.....well sort of, depending on what you make of the article.
-Mike
link:
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/
PEstory/TGAM/20021106/UHASSXE/Headlines/headdex/
headdexNational_temp/1/1/27/
Woman tells of humiliation by U.S. officials
American officers preclearing visitors in Vancouver
intimidating, says Iranian Canadian
By VICTOR MALAREK
Wednesday, November 6, 2002 Page A7
A Canadian woman questioned by U.S. immigration officers at the
preclearance area of Vancouver International Airport over the
weekend says she is worried about personal information entered into
a computer database.
Behnaz Tehrani-Ami, a research consultant, was on her way to
Orlando, Fla., with her husband to attend an international
neuroscience conference when U.S. officials noticed that her
Canadian passport says she was born in Iran.
Yesterday, Ms. Tehrani-Ami described her treatment from that point
on as "humiliating" and "intimidating."
Ms. Tehrani-Ami said she was escorted into an office where a female
customs officer accosted her with a barrage of questions.
"She asked me questions about my ties to Iran: 'When did you come to
Canada; when had you last been back to Iran; why did you go there;
do you have family there; do you hold an Iranian passport; do you
plan to visit there in the future?' et cetera.
"She proceeded to tell me about the procedures a person like myself
has to go through before entering the U.S. They would have to
register me, meaning they have to conduct another interview,
fingerprint and photograph me. I was told that subsequent to this
registration process, if I were admitted to the U.S., I could only
leave the U.S. through designated exit ports, and if I were to stay
more than 30 days or travel within the U.S., I would have to report
to an official."
Ms. Tehrani-Ami, who came to Canada in 1988, became a Canadian in
1991 and married a Canadian this year, told the officer that she and
her husband decided against travelling to the United States if it
means being subjected to this procedure.
Instead of being allowed to leave, they were sent to a waiting room.
Several minutes later, a male customs officer called Ms. Tehrani-Ami
into the office and asked more questions, entering the information
into the U.S. national-security entry-exit registration-system
computer database.
The female customs officer made a photocopy of her passport.
"She proceeded to tell me that if I chose not to comply with their
registration process, the next time I attempted to enter the U.S., I
could be denied entry. I replied that I am a Canadian citizen and
that, as our government had stated just two days earlier, all
Canadian citizens are to be treated equally regardless of their
place of birth," Ms. Tehrani-Ami said.
She said she and her husband decided to travel to the United States
after Bill Graham, Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister, said on
Thursday that visitors carrying Canadian passports would be treated
as Canadians regardless of where they were born.
In the House of Commons, Mr. Graham said U.S. authorities had
promised that they would no longer fingerprint, photograph and
register Canadian visitors simply because they were born in one of
the five predominantly Muslim countries on an antiterrorist target
list.
Ms. Tehrani-Ami said that when she indicated she no longer wanted to
enter the United States, the female officer told her she still had
to go through the registration. "She proceeded to intimidate me by
telling me that only people who have something to hide don't want to
be fingerprinted."
Ms. Tehrani-Ami said she refused to go through the registration
procedure on principle. "I broke down. It was really scary. I'm not
a criminal, and I was being treated like one."
Her refusal to continue was followed by an argument about whether
she and her husband were technically in Canada or the United States.
"She [the U.S. immigration officer] kept insisting that we were in
the U.S. My husband repeatedly asked, 'Are we not in a preclearance
facility?' and therefore still considered to be on Canadian soil. We
were never given an answer."
Reynald Doiron, a spokesman at the Foreign Affairs Department, said
the U.S. preclearance areas at Canada's international airports are
on Canadian soil, and people who decide not to board a U.S.-bound
flight have the right to leave unhindered.
What worries Ms. Tehrani-Ami is the information entered into the
computer. "It's frightening. I don't know what exists in that
database about me." She said she contacted Foreign Affairs on Monday
and has yet to hear back.
Mr. Doiron said Foreign Affairs will ask U.S. authorities if they
intend to delete the information from the database.
Jorge Martinez, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice, said
yesterday that place of birth will not automatically trigger a
registration, and that a referral by a U.S. immigration officer is
discretionary.
Asked what the criteria are, Mr. Martinez replied: "This criteria
was developed from intelligence reports and is classified. So I have
no comment on how we developed it."
A U.S. embassy spokeswoman in Ottawa said she will try to find out
what happened and respond today.
George Radwanski, Canada's Privacy Commissioner, sent a letter
yesterday to the Foreign Affairs Minister questioning why place of
birth is included on passports.
"It appears to me that this constitutes an unjustified and
unnecessary disclosure by the govern-ment of Canada of personal
information about individuals to anyone who has occasion to see
their passports," Mr. Radwanski said.
Mr. Radwanski said that although inclusion of this information
serves no readily apparent or defensible purpose, "recent events
have shown that this practice can have negative and unfair
consequences for individuals."