Canadians Love Ice in Their Drinks and Under Their Skates — But Not at American Airports

The View From Canada by Former OBcean

By Marc Snelling

OB has always been ice-free.  Closest I’ve seen it come was a dip into the high 30’s during the El Nino winter of 1997-98.  Or people driving back from Cuyamaca with snow they deliberately put on their hood.  An endless source of laughs for any Northern transplant to OB that has spent winters constantly clearing snow off their car.

Canadians do love ice, in their drinks, under their skates. But ice in some places raises their anxiety levels like on highways… and in airports.  Driving the highway in freezing rain is a white-knuckle experience. Statistically you know only a small percentage of people will end up in the ditch, but you sure don’t want the consequences that come with being part of that small percentage.

The same psychology is at work on Canadians as ICE is deployed to American airports. Everyone knows the statistical chances of being detained are minimal. Still those Canadians who are part of that percentage being detained are highly visible. Just like you slow your roll on the highway when you see a car in the ditch, Canadians have been given yet more reasons to slow down and question if they want to travel through American airports.

The ICE killings in the US have not gone unnoticed North of the border. Particularly those of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis (home to the suburb of Little Canada). Canadians have unanswered questions. Are ICE agents any more suited to security in airports than American city streets?  What will having armed agents in tactical vests accomplish for airport security and traveler’s anxiety levels?

Beyond the motivation of many Trump regime actions – childish sadistic attempts to trigger ‘the libs’ – there is no obvious purpose.  Regardless of the reasoning, the end results of America’s airport staffing situation seems to be escalating chaos.  Following the collision of an Air Canada flight at New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Monday, the staffing of not only TSA screeners is in question.  But also air traffic controllers, following the Trump-Musk DOGE cuts.  The flight from Montreal that collided with a fire truck seconds after landing led to the untimely death of two young Air Canada pilots.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) themselves were caught in TSA security lines at other airports, including Houston, according to the NTSB chair.  ICE’s presence at Houston’s International Airport does not seem to have helped the wait times, even for the government’s own staff investigating a fatal tragic accident.

Unfortunately, this was not the only car-in-the-ditch moment Canadians could not turn away from that day.  Another anxiety raising story concerned Tania Warner and her 7-year-old autistic daughter. Warner a Canadian from British Columbia who married an American 5 years ago and moved to Texas, released a statement Monday.  She and her daughter were detained at a Customs and Border Patrol checkpoint on March 14th. The checkpoint in Sarita Texas, like those on the 8 freeway are within the ‘Constitution-Free Zone’ within 100 miles of the US -Mexico border.

Returning from a baby shower, the mother and daughter are currently being held in a facility in Dilley,Texas.  What ICE calls the “Dilley Immigration Processing Center” is more accurately a detention center.  Warner reported that everyone in the facility is handcuffed including children.  According to ICE she overstayed her visa.  Yet, her husband shared his wife’s valid US work permit with newspapers. The visa has an expiry date in 2030.

This goes to the heart of the anxiety many Canadians are feeling.  Even if your papers are in order, there seem to be no guarantees against detention from ICE’s artificial arrest quotas.  Not on the highways, and increasingly not in airports either.  ICE presence adds to the unwelcoming vibe from a plan proposed in December to make access to 5 years of travelers’ social media history an entry requirement.

The World Tourism and Travel Council ran a survey regarding these proposed rule changes and found most respondents say it “would make the U.S. feel less welcoming and less attractive for both leisure and business travel.”  Effects are already being felt. Also on Monday, for the first time since Statistics Canada began keeping records in 1972, more Canadians traveled overseas then made car trips across the US border.  Particularly Mexico, the UK and France.

Immigration attorneys have highlighted greater risk for certain groups of Canadians in particular, those who make frequent trips (most of whom are business travelers or have family in the US), university professors, and anyone with ties to the Middle East.  Other attorneys insist it is business-as-usual and no laws have changed.  That may be true. However, it’s not about whether a law exists it’s about if it’s enforced.  (For example, San Diego Municipal Code section §56.09.)

Reversing the new unfriendly image of the US, should Americans want to change it, may take time.  Increasingly any statements originating from the Trump regime are only able to push the dial in one direction, down.  Every lie chips away at the weight that word carries.  Even if today White House spokespeople said they are changing ICE’s direction towards Canadians, or that Canadians have nothing to worry about (and meant it), many if not most, wouldn’t take it seriously or even listen at all.  The main purpose of lying is to avoid consequences.  That seems to be working for the White House, OB and American tourism industry be damned.