

Journalist detained at US/Canadian Border - GeorgeOrr
http://www.onthemedia.org/story/my-detainment-story-or-how-i-learned-stop-feeling-safe-my-own-country-and-hate-border-patrol/?utm_source=local&utm_media=treatment&utm_campaign=daMost&utm_content=damostviewed
Systemic abuse at border crossings.
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znowi
I hear these detention stories at the border continuously and each time
there's a lot of discontent among people about such practices. However,
nothing changes.

I wonder, is it that largely this topic does not concern the American public
or are there no democratic means to influence the agency?

~~~
bsullivan01
real answer: it always happening to _other_ people, I have to hide, blah
blah....

The border agent has a lot of power and his /her judgment is trusted. Of
course a US citizen has the right to get in but they hold you for hours and
hours based on suspicions. Just a cavity type search for your luggage will set
you back a few hours and I suppose they can justify it with "he was acting
nervously.". Go ahead and dispute that

~~~
jamesaguilar
Real, real answer: Not only is it happening to other people, it's happening to
small N other people.

You hear about it like five times a year, and millions of people cross the
border every year. The _proportion_ of egregious false positives -- defined
as, bad enough for someone to want to write about it -- is vanishingly small.
The odds that it'll happen to any given person here, even any given person of
the subject minority (brown), is so small it might as well be zero, from the
perspective of a brain that's bad at dealing with small numbers [1].

It's hard enough to get people who read a tech site to care. Now try getting
everyone to.

[1]
[http://lesswrong.com/lw/6h1/people_neglect_small_probability...](http://lesswrong.com/lw/6h1/people_neglect_small_probability_events/)

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adamgravitis
Misleading title; makes it sound like the Canadians were doing the holding.

~~~
ZoF
Hmm, are you from the US?

I am, and I assumed this article was referring to the U.S. doing the holding
not Canada. I feel like the title is appropriate actually, saying "journalist
detained at U.S. border" would be less informative imo.

That's just my opinion though, perhaps I am not properly conceptualizing the
matter from yours/others viewpoints.

~~~
contingencies
s|US/Canadian Border|US's Canadian Border| # solved

