Thursday, August 02, 2007  
More on Jay Stephens and Border Hassles for Cartoonists

:: Posted by Bryan @ 8/02/2007 02:17:00 AM
More details about Jay Stephens story of being turned back at the U.S border first mentioned here. The Guelph Mercury has an update and some quotes from Stephens and someone from the U.S. Border Services:

Stephens drove home that day feeling like he had a target on his back.

"But since then I've heard dozens of stories of Canadian professionals who have travelled for years without a problem then (were) suddenly harassed in the same manner before being turned away."

The immigration lawyer told him Homeland Security answers to no one.

"He said a flag on your passport from Homeland Security is permanent. The guards are told to be extra, extra careful. I wonder if I caught the border guard on a bad day."

He says it didn't bother him that much, but it upset his family.

"My kids told all their friends that we'd be moving to L.A. for the summer and I had to say, 'Sorry kids, daddy's illegal now so we're not going anymore.' Although, this show is making thousands of Americans rich, it hardly seems fair that I can't even go into the U.S."

Porchlight Entertainment and the Cartoon Network were expecting him to be there and he said it was pretty humiliating when he couldn't go.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Brad Mackay said...

Uhm, it kind of sounds like Stephens is to blame here. I mean, he admitted he needed a work visa and didn't have one, and shoudln't have listened to the animation company. I know people who go back and forth for work in the US all the time, and if you don;t have a work vis a you DO NOT telll them you're crossing the border to go work.
Just saying is all....

Thursday, August 2, 2007 12:04:00 PM EDT  
Blogger BadTux said...

Uhm, NAFTA visas are *supposed* to be issued at the border by showing the border agent the letter that Jay showed them. You're not supposed to need to jump through hoops, the NAFTA treaty says that the visa is supposed to be issued at the border. Previously you showed up at the border, the agent looked at your letter, made a phone call to verify the info on the letter, stamped your passport with the visa, and that was that. You didn't need to jump through hoops, it just happened. And BTW, business travel in a supervisory position is a valid NAFTA category. NAFTA says the visa is supposed to be issued at the border if you have a valid letter.

But hey, this is the U S of A, we don't need to abide by agreements we sign, we only need to demand that other people hold up their end. And people wonder why the U.S. has such a shitty reputation in the world? We don't keep our promises! (Which is what a treaty is -- we promise to give country X some goodies if country X in turn gives us some goodies).

Thursday, August 2, 2007 10:06:00 PM EDT  

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