Derby Line USA/Canda

[Willy The Londoner]

I have just seen an item on the township of Derby Line that straddles the border of USA and Canada.

What a farce.  The border goes right through the main street making one side of road USA and the other Canada and residents of one side cannot cross the road without going through an immigration point first.

People have been arrested for going into the Canadian library and coming out the wrong door and into the USA. 

Homeland Security gone one step too far me thinks.

Are there other places like this that are divided by bureaucracy?

Willy

[maxx]

Zhuhai and Macau.And yes they stand there at the fence and make sure no one climbs over.

[Willy The Londoner]

Not quite right Maxx. There is a long walk between those two. 

The ones discussed on the TV have a central reserve in the road with flower pots. Go past the pots and you get can arrested locked up as an illegal alien and fined up to $5000.  It now divides families.

I was asking about that border between the USA and Canada and as that is one long border between the two is it protected like the Mexican border the whole length or is this one spot a place where the US Homeland Security make a noticable point.
 
 The only way you can do it officially is to travel to one of the two immigration gates and pass the proceedure there.  Do Canadians need a visa to cross into the USA?

I suppose its a bit like UK. You can travel from Lithuania through lots and lots of European Countries and it is only when you get to the UK you have to show a Passport.

Willy

[maxx]

Willy last time I was in Zhuhai.There was a fence and two guys walking a patrol on the other side of the fence.I will admit it wasn't much of a fence.Even a old geezer like you could of climbed over the fence.But it was still there.My wife told me that if you tried to cross the border there.The immigration police would arrest you.

I seen them arrest a teenage Chinese girl in JoeJoe port one time.Her crime was going to Hong Kong.And buying clothes and trying to resale the clothes in her store.I don't know what happend to her they probably confiscated her merchandise.So they could redistribute it to there kids at home.

It used to be you could just walk threw the immigration gate.And flash the monkey on the stool your drivers licence.Or some sort of I.D.And you could pass back and forth real easy.After 911 they tightend things up a little.Now you have to answear a couple of questions.I have flew on a private plane in and out of Mexico.It was the same thing just flash the monkey on the stool your I.D.When I was driving across the border.It was just flash your I.D and you would be good to go.

I know at one time when the Canadian dollar was worth allot more.Canadians were coming across the border daily.To buy goods.At one time there was so many Canadians crossing the border.That the Americans were a little mad because you couldn't find any parking places in the border towns.In San Diego California.The border patrol crossing  is the busiest in the world.with people crossing back and forth.To go to work,Or to just go have lunch on the otherside.If the Mexicans are working in the states they do need a work permit.If the Americans are working on the otherside of the border.They also need a work permit.Which I guess would mean it is a visa.If your just going to lunch or shopping you don't need a visa.Just a proper I.D and a passport card that they can scan into there computers.

That town that you are concerned about.That straddles the border.It wasn't a problem.All you had to do is drive walk run.Down to the gate flash your I.D and cross over.The reason the town is divided.Is because of a drunk survey crew.When they were setting up the borders.The residents of the town thought it was funny.So they left it like it was.

The reason that there is thees gates is to try to slow down the contraband.That crosses the borders on a daily bases.Drugs,Guns,Money,Gained from illegal activities.In San Diego they catch allot of drugs and cash going each way.There was a documentary a few years ago.About the border crossing in San Diego.It was worth watching.Just to see the unique way people had figured out how to smuggle things into the United States.One Colombian drug lord had even gone as far as building himself a submarine.So his drug carriers could just motor under the water.Across the border.

[Neil]

Heh.  Maxx, Canadians still cross the border by the thousands every day for shopping.  Gas and milk are two of the biggest deals.  They are both a lot cheaper in the states. 

Personally, I haven't been across the border in 18 years. 

Willy, our border is referred to as the world's longest undefended border.  Not completely true though.  There's a lot of border crossings and most have secure entrances.  I've heard that roads that aren't guarded have sensors and are patrolled pretty regularly.  Not a whole lot of fences, from what I've heard.  There's many thousands of miles of mountains and parries along the border, plus a few slightly large lakes.   

Drug smuggling is pretty common.  BC bud is pretty popular down south.  I'm sure recent legalization in some US states hasn't made the import any less illegal.  Nobody wants to rot in a US jail for bring a bag of weed across the border.