Most of my friends with Visa's tend to live in a constant state of fear when crossing the border into the US that a border office will just rip the visa out of their passport and deny them entry into the US.
Even the ones with high priced immigration attorney's.
Is there something the average Canadian can do to make crossing the border into the US less of a crap shoot, especially when doing so with a family?
Their concerns are well-founded. It's hard to advise without knowing the particular facts but now, more than ever, it's advisable, if one has any concerns about admission, to consult with an attorney beforehand, even if just for a few minutes, because most problems at the border can be avoided with some planning.
I was just at a wedding on the weekend and was chatting with a friend who had that happen two weeks ago. He spent 4 days in a US Border patrol jail near San Diego, sleeping beside MS-13 members.
He was forced to buy a last-minute-priced plane ticket back to Canada. His car is currently somewhere in an impound lot in San Diego. His possessions are in his apartment in the bay area. Until he resolves his H1B issues, he can't re-enter the country.
Edit: Makes for a hell of a story though. "How's it going?" "Oh, just got out of jail down in Mexico" "... what?"
Something to do with changing jobs, then having the new job fall through a month later. He thought he had 60 days to get a new job (which is pretty easy for developers these days). The border guards had not heard of such a rule.
Perhaps obvious in hindsight but in that situation I definitely would not leave the country and especially try to re-enter the country unless my paperwork was in perfect order (lawyer prepared it for you). One mistake like that can ruin your visa situation forever.
He's got enough friends in the bay area to have himself covered in that regard. Right now I believe his biggest problem is renting an apartment in Canada to establish as his official primary residence so that he can enter the US as a visitor to go get his stuff.
Not OP, but my sister and brother-in-law (both born in Canada) have constant issues re-entering the US, despite both having up to date visas and never having changed jobs.
Mostly because of dumb-ass border agents. They've never been denied entry, but it's always a 5 hour long ordeal.
When I was first at Amazon in Seattle (later moved back to Toronto) it became known that if you had a TN visa, you didn't cross at a specific Vancouver-area crossing. There was just one guy there who had decided he didn't like the TN visa program, and tore up every single one he saw.
Happens more often than you think. It's not something that comes from the lawmaking side, but seems border agencies just have shitty cultures, uneducated officers and too much authority since they're part of the national security apparatus.
The "shitty culture" part to a large extent comes from "too much authority" part. Combined with one more, namely "lack of accountability". In many cases, CBP and ICE officers can make decisions that are essentially arbitrary, and that either cannot be disputed or appealed at all, or the process is so convoluted, esp. if you're outside the country, that it might as well not be there.
There need to be strong penalties for abuse of law enforcement power. He has the power to destroy lives and families, apparently without any accountability. The way you hold people accountable for their actions is by threat of legal action against them.
Abuse of power and being unreasonable are not good traits in any branch of law enforcement (which is where I assume this officer would end up if not at the border).
Sure. I just think that 'lock him up' is not the solution to non-violent crime. The US has higher incarceration rates than any other developed country. It's expensive and wasteful of labour.
Most of my friends with Visa's tend to live in a constant state of fear when crossing the border into the US that a border office will just rip the visa out of their passport and deny them entry into the US.
Even the ones with high priced immigration attorney's.
Is there something the average Canadian can do to make crossing the border into the US less of a crap shoot, especially when doing so with a family?