Jailed British tourists entered US 'deliberately'

[rangerrebew]

Jailed British tourists entered US 'deliberately'

    16 October 2019
 

A British family detained in the US after crossing the border from Canada intentionally entered the country illegally, officials have said.

They said the vehicle was captured on video "slowly and deliberately" driving through a ditch to enter the US.

Two adults in the vehicle had previously been denied travel authorisation to the US, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said.

One couple involved claimed the group had crossed the border accidentally.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50067575

[PeteS in CA]

From https://hotair.com/archives/jazz-shaw/2019/10/16/british-family-border-jumpers-probably-seemed/ ,

The idea that somebody “swerved to avoid an animal” and wound up in the wrong country was a bit of a stretch to begin with. But as I mentioned above, the story quickly grew even more complicated.

It turns out that the Connors had applied for a travel visa to come to the United States last year but they were denied. The reason for the denial wasn’t provided, but there must have been some disqualifying factor. Generally, applications to visit from Great Britain are approved almost automatically because of our close relationship with them.

Also, taking them to detention was not CBP’s first attempted solution. They initially tried to return them to Canada where they presumably belonged. (In fact, that what the Connors requested.) But the Canadians wouldn’t allow them back in the country. (Again, no reason for the denial was offered.) Next, CPB tried to contact the British embassy to see about sending them home. Their call was not returned.

The next odd detail is that the Connors were found to have $16,000 in cash in their vehicle. That’s not technically illegal if they declared the money when entering the country and people are entitled to spend money on vacation, but that’s one heck of a lot of cash to have in the trunk. You’d think they would be using plastic or at least traveler’s checks.

Finally, CBP threw up their hands and put them in detention while beginning the steps to process them for deportation to England. What else were they supposed to do?

Evidently the WashPost ran this story as a, "Look at how horrible the Border Patrol is," story, and then backtracked a bit by publishing the rest of the story (which they didn't bother to get earlier).

I think there was some wise guy 3000 years ago who pointed out that the first person telling about a dispute sounds right ... until the other side is heard. Somehow this millennia-old wisdom has eluded the current generation of WashPost "reporters".