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Comment by cperciva | Hacker News Reader

I don't know the full story here, but there's more going on than the family is claiming. The first thing the American border guards tried to do when this family "accidentally" entered the USA was to return them to Canada, but Canadian border officials denied them re-entry: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/arti...

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The full article has a lot more details. Not buying the family's story at all that they just got lost. They had 16k in cash, were previously rejected from US entry, etc.

Not excusing the alleged conditions of their detainment, but from what's given in the article I see nothing amiss in how they were apprehended and scheduled for deportation.

They were also denied entry to the US on a prior occasion. Very strange indeed.

That's probably what contributed to the situation spiraling out of control. Once there is one denial, every other attempted entry is going to be scrutinized and questioned quite a bit more. Not that at all justifies their treatment.

> Vancouver when an animal ventured into the road, forcing them to make an unexpected detour.

> U.S. authorities disputed the family’s version of events, saying they were spotted via video surveillance “slowly and deliberately driving through a ditch onto Boundary Road in Lynden

Well if they were driving through a ditch it would have to be slow and deliberate, especially with a baby in car. I wonder if the same video surveillance saw this animal too. It would have to be a moose or a bear presumably. Wonder if they were following Google or Apple maps direction. Hopefully there is a big red warning there to not send people on detours via international borders.

> “Attempts were made to return the individuals to Canada, however, Canada refused to allow their return and two attempts to contact the United Kingdom consulate were unsuccessful,”

It's a bureaucratic hell. US authorities claim they tried to send them to Canada which refused to take them back. But also they tried to contact UK consulate, which also somehow didn't work. At the same time the family say they couldn't contact UK authorities. I think they wanted to be the ones making the call but were denied.

The biggest animal in that area would be a deer, or possibly an elk a looooong way from home. Either one would run away.

Moose don't live that far South, and the bears stay near the mountains, which are vary far away from Boundary road near Lynden. But of course non-locals wouldn't know this, so they wouldn't realize how preposterous it sounds when they spin their tale to the police.

What? I saw a moose standing in a pond in Idaho, south of the 49th parallel, and there are bears all over the Pacific northwest.

> Moose don't live that far South

There are meese all over the northern US, which is - last I checked - south of Canada. I encountered two (a mother and her calf) when hiking in the Tetons as a kid, and apparently there are a bunch in Northern Nevada.

Cow?

If CA won't let them back in, they are out of legal status in both the US and CA. There is no legal option except to send them back to their country of origin.

But why not. They were let in there to begin with? With a visa or some other border crossing procedure. I don’t see why they couldn’t take them in. Did they break Canadian law by crossing into US by accident, I don’t think they did.

and they were carrying $16,000 in cash?

Didn't know we criminalized cash.

You have to declare more than $10,000 IIRC when traveling over the border. When taken into account with all the other suspicious activity, it's worth a mention.

If that's per adult they're below the limit.

It's per family (residing in one household).

http://customsandinternationaltradelaw.com/2013/12/13/intern...

There were two families.

It would be (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/31/5316) in that amount, but that isn't my point.

The point is that the totality of their actions are not supporting their story very well.

Not that I agree with it, but cash definitely can be considered criminal in large amounts. Having a few hundred to a few thousand is enough to be arrested in the US, assuming you're not protected by celebrity.

We don't (and shouldn't), but I don't know of very many people who go on vacation with $16k of it. Like what the hell were they gonna spend that on? A pallet of novelty keychains?

Basically, yes?

actually over $10k without declaring it. But the point is that they were not tourists that got lost. Tourists carry credit cards and all. Why would they be carrying $16,000 (USD, unless it was the equivalent of it) if they're staying in CA?

It was supposedly Canadian money so I think that's less suspicious, than if they accidentally wandered into America with US dollars.

If you are going to some Apple Store, you need them, especially if you're looking for a Mac Pro

Why would you pay for a Mac Pro in cold hard cash?

has you ever asked yourself why those small-market/street-food owners drive a Mercedes AMG/Porsche? Do you think they paid using a Bank account?

On my daily routine I see plenty of people who magically drive luxury cars even with jobs that, on paper. would require probably ~50 years of more to accumulate the required amount of money to buy such a luxury.

Since I couldn’t reply to the guy who didn’t know we “criminalized cash”... $16,000 specifically is an issue because crossing the border with any amount of cash over $10k has to be disclosed. If you don’t, it’s considered like contraband.

No problem if you disclose and explain what it’s for, and in some cases can explain where it came from.

This is a basic money laundering protection policy almost every country I’ve gone through has similar.

Having read that, I'd agree with you.

The Daily Mail has more details. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7577113/Border-offi...

The Daily Mail is a tabloid and should never be cited.

This looks to be very much a tabloid story. It looks like The Sun and The New York Post had the story a day before the Washington Post.

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