I don't exactly know why I feel so violated inside, but the sensation in the pit of my stomach is real. Without a doubt, my wife made a mistake by forgetting her green card at our home in Massachusetts when we went to Montreal this past weekend. Even so, our experience returning to the U.S. through the Vermont Highgate Springs border crossing was a miserable and disheartening experience. Our crossing experience has left her feeling unwelcome and has me wondering why we are choosing to live in the U.S. To me, our experience at the border is a symbol of all that is wrong with Homeland Security and the government's pretended actions to keep our borders "secure". While the criminals that run this country are left alone to steal and destroy our nation, the citizens are intimidated and controlled ad nauseam.
I am a third generation citizen of the U.S. and my wife was born in Montreal Canada. We have been married for almost eight years and we have applied for every legally required visa, entry permit, marriage permission, advanced parole, and permanent residency application needed for us to be in the U.S. together. After many years of very expensive applications, continuations, and work permits, my wife was finally granted her permanent residency "Green Card" last February.
As stated earlier, my wife forgot her green card on a weekend trip to Montreal to visit her family, but she had in her possession a valid Canadian passport with U.S. visa stamps and a Massachusetts state driver's license. We cross the border several times a year at the same place, our car is photographed each time we pass through, the border guards have pulled us over before and searched every inch of our car and luggage, and the Homeland Security System computers have all of our information in their databases. So, we thought we would have to stop at the border, explain the forgotten green card, show our ID's, and then be on out way with perhaps a minor delay. Unfortunately, nothing could have been further than the truth.
After being called inside the crossing station, we were treated rudely. The impolite border officer found my wife's record on their computer system, but if she wanted to return home she had to pay a fine of $265.00. The following is a letter that she has sent to our U.S. Senators and our Representative.
February 21, 2006
Congressman John W. Olver
57 Suffolk Street, Suite 310
Holyoke, MA 01040
Dear Congressman Olver,
On November 30, 1999, you kindly responded to me following a letter that I had sent to you on November 23, 1999. At that time, I was concerned about my immigration process.
I was born in Montreal, Canada in 1960. I moved to Minnesota at two weeks of age and was then issued a Green Card. We returned to Montreal in 1965, so my Green Card then became obsolete. My maternal grandmother, Theresa O'Dwyer, an American citizen, died giving birth to my mother in Canada in 1937. In 1998, I married an American citizen. The first thing we did on our honeymoon was to go to Boston to apply for the required "Advanced Parole". Despite many frustrations and delays, I have followed every rule, paid every fee, numerous times, as required by INS and now Homeland Security. In fact, although they had told me that it could take up to three years to receive my Green Card, INS insisted on renewing my "Advanced Parole" for only a few months at a time, which meant several hundreds of dollars in renewal fees each time. I had been informed that these fees could have been circumvented by placing a certain stamp in my passport.
I was finally issued my green card in 2005, six years later, with a retroactive date to 2000, which came by regular mail (!) attached to a 3-ply card. Since then, I have traveled dozens of times to Canada, with or without my husband, with my valid Canadian passport and my Green Card.
Yesterday, February 20th, 2006, I came to reenter my home country from visiting my family in Canada. I had gone to Canada on February 18th, Saturday, to attend my baby sister's fortieth birthday. Upon reentering two days later, I suddenly realized that I had forgotten my Green Card in my nightstand at home in Mass. I only had my valid Canadian passport with me. I had left my Green Card home for safekeeping, concerned about the potential for losing it when I had attended the Yankee Dental Congress in Boston, January 28th and 29th, 2006. I had forgotten to place the card back in my wallet when I returned home from Boston.
I explained this to the gate officer who kept my passport and asked me to "park under the canopee and come inside". While I understand the need for verification, I was not prepared for what happened next. After several minutes, a young man, Officer White ( he refused to identify himself when my husband inquired as to his full name, stating that he was not required to do so), came to sit at a chair, holding my passport, and asked me why I didn't have my Green Card. When I explained he replied: "And... you didn't think to bring it with you?" Of course, I was upset enough with myself and opted not to explain to this young man the travesties of memory that happen at menopause...
A female co-worker then said:" There's a fine for that. $125." Another female worker said:"No, it's $265." Officer White proceeded to write in the computer, swipe my passport through an electronic reader and asked me questions about my parents' names. He left and came back a few times, typed some more, and then asked my husband: "Out of curiosity, did you present a passport at entry?" My husband gave him his valid U.S. passport; he barely looked at it and handed it back.
After nearly an entire hour of his looking at the screen, entering things, leaving, returning to the counter, he finally announced:" The waiver for not having your card with you is $265." He did not know if I could pay by check. He left to find out. If I did not pay, I could not come home. And then, he proceeded to take my fingerprints electronically (Immigration has more sets of fingerprints from me than most criminals have in this country), over one minute for each finger (both indexes) - the machine was "being testy" - and took my picture in front of other "detainees" awaiting inspection.
Meanwhile, I was hearing a young Canadian woman trying to renew a visa while she was working toward licensing. All she had to pay was $56. I have been a lawful resident of this country since 1998 and a permanent resident since 2000. I have literally payed over a hundred thousand dollars of taxes since DAY 1 in this country. I now work as a practicing dentist in Westfield, in a practice that took me years to find, which upholds the values of professionalism, integrity and compassion in which I believe. I have the privilege of serving a wonderful community including many military families and soldiers who have returned from the mess of Iraq.
I am aware that these brave men and women have been left hung out to dry, and that my taxes have not gone to pay for their body armor and their safety, but to war profiteers who have "lost" billions of dollars.
Congressman Olver, I was not explained what Officer White was looking at, typing, justifying on his computer about me and my life for nearly an hour. He had not the courtesy to introduce himself and explain to me what he was reading and collecting. I know they must have the list of all my lawful exits and entries. I was not explained why I was fingerprinted and photographed in public. I am sick and tired of being treated as a criminal when we all know that the biggest criminals in this country are those individuals who have disgraced the offices of the Presidency and Vice-Presidency of this country and their friends, and who have bankrupted this country in more ways than one, bent on their quest for power and self-aggrandizement.
If I sound angry, Congressman Olver, I am. I am outraged. My husband gave a lot of money to the Democratic Party for the last elections and it seems that even the Democrats are refusing to reclaim this country and expose the corruption. I realize that this overkill maneuver to which I was subjected, is nothing compared to the many injustices perpetrated by this administration. However, I cannot help to become increasingly concerned that no one seems to care that the latest rule of the land, when probing into the motivations behind corporate behavior, white house behavior, has become: "just because we can (...get away with it...)".
In my little insignificant contribution to this country, Congressman Olver, I now am left wondering what this fingerprinting means. Is this a "black mark"? (By the way, my phone calls are being listened to; my parents and friends hear intermittent echoes and I hear clicking). How does this impact my application for citizenship? Nowhere in any document from the INS or Homeland Security, which I have read in great detail, does it state that there is a fine or penalty for not having this card on my person.
How did this help the country be safer, when terrorists can fake identifications or come in legally? I know that the United States of America is in debt, that China holds our economy in their banks, that the government makes servicemen pay for lodging and food while on transit to their departure point and that it has made a soldier pay for his bullet proof vest after it was removed from his body when he fell injured. Meanwhile "contractors", given money to rebuild Iraq, buy cars, planes and sexual favors.
So I can understand this administration's need for every penny it can extort from us commoners. Congressman Olver, if I had been informed that it was unlawful for me to be ambulatory in this country without my green card on my person under penalty of a fine, you can be assured that I would have carried it every second, even to the convenience store.
My husband plans on calling to speak with a supervisor in St-Albans, Vermont, to see if this fee was arbitrary. While we both understand verification can be justified and necessary, this exercise was useless and only served to extort hard earned money from honest people. Unlawful residents have access to medical care and education. I can empathize with people who are willing to even risk their life for a decent life yet, at which point does a law-abiding, productive, dedicated member of this society, who came into this Country well-educated, who has paid her way at every step, who is a descendant of American citizens, who is married to an American citizen, who is serving this country, stop being a suspect? I do not feel respected or welcomed here. How, Congressman Olver, was this extortion necessary under these conditions?
I thank you sir, for taking the time to encounter my outrage. I hope that common sense still exists in this country. As I just heard Senator Feingold say on television on a Real Time repeat, I come from a place where honesty is still a good thing. I am truly worried about what is happening to us as a Nation.
Sincerely,
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, DDS
P.S. I have so far refused to apply for citizenship because when I stand in the room to pledge allegiance, I wish for the President's picture on the wall to be one of a man who can honor the responsibility and charge of that distinguished Office. The Democratic Party has "a heck of a job" to do.
I now know that we were in the wrong not to have the green card when we returned to the U.S., but somehow common sense, decency, and logic were not applied to our case. The feeling in my stomach is one of powerlessness...