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I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA

300 points proberts | 1 comments | 14 Mar 25 14:39 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source

I'll be here for the next 6 hours. As usual, there are countless possible topics and I'll be guided by whatever you're concerned with but as much as possible I'd like to focus on the recent changes and potential changes in U.S. immigration law, policy, and practice. Please remember that I am limited in providing legal advice on specific cases for obvious liability reasons because I won't have access to all the facts. Please stick to a factual discussion in your questions and comments and I'll try to do the same in my responses. Thank you!
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jjmarr ◴[14 Mar 25 15:07 UTC] No.43363348[source]▶
Can a TN classification denial result in immigration detention? If so, how can I mitigate that risk?

For context, a Canadian woman recently tried to enter into the USA from Mexico and get TN-1 status. Instead of refusing her entry, officials detained her and she's been stuck for 10 days waiting for deportation.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-canadian-woma...

It's unclear to me how big of a risk this actually is for the average "Canadian goes to the USA" story because of her specific factual scenario. Presumably I don't want to enter from Mexico, but is it advisable to take flights from a TSA preclearance airport in Canada so I'm not actually in the USA if the classification is denied?

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canucktrash669 ◴[14 Mar 25 15:12 UTC] No.43363415[source]▶
She crossed overland. Imagine you do pre-clearance out of a Canadian airport. Can they kidnap you out of country and ship you to a US detention center?
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walrus01 ◴[14 Mar 25 15:51 UTC] No.43363817[source]▶
Canadians may be often unprepared and shocked how aggressive and militarized the southern border is, compared to crossing at northern border land entry points.
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lizknope ◴[14 Mar 25 21:29 UTC] No.43367497[source]▶
I'm an American and I was annoyed at how aggressive and militarized the southern border is.

I was on a big road trip across the country visiting national parks. I went to Organ Pipe Nat. Monument in Arizona which literally touches the Mexican border.

On my way there I drove through a border patrol checkpoint 10 miles north of the border inside the US. They don't check southbound traffic, only northbound. I never entered Mexico. On the way back I had to stop at that border patrol checkpoint. The border patrol agent was basically yelling at me for my passport. I told him I didn't have it with me. He yelled to see my driver's license. I gave it to him and he yelled at me "Why do you have a North Carolina driver's license?" I replied that is where I live and that is my home address on the license. He then screamed at me "Don't you know this is a prime drug running area?!" I told him "I have no idea and I'm not interested in drugs. There is a national park area 5 miles away, don't you get a lot of tourists here going to see that?"

I then noticed in my rear view and side mirrors that another agent was going around my car with a dog sniffing around. After about 2 minutes I saw the dog agent give a thumbs up and the rude agent said "Okay, you can go but you should carry your passport"

I had less rude experiences in Texas and California but still overly suspicious border patrol agents. One guy asked me what all the stuff was in my car. I actually offered him granola bars and soda cans and then showed him landscape pictures on my cameras. He realized that I was really a tourist and not into drugs or helping immigrants cross.

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tshaddox ◴[14 Mar 25 21:57 UTC] No.43367712[source]▶
> Okay, you can go but you should carry your passport

Funny, since half of U.S. citizens don't have a passport.

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nobodywillobsrv ◴[15 Mar 25 08:18 UTC] No.43370934[source]▶
It is insane to travel without a passport. How is it even possible! Americans are living in some weird timeline.
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1. lizknope ◴[15 Mar 25 12:30 UTC] No.43372115[source]▶
I have a US passport. I use it when I go to another country.

When I have traveling within the US I never take my passport. There is zero need and I may lose it so why even bother taking it when it serves no use?

My trip was a 6 week long road trip from the south eastern US through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, up to Seattle in the northwest, and then back to the south eastern US.

I had no intention of going to Mexico or Canada. They are fine countries but that was no the intent of this trip so I left my passport at home.

During this trip I learned that the US border patrol has set up border inspection points about 10 to 50 miles inside the US. Most of the southern border are remote desert regions where people can cross on foot and then try to meet up with someone in a vehicle on the other side. So the border patrol doesn't just patrol the actual border but has checkpoints inside the US on the roads near the border.

You don't need a passport to get through these as you never left the country.

But I was driving a vehicle (Honda CR-V) with an open cargo area that showed it was full of luggage, bags of food, and lots of water bottles. I probably looked suspicious like I was picking up immigrants on foot or smuggling drugs.

I wasn't. I was on a big road trip and wanted to be prepared for days if my car broke down on a side road and I was stuck in a desert area waiting 3 days to be rescued.