Cory Booker raised her case during a 25-hour Senate floor speech. **Two Canadian toddlers** — actual toddlers — were detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in [[2025-05-01|May 2025]]. One of them was held for 51 days. The legal limit for holding children in immigration detention is 20 days. The facility has been criticized for limited water, medical care, and legal access. **Greg Williams**, an Ontario musician with zero criminal record, was stopped at the Windsor-Detroit Ambassador Bridge around [[2025-12-16|December 2025]] for a routine crossing. He was ordered to turn off his car, place his hands on the dash, then handcuffed while 15 agents surrounded his vehicle. He was photographed and fingerprinted. Turns out it was a case of mistaken identity — another Greg Williams had a criminal record. He was released after a few hours, but imagine that experience for someone who's never had a run-in with the law. **A First Nations man from Ontario** was detained by ICE around [[2026-01-01|January 2026]] despite carrying a valid status card and having treaty rights under the Jay Treaty — which explicitly grants Indigenous peoples free movement across the Canada-US border. His status card was seized by immigration agents. Ontario Regional Chief Abram Benedict said: "He was lucky that he didn't have more of a negative interaction with them, and that he wasn't put into the deportation system." And then there's **Dmitrii Georgiev**, a Bulgarian national visiting Canada on vacation. In [[2025-10-04|October 2025]], he was driving from Quebec toward Niagara Falls when his GPS routed him through a Vermont port of entry. He tried to turn around. Instead of letting him go back to Canada, border agents arrested him. What followed was nearly three months of detention across 10 different ICE facilities in 7 states, approximately 12 domestic ICE flights, shackled hand and foot. He slept on concrete floors and went hours without water. At one point he was flown to Texas to board a deportation flight to Eastern Europe, but the flight was overbooked, so he was sent back to Massachusetts. His quote to [NHPR](https://www.nhpr.org/new-england-news/2026-01-20/immigration-ice-detention-mistaken-border-crossing-vermont-newhampshire): "I feel like I am somewhere where rules are not working. Maybe in Russia or in Belarus — but I'm not in America." He wasn't even trying to enter the US. His GPS made a wrong turn. ## It's Not Just Canadians The pattern extends well beyond Canadian travelers. **Dr. Rasha Alawieh**, a Lebanese kidney transplant specialist who had worked in Rhode Island on a valid H-1B visa for six years, was detained at Boston Logan Airport in [[2025-03-14|March 2025]] while returning from a family visit to Lebanon. Despite a federal court order explicitly requiring 48-hour notice before deportation, her plane to Lebanon took off anyway. Her lawyer said: "They did nothing to stop her plane." A valid visa. Six years of legal work. A court order. None of it mattered. **Becky Burke**, a Welsh backpacker on a tourist visa for a four-month trip across North America, was detained for 19 days at an ICE facility in Tacoma, Washington, in [[2025-02-26|February 2025]]. She was classified as an "illegal alien" because she had done chores for a host family — unpaid, non-monetary tasks that ICE deemed "work." **Rümeysa Öztürk**, a Turkish PhD student at Tufts University on a valid student visa, was arrested by masked federal agents in [[2025-03-01|March 2025]] and held for over six weeks in Louisiana. Her visa was revoked because she co-authored an opinion piece in a student newspaper. An immigration judge eventually terminated removal proceedings in [[2026-01-29|January 2026]], ruling the government hadn't met its legal burden. ## The Numbers Are Damning According to analysis by The Globe and Mail and CTV News: - **207 Canadians** have been held in ICE custody since January 2025, compared to 137 in all of 2024 — a 51% increase. - **44%** of Canadians detained between July and October 2025 had no criminal records. - **At least 6 Canadian children** have been detained since January 2025, ranging from under 2 years old to approximately 16. A Queen's University professor publicly stated: "My advice actually would be don't go." Canada has updated its travel advisory for the United States multiple times, explicitly warning that travelers "could be detained" and should "expect scrutiny." The Assembly of First Nations issued its own warning in [[2026-01-01|January 2026]]. Germany and the UK both updated their travel advisories to state that a valid visa may not guarantee entry into the United States. When three allied nations are telling their citizens that a valid visa doesn't mean you're safe, something has fundamentally broken. ## What This Means for Me I'm a [[My Experience Moving to Toronto|Toronto resident]]. I'm also a brown-skinned man with an Indian name living in a time when "looking like you don't belong" seems to be enough to trigger detention. I have no criminal record. I have an Indian passport and a valid US visa. I have every legal right to enter the United States as a tourist. And yet, I cannot convince myself that these facts will protect me at a border checkpoint. The thing about [[The Transformative Power of Travel|travel]] is that it requires trust. Trust that the systems on the other side will treat you fairly. Trust that your documents mean what they say. Trust that if something goes wrong, there's a process to fix it. That trust is gone. Every time I think about driving to New York or Jersey, I think about Tania Warner sitting in a detention facility with her autistic daughter because she went to a baby shower. I think about the Bulgarian tourist whose GPS made a wrong turn and who spent three months shackled across seven states. I think about the toddler held for 51 days. And I stay home. ## This Could Have Been Avoided What frustrates me more than the fear is how unnecessary all of this is. These aren't complex problems. They're failures of basic systems and accountability. Here's what responsible border enforcement could look like: **Real-time digital verification.** Every traveler with a valid visa, work permit, or permanent resident card exists in a database. Border agents at checkpoints should be able to verify legal status in seconds. The technology exists. NEXUS cards already do a version of this. If Tania Warner's valid work visa had been checked digitally at that Texas checkpoint, she and her daughter would have been on their way in minutes. Instead, they've been in detention for days. **Clear protocols for verified legal travelers.** There should be an unambiguous, enforceable rule: if a traveler's legal status is verified, they cannot be detained without probable cause of a specific crime. Not "suspicion." Not "discretion." Verified status should mean verified status. **Hard limits on detention without charges.** The legal limit for holding children is [20 days](https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF11799) under the Flores Settlement Agreement. A Canadian toddler was held for 51. There are no consequences when these limits are violated. Without enforcement mechanisms — automatic [judicial review after 24 hours](https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/500/44/) (the Supreme Court already requires probable cause hearings within 48 hours for criminal arrests under *County of Riverside v. McLaughlin*), mandatory release if no charges are filed within [72 hours](https://immpolicytracking.org/policies/ice-waives-the-12-hour-holding-cell-limit-allowing-detainees-to-be-held-for-72-hours/) (ICE's own current outer limit for holding facilities, which is itself being violated) — limits are just words on paper. **Accountability for wrongful detention.** When a woman with a valid visa and her seven-year-old daughter are detained for going to a baby shower, someone should answer for that. When a court order says "give 48 hours notice before deportation" and the plane takes off anyway, there should be consequences. Right now, there aren't. That's not enforcement — it's impunity. **Better bilateral agreements.** Canada and the United States share the longest undefended border in the world. That phrase used to mean something. There should be formal bilateral protocols that protect citizens of both countries from arbitrary detention — automatic consular notification, maximum hold times, and expedited review for travelers with verified legal status. **Training and de-escalation.** Greg Williams was handcuffed by 15 agents at Windsor-Detroit because another Greg Williams had a criminal record. A five-second database check could have resolved that before the handcuffs came out. Training border agents to verify before escalating isn't radical — it's basic professional practice. None of these measures would compromise legitimate enforcement. They would simply ensure that the enforcement apparatus doesn't destroy the lives of people who are following the rules. ## Where We Are Now I'm writing this from Toronto on [[2026-03-20|March 20, 2026]]. It's been 15 months since I last crossed the border. In that time, I've watched story after story of legal travelers — Canadians, Europeans, academics, mothers with children — being swept up by an enforcement system that seems to have lost the ability to distinguish between people who are breaking the law and people who are going to baby showers. I don't know when I'll cross that border again. I genuinely don't. And that's a strange thing to say about a country that's 90 minutes from my home, a country I used to visit the way you visit a neighbouring town. But until I see evidence that valid documents are respected, that legal status means something, and that there are real consequences when the system fails — I'm staying on this side. The border hasn't moved. But everything else has. --- **Sources:** - [CBC News — B.C. woman and child detained at Texas ICE facility](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-woman-texas-ice-facility-9.7135607) - [NPR — Jasmine Mooney, Canadian actress, ICE detention](https://www.npr.org/2025/04/02/nx-s1-5341465/jasmine-mooney-canadian-actress-ice-detention) - [Globe and Mail — Canadian children detained in US ICE immigration](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-canadians-children-detained-us-ice-immigration/) - [CTV News — Expert warns Canadians about US travel risks](https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/article/my-advice-actually-would-be-dont-go-expert-warns-canadians-about-us-travel-risks/) - [NHPR — Bulgarian tourist detained after mistaken border crossing](https://www.nhpr.org/new-england-news/2026-01-20/immigration-ice-detention-mistaken-border-crossing-vermont-newhampshire) - [BBC — British backpacker detained in ICE facility](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqj4w91vz7jo) - [Newsweek — Doctor deported despite valid visa and court order](https://www.newsweek.com/medical-doctor-deported-us-despite-valid-visa-court-order-lawyer-2045642) - [ACLU — Removal proceedings terminated for Rümeysa Öztürk](https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/immigration-judge-terminates-removal-proceedings-against-child-development-scholar-rumeysa-ozturk) - [The Tyee — Indigenous Canadians warned about US travel](https://thetyee.ca/News/2026/01/27/Indigenous-Canadians-Warned-Travel-US/) - [PBS NewsHour — European and Canadian tourist detentions](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/u-s-detention-of-european-and-canadian-tourists-creates-fear-over-traveling-to-america)