SUNDAY NOVEMBER 11 2007-REMEMBRANCE DAY

Photo is property of  Brian Howell - Surrey Leader Newspaper & Martin Rooney
(please do not use without permission)
 

November 11, 2007

HIV + & INS refusal of Entry to US –

My room mate and I left our house this morning at approx 9.30am for what was supposed to be a routine shopping trip to Bellingham Wa.

Remember I have been crossing the US and international borders for 20 years with no prior problem. I have never covered up my disability status, in fact I have a handicapped sticker in my car, visible at all time

After a 3 hr line up to at the Douglas Crossing we finally get to an INS booth.

The usual questions were asked then “where do you work?” I responded “on a disability pension from the Government of Canada” to which the INS officer replied – “what is your disability”?  My response as was once or twice before “HIV.” Officer Elliot pondered it a bit and then asked to see my waiver. “What waiver I asked?” – “No one ever told me I needed a waiver before.” He thought about it some more then advised me I needed one and to go inside and bring the orange paper with me.

( In fact about 6 months ago I was asked the same thing – the then officer (which I believed was him) went through his “black book”, and waived me through.)

He questioned me on this inside the offices and appeared quite surprised that this was the first time that I had declared my medical status. He implied that had I had declared this before then I would have been aware that I needed a waiver. I explained to him that upon my return to Canada the first time this occurred that Immigration Canada had never heard of such a thing and I called the US consulate and they did not mention anything about requiring said waiver. I also mentioned this to my HIV specialist and I was advised that there was no such need for one.

After a relatively long time another officer started to deal with our issue. He advised it would be a short time and he would come back to us.

The long and the short of it, was after 3 hours of waiting, during which we had to deal with the original “stopping” INS officer, I was advised that I need to get a waiver through the US consulate in Vancouver. They would give me a list of prescribed doctors that I could go to, and pending a report from one of those doctors being submitted to the US government, the problem would be solved.

Officer Elliott then asked me if I had “ever been jailed or incarcerated in the US”. My response was “no Sir.”

He then insisted that I be fingerprinted, photographed and run through some Federal fingerprinting files to corroborate my story.

 Finally after about 3 ½ hours we were given our passports and my driver’s license back, and told that we could return directly to Canada, and that I was not to try to re enter the US until the waiver had been received and the all clear given.

 Now my feelings on all this –

I have never felt so violated or victimized depending on the how one defines both of those words or feelings. With all the supposed terrorist threats out there I felt like I was a terrorist of sorts. It has left me numb, angry, distraught and with a record of having been refused entry to the US – something that is always on record. It has left me very unsure of how I feel towards the US, a country I have always admired and loved to visit.

No amount of explanation today can console me – I feel dirty, ashamed, and deeply saddened that such discrimination still exists and that I became a victim well now a survivor of it.

After all we were only going down there to shop!
 

TO WATCH GLOBAL BC TV INTERVIEW ON THIS ISSUE
Click Here
 

Click here for Martin Rooney on Facebook