U.S.-Canada Border Community’s Culture Changes As Security Tightens – By John Burnett (NPR) / Nov 21 2019
Scott Wheeler was born and raised in what’s known as the Northeast Kingdom, the rugged and beautiful countryside where Vermont abuts Canada. Even so, he didn’t realize he was supposed to check in with Canadian immigration authorities when driving across the border recently.
Two polite, officious Mounties tell him to make a U-turn and follow them back to the port of entry where he’s questioned about his intentions inside Quebec. He explains his mistake, and eventually, the Mounties return his identification and he’s free to go.
“That’s pretty much life on the border; it’s changing,” Wheeler says, resignedly.
Road signs indicate the many ways to get to Canada from the center of Derby Line, Vt. The number of illegal crossers is on the rise. Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for NPR
While the southern border gets all the attention with President Trump’s massive wall and the backlog of desperate asylum-seekers stuck in Mexico, things are tense on the northern border with Canada, as well. The number of illegal crossers is on the rise. And residents complain that heightened security has changed the character of the once-neighborly frontier.
“It’s even confusing for a local to understand,” says Wheeler, a former state representative and history buff who publishes the Northland Journal. “Back when I was growing up, you could come across the border with a wave to the border agents.”
“It’s a barrier, and we feel it”
In the past two fiscal years, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has logged a 400% jump in apprehensions of people crossing illegally from Canada. That’s the biggest increase anywhere along the 5,525-mile northern border.
Continue to article: https://www.npr.org/2019/11/21/781138076/u-s-canada-border-communitys-culture-changes-as-security-tightens
A member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police holds Scott Wheeler’s identification while asking another officer to collect the passports of Wheeler’s passengers. Wheeler was pulled over after inadvertently driving into Canada from Canusa Avenue, which straddles the U.S.-Canadian border.
Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for NPR
