Immigration patrols on domestic Amtrak

"sechumlib" wrote in message
...
On 2007-07-15 21:16:51 -0400, "Adam H. Kerman" said:

sechumlib wrote:
On 2007-07-15 17:35:40 -0400, "Adam H. Kerman" said:
wrote:
On 2007-07-15 15:49:11 -0400, "Stephen Sprunk"
said:

What really jerks my chain is that folks on the US side demanded to
see
my passport to allow me to _leave_ the US. They were far more
interested in me than the Canadians, who just waved me through
without
even opening the booth's window.

What do you mean? We cross the border frequently. Going from the US to
Canada, we don't even go through a US checkpoint. How do you get sent
through one?

And Canada is not nearly that bored by us. We always get stopped and
asked where we're going, how long we're going to be in Canada and
whether we're bringing anything that might interest them.

Beer? Back bacon?

Do you have an answer to my questions or are you just bull****ting?

In the previous paragraph, you asked a question of someone else.

You didn't ask a question in the last paragraph. Perhaps you could read
what
you wrote for comprehension.

I'm just not used to smart-ass comments from people who have no possible
interest in the subject and have nothing of any value whatever to
contribute.

Which is a perfect description of you.


Pot. Kettle. Black.

On 2007-07-15 21:28:00 -0400, Alan S said:

I would be much more nervous these days if checks like this
were not happening.

I would agree with you, in general. However, the checkpoint on I-87 in
New York State, near North Hudson, has resulted in several deaths
because truck drivers didn't stay alert and stop before plowing into
cars waiting to be checked. I'd rather risk some small chance of a
terrorist getting through and operating somewhere away from me than be
unpreventably killed while waiting at one of these death traps.

On Mon, 16 Jul 2007 09:12:36 -0400, sechumlib wrote:
I would agree with you, in general. However, the checkpoint on I-87 in
New York State, near North Hudson, has resulted in several deaths
because truck drivers didn't stay alert and stop before plowing into
cars waiting to be checked. I'd rather risk some small chance of a
terrorist getting through and operating somewhere away from me than be
unpreventably killed while waiting at one of these death traps.

It would seem this concern could be easily addressed by moving the
checkpoint to a different section of road.

And maybe adding a separate checkpoint where truckers are stopped and
given alertness tests.

Dave wrote:
You can (or could until very recently) enter Mexico without hardly slowing
down.

Works the same for Mexicans going the opposite direction, as well!

- John

On Sun, 15 Jul 2007 14:49:11 -0500, "Stephen Sprunk"
wrote:

What really jerks my chain is that folks on the US side demanded to see my
passport to allow me to _leave_ the US. They were far more interested in me
than the Canadians, who just waved me through without even opening the
booth's window.

Maybe the Canadians knew you had just been thoroughly checked.
--
Barbara Vaughan

My email address is my first initial followed by my last name at libero dot it.

On Sun, 15 Jul 2007 22:27:16 -0500, umar
wrote:

In the Boston subways today one hears frequently repeated recorded
announcements exhorting one to be on the lookout for anything
suspicious, and to report same immediately to the nearest MBTA
official. Maybe in Stalin's time that sort of thing was usual, but
in the Brezhnev era Moscow Metro there were no such exhortations
that I remember.

Maybe that was before Chechen rebels began putting bombs in metro
stations.

If there's a risk of terrorist attack, it's very good advice. In the
UK, when there was risk of IRA attacks, you saw lots of signs giving
this advice. That risk has passed, but I'll bet you still see the
signs because of the new terrorism risk.
--
Barbara Vaughan

My email address is my first initial followed by my last name at libero dot it.

On Sun, 15 Jul 2007 16:26:40 +0100, Martin D. Pay
wrote:

Does that mean a US-government issued ID? If so, the tentative
plans my wife and I are making to use Amtrack for internal travel
(rather than fly internally within the USA) on our next visit
won't be possible...

If someone is not a US citizen, they would hardly have a US-issued ID;
their own passport, however, is a government-issued ID.
--
Barbara Vaughan

My email address is my first initial followed by my last name at libero dot it.

John Albert wrote:
Dave wrote:
You can (or could until very recently) enter Mexico without hardly slowing
down.

Works the same for Mexicans going the opposite direction, as well!

Recent air and other images that I have seen show that things are still much
the same way there, at least at San Ysidro (San Diego, CA).

Mexico has what is called a 'border zone', where different rules apply and
entry is pretty lax. This is a strip along the USA border that is roughly 50
km wide, including all of Mexico's urbanized border city areas, along with the
entire Baja Peninsula.

Beyond that are where the *REAL* Mexican customs checkpoints and all of their
related sillyness are. I understand that they are pretty restrictive, too,
but the Border Zone itself is still very wide open.

--
___________________________________________ ____ _______________
Regards, | |\ ____
| | | | |\
Michael G. Koerner May they | | | | | | rise again!
Appleton, Wisconsin USA | | | | | |
___________________________________________ | | | | | | _______________

On 2007-07-16 09:32:37 -0400, Doug Smith W9WI said:

On Mon, 16 Jul 2007 09:12:36 -0400, sechumlib wrote:
I would agree with you, in general. However, the checkpoint on I-87 in
New York State, near North Hudson, has resulted in several deaths
because truck drivers didn't stay alert and stop before plowing into
cars waiting to be checked. I'd rather risk some small chance of a
terrorist getting through and operating somewhere away from me than be
unpreventably killed while waiting at one of these death traps.

It would seem this concern could be easily addressed by moving the
checkpoint to a different section of road.

And maybe adding a separate checkpoint where truckers are stopped and
given alertness tests.

All of that is true. Wonder why the Feds didn't do more thinking before
they acted with the effect of killing three or four people?

Merritt Mullen wrote:
In article ,
sechumlib wrote:

On 2007-07-15 20:37:46 -0400, Merritt Mullen said:

In article ,
"Keith Willshaw" wrote:

I've been stopped by such patrols on Interstates in California
I-5 and I-15 both have such facilities built right into the northbound
lanes of the interstates, about 50 mile north of the border in areas where
there are no practical detours off of the interstates.
What border? If they're on I-5 and I-15, they're not in Canada, so what
border are you talking about?

The word "California" should give you a clue.

Don't forget the long-standing 'California Customs' stations on all of the
roads entering the state from the rest of the USA, they are mainly there for
agricultural quarantine purposes (California is pretty insular from the rest
of the USA's farms) and from what I understand are pretty unobtrusive.

--
___________________________________________ ____ _______________
Regards, | |\ ____
| | | | |\
Michael G. Koerner May they | | | | | | rise again!
Appleton, Wisconsin USA | | | | | |
___________________________________________ | | | | | | _______________