Canadian customs officers could soon be based in U.S. for the first time 

As they say, the US has had border pre-entry in Canada here for years, and I, for one, am grateful. There was one time I was denied entry to the US due to a mix up in address for the hotel I was going to stay at. Imagine if that had happened after I had landed in Minneapolis or Las Vegas?

There are US customs guards in Victoria for the ferry crossing to Port Angeles. They have been for years.

Well, I think that would be fine. Countries are coming close to each other. I went through US customs in Vancouver, and the officer was super nice. Before the EU was formed, I was on a train from Bruxelles to Paris and there were 4 groups of officers checking passengers, immigration teams from France and Belgium, and another two teams of customs from both countries.

For years I went through pre-clearance US checks on Canadian soil travelling to the US. Some use intimidation, some are professional, it's like flipping a coin who you will get regardless of having your papers in order, etc. So this isn't news on the Canadian side. Now, proposed, Canadian customs on US side sounds fair to me, if that implies better screening of those coming into Canada from the US. What is confusing is the part that illegals will have to report to the point of entry. So, no screening for them to speed things up? Or double screening to slow things down to weed out the criminal types?

Since when are immigrant “rights” superseding Canadian rights?

If the current process is working, why the change? Cost cutting? More integrated intelligence? What is the benefits?

They need to do this in Akwesasne, ON with the unique border crossing. This would solve so many issues for residence of Cornwall Island who have to go through CBSA daily even though they have never left Canada.

Why? What is the point of this? If the system in place is, supposedly, already working why this move to change it?

Housing so expensive we send our Border agents to the US now. Bahaha!

Why is this happening? Why now? Why is our current process not working? These questions need to be answered before proceeding

The U.S. customs officer is merely a diplomatic walmart greeter for canuck shoppers

What this didn't tell me are what is the list of advantages in doing this at all?

Of course, it's complicated. Canada does everything complicated.

What is the purpose and advantage for doing this change?

Opens up a can of worms, sets precedent for other things in the future.

Making it harder for refugee claimants would be very good. They are supposed to make their claim in the first safe country they reach, not travel through multiple countries to reach the one that provides the most benefits.

Why do we need to complicate things by involving americans? Lets keep it the way it is. Why must we always chase americans approval?

So if we just ilegally run thru a hole in the fence at Roxham Road can we walk straight into the States ? Asking for 38 million Taxpayers and immigrants who have come here fleeing war, and thru legal means.

lets just grow up and have a proper Schengen-style agreement between Canada and the US. It's so nice when I'm overseas and driving between Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, none of these silly and childish border issues. Yet when I'm at home in Winnipeg I can't even pop down to Grand Forks without getting an interogation.

As a Dual Citizen of the US and Canada this scares me because if the US had a draft and I wanted to go back to Canada if Pre-Clearance is based in the US Side, hypothetically would the CBSA be forced to turn me over even-tough I've got a Canadian Passport?

There are a couple of locations where Canadian Officials are posted at United States facilities on the border, but particularly for the NEXUS program (ie. the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit). Canada has a cubicle next to the United States officers in order to conduct separate interviews for the joint program.

So long as we don’t complicate simple travel.

its a really bad idea

US custom officers have already been based in Canada working at Toronto Pearson Airport.

I've cleared U.S. customs in Vancouver, Toronto, and Dublin Ireland's airports and also at the Vancouver Cruise Terminal. The world didn't end. I see no reason it can't work the other direction.

Whats the point ? …. Seems like a huge waste of time

Is it me or is the lady in red not able to articulate what is actually being changed and what is significant about it because I can't see the significance.

This is a total scam.. THIS IS A SCAM. You should not be in American soil when trying to goto customs . This is a mess

Basically making it impossible for refugee claims to be made unless they clear custom and got into Canada. Successful elimination of 80% of refugee claims.

Why not have the Canadian border agents on the US side of Roxham Rd first. 🎉

Great. So now we need to get clearance to leave Canada. This is unpleasant.

United States border guards have been in certain Canadian airports for quite some time. I’ve seen this in Toronto and Montreal. It’s called “customs pre clearance.” The United States also has border guards in Dublin, Ireland.

I agree, this seems like trying to fix something that isnt broken. I live in a border town that is very busy in summer, sometimes up to 5hrs or more to get into the u.s. if this happens here i do hope they will build a huge multilane crossing, more than 3 lanes per side. Ive slways thought there should be local and commercial lanes because of long wait times during peak travel.

just leave it as it is, If its not broken, dont fix it!. Stu,pid

At the airports it makes sense, at the land border not at all.. they call it preclearance but in reality it would be the same thing, but before the physical dividing border line.. so its a lot of fance words and terminology to say they’ll be in the same building.

I went to Arizona in November and there were US Customs at Toronto Airport

so now will we need permission to leave canada that is probably the real point of this

They will still need to keep existing workers at airports because only travellers from US would be pre screened. This will cost us a lot of money for little convenience.

Unless the Canadian guards are located at the US southern border, their impact will be minimal.

Another dumb move by the gov whens it gunna end 🤦‍♂️

Why? This just seems like a way to throw a bunch of uncertainty and red tape into an area already full of it.

I recently flew back from Toronto to Newark, NJ. US customs inspectors were in the Toronto airport, so no need to clear customs at the busy Newark international arrivals.

Cannot see the reason for it?

Huge no..

It’s a ridiculous idea, it just confuses authorities and rights at borders. 👎

Canada - US should have like a EU Schengen equivalent.

Is new border plan a DMZ (De-Militarized Zone)?

Canada should have pre-clearance customs in Los Angeles, San Francisco Honolulu, Seattle, Denver, Minneapolis, Detroit, Washington, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Phoenix, Houston and Orlando. This would help shorten the customs clearance arrival lines in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary, enabling seamless connections to connecting cities like Kelowna, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Quebec City, Moncton and Halifax.

It's not that complicated a process. US CBP officers have been in many Canadian airports for decades. A land border crossing is not much different.

Why?

Well done, it’s a tactical move to stop the flood of refugees to Quebec. Also not any criminal from US side can come in and seek a refuge in Canada.

will free tampons be available at these facilities for men?

Just what we need! Complicate life and allow Americans to take over because they will! We need our own autonomy!

What's the point? I don't get it.

The US and Canada are probably the closest allies in the world. I think this makes a lot of sense, and will probably speed things up, make things easier. I imagine, US and Canadian officers will have reciprocate agreements when officers from the US are in Canada and vis versa. That is, allowed to carry, use weapons and make arrests.

Sounds like what they do in Dublín Ireland airport 🤔 For pre clearence as well.

"Border guards" why do you have to be so disrespectful and condescending ladies? Can't you just call them Custom officers or Border Agents, or border officers? How are these women speaking on TV still?

They should test this concept between Hyder and Stewart to get everything sorted out before attempting it at Blaine or Niagara Falls.

Will CBSA Employees need a work permit since they are working outside of Canada?

YYZ airport has American customs officers in the terminals and has banned some Canadians entry into the US because of American laws.

This won't work. We are already having issues with NEXUS where cbp wants the right to bare arm in a Canadian NEXUS office and Canadian has said no to that. You are now talking about placing a CBP officer on Canadian soil. If the CBP officer fire his firearm for self defence on Canadian soil, what's going to happen. Does US law apply or Canadian law?

So now we need to be at the airport earlier. Personally I prefer going through Customs after returning home; now I have to worry about missing my flights coming back from the US.

What if sovereignty dispute occurs? How would it be handled? Are we giving up rights as Canadians to the Americans?

years ago I wondered why the heck US customs officers had standing in Canadian airports. Now they want to subordinate Canadian customs officers in the US! This is foolheardy. I'm sure it will also slow everything down too and the Canadians will be governed by US law.

WHAT!! WHY HAVE NOT ALREADY BEEN DOING THIS!

I am still lost at what is the goal of this change.

We have UNQUALIFIED people who have never worked at the borders & doing the job for years, making these type of decisions. An immigration minister SHOULD BE a Canada Border Services Officer who has done this job for 20 to 35 years or more & know all the TRICKS people participate in to gain entry under false pretence!! A SUIT has NO IDEA what the job entails, that’s why we have Pro-Hamas protesting in this country & for the 1st time in history, our Jewish community doesn’t feel safe in this country!! Nobody feels safe!!

Will we educate the CBSA to be competent at their jobs?

And,what about forged Documents?Going to hold? Return to source or Send Elsewhere?Government Won't Be Allowed to Respond PERIOD

Not sure how this would speed things up...

They have been doing this at SFO forever. Too complex for the land border guards to wrap their little heads around, eh?

Cdn Officers were located on the US side of the border at International Falls MN for many years. Nothing new.

This seems only about as confusing as normal border crossings and doesn’t seem to solve much. Why not have preclearance in American airports, train stations, bus stations, etc.? Perhaps people on the overnight FlixBus from New York to Toronto could be precleared instead or they could find a small airport in the US that serves Canada.

FRANCE 🇫🇷 AND UK 🇬🇧 HAVE PRE- ENTRY BORDERS, LIKE THIS FOR YEARS.. I DONT SEEN NO BIG DEAL I'VE SEEN US IMMIGRATION IN IRELAND 🇮🇪 PRE- ENTRY ON US BOUND FLYING..

Just doesn’t make sense, why not impose the same kind of pre clearance for CBSA at U.S airports? That would surely benefit the Canadian bound travelers from the states.

I can understand airport or even ferry pre clearance but on the land border? That just seems like a totoal mess.

whats the point of doing this?

Pre-clearance has been in place for big trucks for decades.

Don't like. We're two separate, sovereign nations, with controlled borders and our own legal systems and laws; maintaining that separation is important.

Could we just hold off on moving anything south of the 49th until after the next US election maybe?

Ultimate goal is cost-cutting. Small crossings can be consolidated into a single building at each port.. There have been several pilot projects like these for a couple of decades, involving a single building smack dab on the line. Thre is one here between BC & Washington. They work fine. Since 99% of the back and forth is perfectly legit and NEXUS usage has increased this will be a good further lubricant. Sure, there will be hassles involving odd cases and undesirables but from a proper law enforcement perspective it will work better. What most Canadians (and Americans) don't realtize is that there has been very close coordination between the two countries' border services for many decades. Formally, there are regular cross-border meetings both at the local and national levels, there is day-to-day data sharing, and there is a vast network of informal exchanges involving activity within a region. This will corral all that into a single point. Sure, the civil liberty types will find reason to go bonkers but what they don't realize is that this has been going on pretty much since the 1920s. As for airport pre-clearance, again what most Canadians don't realize is that the treaty is fully reciprocal. Canada is perfectly welcome to set up shop at US airports. However, the nature of the air transport newtork makes it impractical. There are only about 12-15 Canadian airports with flights to the US, but they serve 40 -50 discrete US destinations, making it very expensive to locate that many CBSA stations. As for firearms, again that has become a non-issue. First of all, there has never been a prohibtion on Canadian officers bringing their weapons south . Having been to some cross-border meetings I've seen the surprise on a young Mountie's face when he handed his sidearm to a US customs agent to have it put into a locker and the American handing it right back to him with a chuckle. . There had long been sensistivty the other direction--mostly as a symbol of sovereignty, but that has been eased by the now long standing successful program of joint patrols by the two Coast Guards, as well as the more recent arming of the US pre-clear agents. Again, there have long been highly informal examples of cross-border patrols, particularly in protection of Canadian agents back before they were armed--there is a book to be written about that. With success thais can be expanded to encompass busier crossings. North America may never reach the level of Schengen but a more seamless flow of people and goods can only benefit both countries.

I don't like the idea of armed border agents from a corrupt country on U.S soil

Wow amazing

why not do away with US/Canadian immigration to back in the days of 1998. Otherwise leave the immigration the way it is.

As an American, why do we even have a border with Canada? I feel like a few cameras and maybe a toll booth to check IDs would be enough.

This seems pointless for land borders. Preclearance at airports makes sense since it streamlines the process at the destination airport, and is easier on those that are denied entry. At a land crossing you have to physically be at the border anyways... the only benefit I can see is that those that are denied entry won't have to go back through the other side's checkpoint to return... though that could be fixed with a simple agreement allowing an escort from the other side.

No, no, no, no. This is not a good idea. I don't want American border guards on Canadian soil, nor do I think Canadian border guards should be on American soil. There is no need for this. None at all.

if the US has pre-clearances in all major Canadian airports.. why not the other way around? "firearm" issue??? come on... it's America.. you shoot first and ask a question later..

Helping each other like Brothers.

Just making it easier for the Americans to send the overload of the Refugee Claimants to Canada ....

Oh wow this might be a game changer for our borders.

You guys have the right idea but maybe start off in the airports… having a Canadian pre-check in LGA, EWR, OR even DC would make a huge impact to your corporate clientele needing to reach Canada. This is coming from someone who works at a major Canadian airport. You already have us pre check in YYC, YUL, YVR, YYZ, and I believe YTZ and they’ve been successful for many years now.

This only makes sense to have CBSA in American airports Like the Americas do in Canada. That's it. There is zero point or advantage to having this at land crossings - JUST DRIVE THE EXTRA 50 FT TO THE ACTUAL BORDER CROSSING/BLDG.

Why why why????

Would they do that at the American airports? 5 in Texas, 7 in Florida? How many in California and Hawaii? It’s endless if you start doing it at the US airports.

Go through Pearson and US customs are already there.

Probably a good thing that this idea applies to only land crossings. Otherwise Canada would be wasting a lot of money building the customs buildings on both sides of the new Gordie Howe bridge between Detroit and Windsor. (For those unfamiliar, the Canadian government is fronting all of the money to build the project and will be paid back over time with money collected from both sides of the bridge.) Also, maybe this could simplify the process for Americans that live in Minnesota's Northwest Angle that have to cross into Canada to get to the rest of the US?

Keeping VEHICLES from standing on the BRIDGE...

so confusing... not proper explained

Honestly if the us and canada Unified their border and customs agencies, things would be so much easier