Border static vexes many

U.S. still blocks land crossings, but permits flights from Canada

Many New Yorkers with ties across the Canadian border expressed increasing frustration after Homeland Security officials announced Friday that both northern and southern borders will maintain current restrictions for noncitizens, keeping most foreign nationals from entering the U.S. by land until at least Sept. 21.

For months, key U.S. lawmakers called on the Canadian government to change its border policies, which had previously blocked most American travelers from entering Canada by land or by air. But when Canada decided that vaccinated, Covid-tested American travelers could begin to visit starting Aug. 9, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the U.S. was following separate health guidance and had no “reciprocal intention.”

Devon Weber, a New York native

living in Canada, has pushed for the U.S. to open its border with Canada — or at least to create an exception for family members — for almost a year. She moved to Montreal with her then-fivemonth-old baby and Canadian husband in February 2020 and founded the Let Us Reunite campaign that October, channeling her background in legislative advocacy and politics.

Weber said that until Canada changed its policy this summer, the “prevailing narrative” had been that the border was closed due to the Canadian government.

“Obviously, now that we see that Canada is welcoming vaccinated Americans into their country with open arms, that doesn’t seem to be the case,” she said.

As news of the Canadian government’s decision spread, so did misinformation on who could cross in the other direction.

“Two of my very best friends contacted me when they saw the news about the border opening on Aug. 9 and said ‘Congratulations, you won your campaign,’ not realizing that this wasn’t a reciprocal opening,” Weber said.

On Twitter, where the Department of Homeland Security announced the new extension by U.S. authorities Friday morning, some responses reflected this confusion. Others echoed Weber’s frustration, with many tweets calling the move “ridiculous” and “stupid,” or citing Canada’s higher vaccination and lower transmission rates than its southern neighbor.

Some New York lawmakers have continued to make public statements urging officials to reopen the northern border, but DHS has not said when the government plans to stop renewing the temporary border closure by the 21st of each month — a pattern the agency has followed for nearly a year and a half.

Democratic Congressman Brian Higgins of Western New York, cochair of the Northern Border Caucus and the Canada-u.s. Interparliamentary Group, has been vocal on the issue.

“The failure to make opening the border the priority that it should be is a huge mistake,” Higgins said in a statement responding to the latest announcement. He called the move “beyond disappointing.”

DHS said its decision to extend restrictions at land and ferry crossings with Canada and Mexico that prevent any nonessential travel by foreign citizens aims “to minimize the spread of COVID-19, including the delta variant.”

The announcement comes at a moment when cases have been rising again in the Capital Region and across the country in spite of the mitigating effects of vaccines.

A tweet from Sydney Manton pushed back at the health-based logic.

“You can’t cite delta as a reason, then allow anyone from Canada to fly in but not drive,” Manton tweeted.

She then referred to a study of COVID positivity rates conducted by the Public Health Agency of Canada. Researchers found that in early 2021, air travelers had a positivity rate of 1.5 percent when tested upon arrival in Canada, while land travelers had a lower positivity rate, of only 0.3 percent.

Natalie Ward, another New Yorker married to a Canadian man, lives in Ottawa. Their home is only an hour by car from her family in Ogdensburg. But despite the short distance, it has proven too hard for her brother — who lives with both schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis — and her elderly parents to cross into Canada.

Meanwhile, her husband can’t travel with her to visit his American in-laws.

“The flying thing might work for some people, but ... a lot of those border communities, they’re pretty rural,” Ward said.

In order for her husband to visit the family, she said, it would take him a full day of air transit and about $800 Canadian for a one-way trip, not to mention any costs for COVID-19 testing.

“He would have to fly from Ottawa to Toronto, and then Toronto to Washington. And then he’d have a long layover, and then Washington to Ogdensburg,” Ward said. “And then even the time in the airport, that’s unnecessary exposure” to the virus.

Another vocal advocate for a change in policy, North Country Chamber of Commerce president Garry Douglas, said people in border communities used to cross frequently to see their friends or buy from their favorite stores.

Douglas told the Times Union he has noticed

some people are working around the current restrictions and finding ways to get from Canada to border communities in

the U.S., even with fewer travel options.

He has noticed a couple of charter flights a day landing at the Plattsburgh International Airport from a non-commercial air base outside of Montreal. Sometimes, commercial drivers are paid by passengers to haul their cars across.

“They may be spending a couple thousand dollars to get to the U.S. so they can get to their boat, or their summer home,” Douglas said. “We’re happy that at least some people are able to get here. But what (the policy is) really saying is, ‘OK — if you’re wealthy you can come.’”

In response to Friday’s news, Douglas said in a statement that “the longterm damage to the most special and integrated economic and social relationship on earth is growing week by week.”

Ward, the Ogdensburg native, said that the monthly announcements about the border closure keep getting more distressing.

“Last Christmas was really hard,” Ward said. “I hate the thought of holidays coming and having to choose again — you know, spend it with my family or with my husband.”

“

The long-term damage to the most special and integrated economic and social relationship on earth is growing week by week.”

North Country Chamber of Commerce President Garry Douglas