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British tourist detained by US authorities for 10 days over visa issue

(www.theguardian.com)
205 points n1b0m | 1 comments | 10 Mar 25 18:32 UTC | HN request time: 0.301s | source
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tim333 ◴[10 Mar 25 23:51 UTC] No.43327570[source]▶
The US has always been a scary place to cross the border. I'm a Brit and have been to 50+ countries and the US is the only one that seems like it's trying to find a reason to arrest you. The others generally don't give problems or possibly just refuse entry and you have to go back.

The other thing that puzzles me about the US is they give basically law abiding travellers all sorts of grief while at the same time letting people just wander in from Mexico and live for years. Odd system.

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AlotOfReading ◴[11 Mar 25 00:11 UTC] No.43327721[source]▶
The US doesn't just let people wander in. The US-Mexico border is incredibly militarized, with multiple lines of checkpoints on either side and a massive amount of technology and manpower to support patrolling the desert between ports. It's closer to a conflict border than it is to a typical international border.
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tim333 ◴[11 Mar 25 12:47 UTC] No.43331889[source]▶
Well maybe not but I was watching in mild amazement a bunch of Chinese cross the border in a 60 minutes segment. It's more hurry over through a gap than wander. https://youtu.be/M7TNP2OTY2g?t=38

I was thinking the odd nature of US immigration is probably down to it being more legalistic than other countries - more lawyers and courts. That could account for both the hard time with legal visitors and also the Mexican border in that the people in that video I think were relying on legal protections for asylum seekers and the like.

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1. layman51 ◴[12 Mar 25 01:14 UTC] No.43338974[source]▶
I think you have a point about the legalistic nature. In the video you shared, they had a detail about how it is much harder than in the past for Chinese people to get into the US via a port of entry because visas are scarce. So crossing at a fence gap, or with a ladder or tunnel is their “hack” to actually get into the country. I’m not knowledgeable about the details of the policy in the mentioned in the video that doesn’t allow the border agents to prevent someone from crossing.