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Comment by chmod775 | Hacker News Reader

> How is that person supposed to know the guy didn't get off a bus (which stop there and people go inside the building) and is just saying something to get past them?

Yeah no. That's not how border crossings work at all.

It would be pretty embarrassing if people going in, going out, and those who are there to visit the customs office weren't kept separate.

But then I'm only assuming that border crossings in the US work the same way as border crossings elsewhere. Maybe they're a clown fiesta instead. Who knows.

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It was at the peace bridge which is a little weird, I've crossed there and had to go inside many many times. The building is quite small as well. If you look on the maps you can see it's not like there's a 'visitor' area, just an employee lot.

There's also a u-turn to return to America without passing Canadian customs on the Canada side, but you're going to still have to explain to the Americans why you're crossing. My money is on this being how it happened.

All of that aside, thinking about it more, it's kind of weird that they'd even ask him to go to the peace bridge to begin with instead of any other CBP point in the area

There are no ‘people going out’ there; the US does not have exit controls. This is an entry point, and getting there from the US side requires passing ‘TO CANADA’ signs and turning around before the Canadian entry point.

> It also sounds like he ended up talking to the same people that process people actually crossing which makes this even more tricky.

Kinda looks like you ignored the preceding sentence to look snarky.

No this is reasonable. There is no reason he would be talking to the same people. Sure the same border agent can work incoming/outgoing, but not at the same time (not at any airport or road crossing I've ever been through).

Border agents should know which side they're facing and which direction those people are traveling in. If they're not, they're incompetent.

Upvoting entirely for the phrase "clown fiesta".

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