Page 4 of 5

Re: General existing world immigration/border notes

Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 2:32 am
by Joy
From what I hear via the grapevine, "these guys"--the cute doggies sniffing for drugs --don't have that good a record for accuracy. One of the last times I went to prison, the lady in front of me in the visitation line was accused by the drug dog as having drugs. He faced away from her, cutting one furtive glance at her, looking a bit guilty as he did so. :) The woman was questioned interminably (the whole line had to wait on this), and then strip/body cavity searched, and finally brought out for more questioning. She said she worked at a bank, so the conclusion was that she should wear no articles of clothing from work without laundering them first. I wash my hands if I've handled money before driving to prison.
I've been pointed out at airports by dogs, but their handlers questioned me briefly and moved on. Apparently the dogs consider fruit to be contraband, and I don't even have to open my suitcase.

Re: General existing world immigration/border notes

Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 7:54 am
by Josh
Joy wrote:From what I hear via the grapevine, "these guys"--the cute doggies sniffing for drugs --don't have that good a record for accuracy. One of the last times I went to prison, the lady in front of me in the visitation line was accused by the drug dog as having drugs. He faced away from her, cutting one furtive glance at her, looking a bit guilty as he did so. :) The woman was questioned interminably (the whole line had to wait on this), and then strip/body cavity searched, and finally brought out for more questioning. She said she worked at a bank, so the conclusion was that she should wear no articles of clothing from work without laundering them first. I wash my hands if I've handled money before driving to prison.
I've been pointed out at airports by dogs, but their handlers questioned me briefly and moved on. Apparently the dogs consider fruit to be contraband, and I don't even have to open my suitcase.
According to some good sources, dogs are wrong as much as 84% of the time. Essentially, they respond to cues from their handlers when to alert. See http://reason.com/blog/2013/02/27/how-e ... ics-detect

They can work well in some specific situations, like sniffing packages or suitcases in airports, where they respond less to cues from their handlers about suspicion of a particular person. Dogs used by the police to search cars for drugs are notoriously unreliable.

Re: General existing world immigration/border notes

Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 7:55 am
by Josh
Judas Maccabeus wrote:\U.S. Customs and Border enforcement is not about money these days. It is about terrorism, drugs and agricultural pests.
Indeed, the #1 enforcement priority in Australia is keeping out plant and animal diseases and pests. It's also something that a lot of people flagrantly violate. I personally don't understand why someone would travel with a suitcase full of meat and seeds that aren't allowed in the country, but people do so every day.

Re: General existing world immigration/border notes

Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 8:34 am
by appleman2006
Probably mostly true but try taking more than your allotted goods across and you will find out real soon that money still plays a factor.

Re: General existing world immigration/border notes

Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 7:32 pm
by Judas Maccabeus
Joy wrote:From what I hear via the grapevine, "these guys"--the cute doggies sniffing for drugs --don't have that good a record for accuracy. One of the last times I went to prison, the lady in front of me in the visitation line was accused by the drug dog as having drugs. He faced away from her, cutting one furtive glance at her, looking a bit guilty as he did so. :) The woman was questioned interminably (the whole line had to wait on this), and then strip/body cavity searched, and finally brought out for more questioning. She said she worked at a bank, so the conclusion was that she should wear no articles of clothing from work without laundering them first. I wash my hands if I've handled money before driving to prison.
I've been pointed out at airports by dogs, but their handlers questioned me briefly and moved on. Apparently the dogs consider fruit to be contraband, and I don't even have to open my suitcase.
Actually if you see a beagle, it is not drugs they are looking for, these guys are exclusively trained to sniff out agricultural and food contraband. If you are coming into the states from abroad, fruit IS contraband. These guys are at my local airport, and they seem to be good. In the customs line they hit one with fruit, and a guy carrying bushmeat, with the hair still on it!

They sometimes wear a little green jacket saying "protecting america's agriculture." Google "Beagle Brigade " if you are interested.

Drug dogs are another story, so I am told.

J.M.

Re: General existing world immigration/border notes

Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 7:45 pm
by Judas Maccabeus
appleman2006 wrote:Probably mostly true but try taking more than your allotted goods across and you will find out real soon that money still plays a factor.
With duty rates as low as they are, and the exemption so high, it amazes me why anyone would try to smuggle stuff. Last time I tried to pay, I was informed that my overage would attract a 5% rate, and much of it was exempt because it was made in a country we have a free trade agreement with(Jordan). When the amount to collect got down to below 5$, he said, they really don't fool with this small of amounts, so just go......

Cigarets Cigars and Alcohol have an excise tax, on top of duty, and a much lower limit, so that is where you are more likely to get them interested. If you are out only a short time, that might get them interested too. If you are lying, that gets them interested real fast. I list things down to the euro, with receipts in hand. I have never actually had problems with the customs side of things. Security is another story.....

I remember when the duty on camera gear from Germany was 30%. One Carl Zeiss lens ate up the whole exemption and than some. Glad I had the paperwork on that one.

J.M.

Re: General existing world immigration/border notes

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 4:13 am
by Joy
Judas Maccabeus wrote:
Actually if you see a beagle, it is not drugs they are looking for, these guys are exclusively trained to sniff out agricultural and food contraband. If you are coming into the states from abroad, fruit IS contraband. These guys are at my local airport, and they seem to be good. In the customs line they hit one with fruit, and a guy carrying bushmeat, with the hair still on it!

They sometimes wear a little green jacket saying "protecting america's agriculture." Google "Beagle Brigade " if you are interested.

Drug dogs are another story, so I am told.

J.M.
Okay, I must have been on a domestic trip; it was years ago, and airports tend to blur together. But I was about to leave Johannesburg or Cape Town once, and was told to chuck my liquids even though it was bought in the airport. So I stood there and drank three bottles of water and one of juice--the latter could have gotten me in trouble, yikes. Of course I paid for it later, since there was a long holdup in the line, and I had to leave precipitously. :shock:

But countries and prisons have to be careful, so I don't object to their procedures.

Re: General existing world immigration/border notes

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 8:53 am
by temporal1
Interesting personal accounts.
i'll have to think to revisit, in the event international travel ever again looms before me.

State Borders:
even decades ago, California had agricultural "check points" at their borders, i presume they remain (??) i'm not sure if other states have these (??) i have sat in hot dusty cars on the desert, waiting in line to be approved for entry.
https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/plant/pe/Exteri ... rders.html

Speaking from a science pov, it's interesting to think about the care taken at international (and some state borders) regarding plant+animal disease, compared with current politically-incorrect views of screening for human disease. of course, illegal entry ignores all of it.

Some diseases are established as requiring vaccinations-with-documentation (example: yellow fever.) Human reasoning is faulty. medical scientists have been predicting an impending world-wide pandemic for years, saying it's inevitable, but, the exact source is unpredictable.

Mexico - Federales
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federales
years ago, we traveled just a little in Northern Mexico, were shocked to see men armed with high-powered rifles here+there, they often dressed+behaved "casually." they could appear from "out of nowhere" on desert roads, stop+search as they chose .. rather unnerving.

being young, and obviously "not of wealth," we had no problems traveling .. only some petty theft, over pricing at pharmacies, etc., but, we witnessed "obviously wealthy" U.S. citizens hassled and searched in about every way imaginable. we really could not discern Federales from (bandits?) they appeared to work in unison.

from that experience we decided (Madison Avenue/hollywood) does a deliberate+terrible injustice to U.S. citizens, painting a continual picture of "easy" freedom, bikinis+glamour .. never mentioning how truly conservative Mexico is (outside designated resort areas) .. and how+why this should be understood+respected.

this lapse of honesty/education often results in U.S. citizens appearing (and behaving) foolishly abroad. not confined to Mexico, just one example we witnessed in real life.

Re: General existing world immigration/border notes

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 11:57 am
by silentreader
Just in the past week or so an Ontario pastor and his wife were heading to MBS where he was to serve as third term principal. They were turned back at the border. They went home, and the MBS board hired a lawyer to get them better paperwork. With new paperwork in hand, they went back to the border several days later and were turned back again.

Re: General existing world immigration/border notes

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 12:22 pm
by Bootstrap
silentreader wrote:Just in the past week or so an Ontario pastor and his wife were heading to MBS where he was to serve as third term principal. They were turned back at the border. They went home, and the MBS board hired a lawyer to get them better paperwork. With new paperwork in hand, they went back to the border several days later and were turned back again.
Can you say more? Why were they turned away?