A Canadian citizen says she was denied entry into the United States by border officials, who told her she needs to obtain an immigrant visa in order to cross.
Manpreet Kooner, 30, was born in the Montreal-area to parents who came to Canada from India in the 1960s. She and a group of friends were stopped at the Quebec-Vermont border on Sunday en route to a spa getaway.
“We gave in our passports and we were asked to come inside to be questioned,” she told CTV News.
Once inside, Kooner says she was singled out by U.S. officials, who questioned her for over five hours, taking her fingerprints and photograph while searching the vehicle they arrived in.
She says she found the incident bizarre given that she was travelling on a Canadian passport and has no criminal record.
“They made me sign a paper saying I’m not allowed to enter the states because I’m an immigrant travelling without an immigrant visa,” she said.
Kooner’s friends, whom she says were not asked additional questions, pleaded with U.S. officials, insisting she is indeed a Canadian citizen. That’s when she says a female border agent made a disturbing comment.
“She did say, ‘I know you may feel like you’ve been trumped,’” an apparent reference to U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump signed a scaled-back version of his controversial ban on travellers from several Muslim-majority countries on Monday. A previous executive order issued five weeks ago was blocked by U.S. judges shortly after it was signed.
Trump also promised to impose “extreme vetting” measures on foreign visitors during his election campaign.
Kooner believes she may have been flagged because of an incident last December at another Canada-U.S. border crossing, where she says border guards denied her entry to the U.S. due to a “computer glitch.” She says came back the next day and crossed without incident.
“I didn’t really think anything of it. I just thought, (it’s a) random search, (and a) computer glitch. He wrote up something to justify it, and we were able to get in,” she said.
Immigration lawyer Neil Drabkin wonders if this could be an example of the Trump administration’s “extreme vetting” in action.
“This may well be an instance where just because of the colour of her skin, she many have been singled out and subjected to further questioning,” he said. “This is a troubling story because Canadian citizens do not require a visa to visit the United States.”
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson declined to comment on an individual admissibility inspection on Monday, noting that possession of valid travel documents does not guarantee entry to the United States.
Kooner’s story was brought up in the House of Commons on Monday amid broader concerns about racial profiling at the border.
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale told reporters that each country has the sovereign right to control its borders.
“We also have the high expectation that all of our citizens will be treated respectfully and in a fair manner,” he added.
Kooner says U.S. border officials were short on answers as to why she was denied entry, directing her instead to the U.S. embassy in Ottawa.
“I went to the U.S. embassy and was told by them, ‘Why are you here? You’re a Canadian citizen. You don’t need a visa. That’s odd,’” she said. “It just feels like a vicious circle.”
Kooner worries this latest incident with U.S. border officials will hurt her chances at future travel in the U.S. She plans to visit Miami for a bachelorette party ahead of her wedding in June.
“I’m being treated like a criminal when I go to the border, but I haven’t done anything wrong,” she said.
With a report from CTV Montreal’s Caroline Van Vlaardingen and files from The Canadian Press
