A Canadian woman was denied entry to the U.S. border because she didn’t have a valid immigrant visa.
Manpreet Kooner, 30, was born in Canada to Indian parents and raised as a Canadian citizen. Now she lives in Montreal with her fiancé.
On Sunday, March 5, she attempted to cross the border into the U.S. with two friends in order to visit a spa in Vermont. Kooner said that border agents held detained her for six hours before denying her entry.
President trump’s earlier executive order to ban travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries, which was blocked by U.S.
courts, has lead to confusion around the world. Now Trump has signed a new executive order banning only six Muslim-majority countries; an apparent update of the previous order with the exception of Iraq.
Manpreet said that the border agents didn’t want to speak to her friends, who were white, they just wanted to single her out.
She was told to go to the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa and apply for a visa. Unfortunately, after visiting the Embassy on Monday morning, she was told that it was “odd that she was asked to do that” and that they could not help her. She was then referred back to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
“I’m speechless, scrutinised,” Kooner said.
“There are no answers.”
Detained and questioned about religious views
This is just the latest story of Canadian scrutinised at the border by U.S. border agents.
Last month one woman was detained, fingerprinted and asked questions about her religion, her views on Trump and eventually denied entry because of videos on her phone which were “against us.”
Manpreet also said that this was not the first time she had had problems at the border.
In December last year, she and group of friends were pulled over for a “random check”, but because of a computer fault she would have to come back the next morning. When she returned, she was granted entry without incident.
However, on Sunday the agent brought up the incident in December and demanded to know why she was trying to re-enter the U.S.
While the agents could not tell her what kind of visa she would need, and admitted there were no flags on her file, they still warned her not to fly to any U.S. airports without a visa, Kooner said.
Generally, only Canadians who want to immigrate or intend on getting married to a U.S. citizen, need visas for entry.
However, perhaps the saddest part of this story is that Kooner has spent over $1000 on a trip to Miami for a music festival and her bachelorette party.
She will now have to cancel the trip altogether as she said she feels sick thinking about having to cross the border again; she feels helpless and doesn't know what she needs to do.
#Trump #Canada #Visa
