U.S. border agents turned away Canadians headed to Women’s March

The plan was simple. Montrealer Sasha Dyck and some friends would drive to Washington to join the Women’s March. But when the six Canadians and two French nationals reached the border at Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle in Quebec, they ran into trouble.

U.S. border agents asked what they planned to do in the United States. “We said we were going to the Women’s March on Saturday and they said, ‘Well, you’re going to have to pull over,’” Dyck said. Agents then searched their car and examined their cellphones, Dyck said. Each member of the group was fingerprinted and had their pictures taken.

Finally, after two hours, the agents told Dyck and his friends to turn around. “They said, ‘You’re headed home today,’” Dyck said. Officials warned them that that they’d be arrested if they tried to cross at a different spot this weekend. “And that was it. They didn’t give a lot of justification.”

Other travellers reported similar struggles this weekend.

British national Joe Kroese and a Canadian were turned away from the same border crossing on Thursday as they travelled with two American friends.

Kroese, 23, was asked by an American border agent why he was travelling to the United States. He told guards that his friends planned to attend the Women’s March, though they hadn’t worked out all their plans yet. At that point, Kroese and the Canadian were fingerprinted, photographed and denied entry. Agents allegedly told them it was because they wanted to attend a “potentially violent rally,” according to Kroese.

Montreal resident Joseph Decunha said he was also turned away on Thursday. A border agent asked for his political views, Decunha told CBC. “The first thing he asked us point blank is, ‘Are you anti- or pro-Trump?’” he said.

He was then fingerprinted and photographed. The guards also asked why he disapproved of Trump, whether he’d ever visited the Middle East, and whether he believed in violence.