re: #78 i(m)p(each)sos

Perhaps ACTING DHS Secretary Wolf shouldn’t be implementing policy changes, you know, like the law says.

It’s not “special privileges.” It’s a rational allocation of limited security resources - if I want to go to the trouble of getting cleared as someone who’s not a threat (which is a significant commitment of *my* time and resources), border agents don’t have to spend time clearing me again and again, and can instead focus their limited resources on travelers who don’t cross often and aren’t known to them.

If it’s working (and in practice, it works very well), it speeds things up for EVERYONE, because this way I’m not in your lane, either. And if you cross often enough to make it worth your time and effort, you should be able to get pre-clearance, too. The program is, or should be, open to anyone who wants to use it.

Via Wikipedia: The United States and other countries that allow preclearance have been accused of also being motivated by the desire to prevent the arrival of asylum seekers, who are otherwise protected under the 1951 Refugee Convention’s non-refoulement provisions once they arrive at their destination.

Sure it’s special privilege.

Rational allocation of limited security resources:

Setting up additional inspection lanes for people. Also courtesy of Wikipedia, the waits at some busy preclearance facilities, notably Toronto Pearson Airport (the busiest U.S. preclearance facility), can often exceed the waiting times of non-precleared flights at the destination and cause significant delays to departure schedules.

Passengers traveling from a preclearance port arrive in the United States as domestic travelers, but are still subject to reinspection at the discretion of Customs and Border Protection. (More time-wasting of scarce resources and travellers’ time. I guarantee you the preclearance program’s extra inspections under our racist government is going to focus on those with funny names, improper melanin levels, or Muslim origins.)

Focusing their limited resources on travellers who don’t cross often and aren’t known to them:

Or, you can just get a Gold Star Family plate from your state for your car and get waved through driving across without asking you if you’re even carrying fruits and vegetables. I have only been stopped once by US customs, in Montana asking if I was smuggling guns in a Smart and that’s the only question they asked.

CBP is now demanding from other nations the right to open-carry firearms in those nations. Canada is considering a bill which would allow it only in places where Canada’s Border Services are allowed to do so (Bill C-23); that’s not good enough for our CBP. Other countries are pulling out of the programme due to Trump’s Muslim ban; The Netherlands already has.

You should be able to get pre-clearance too. It should be open to anyone who wants to use it.

When the program was first started in 1952, that was one rationale. Additionally, it was to relieve congestion in US airports which did not have sufficient customs inspection areas—that problem was cleared up many years ago. The second was to prohibit people from boarding a ship or aircraft, so we didn’t have the hassle of deporting them later. Trump’s DHS would never exploit that for racist intent. /s