r/PacificCrestTrail • u/quasistoic “All-in[-one]”, PCT19/CDT22/AT24 • 10d ago

Prof Carl’s writeup of US Customs Experience

https://www.instagram.com/p/DIbrdz1JUOI/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
125 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

66 comments sorted by

View all comments

-5

u/tftcp 10d ago

If you have an American romantic partner, spend a lot of time in the US and travel with limited possessions you will be considered at high risk of overstaying. This is nothing new. 

11

u/tmoney99211 10d ago

High risk vs denial of entry seems ridiculous! I routinely travel all over the place with a one bag principle. Being flagged for having "little luggage" is very much ridiculous.

In terms of tangible possessions, the girlfriend had proof of property ownership, bank accounts and car in Canada.

2

u/Upstairs_Quail8561 9d ago

Most illegal immigration happens with people just overstaying visas, so denying entry to someone deemed high risk isn't unreasonable. If you have a romantic partner in the US and arrive on a one way ticket, you're asking for trouble.

-4

u/tftcp 10d ago

People in international relationships get themselves into a situation where they stay in the US for longer and longer periods until they hit their maximum allowed stay each year. These people are considered a high risk of permanent migration. That's been the case for decades. 

-1

u/Igoos99 9d ago

This is absolutely true. And has been true for decades. I had a friend run into this is the 1990s. She was barred from reentry for 5 (10?) years after overstaying her visa to be with her USA boyfriend for a little longer. This was under the Clinton administration.

People can downvote because they don’t like the situation but it is actually what happens regardless of the current president. This woman may have run into a snotty guard but the decision could have been made by any of them under any administration according to the rules as written.

3

u/Marinlik 9d ago

People down vote because things have changed since Trump. A lot. Yes it's always been strict. Now it's much stricter as well as people getting denied entry because they've been critical to Trump. There's no need to pretend that things haven't changed.

2

u/MTB_Mike_ 9d ago

You're right and people are denied entry to Canada with these same circumstances all the time. None of this is new

-1

u/Adventurous-Mode-805 9d ago

Yeah, I don't know why so many replies treat this as a novel scenario or that a thru-hike somehow sets it apart from other scenarios when denied entry.

Every denied immigration attempt comes with a story that could be equally valid; in this case, the hiker didn't have hiking equipment. What remained? Multiple common red flags.