Nova Scotia Muslim woman refused entry to U.S.

[Newsjock]

Source: CBC News

A newlywed Nova Scotia woman hoping to visit her husband in the United States says she wasn't allowed to board a flight at Halifax Stanfield International Airport this week because she is a Muslim.

Ayat Manna, 25, of Dartmouth, said she thinks she was picked out of the crowd Monday night because she wears a Muslim headscarf. She said U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents questioned her for four hours, fingerprinted her and then escorted her out of the airport.

"I was walking downstairs in front of everybody. I had two guards and the police. They're all walking beside me as if I'm a terrorist," she said Wednesday.

Originally from Jordan, Manna has lived in Nova Scotia for 15 years and has been a Canadian citizen for 12 years.

... She said the interrogation by the border agents was humiliating.

"They asked me about my background, how much I pay in rent and why I don't own my own house. I don't know why they ask me these questions, if I'm pregnant or not," she said.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2010/01/06/ns-muslim-flight-profile.html

[LiberalFighter]

1. Do Israeli's ask these type of questions?

Do the TSA really know what the hell they are doing?

[Drum]

2. Great question, LiberalFighter.

Made me think of that saying: "When you only use a hammer, every problem looks like a nail."

[Bluebear]

7. The TSA doesn't operate in Canada

Just for accuracy's sake...looks like it was in Immigration/Border Patrol deal.

[MaineDem]

11. In Toronto, I went through US customs before boarding

This was a few years ago but they were US people doing the checking.

[Bluebear]

20. Absolutely, but Customs and the TSA are not the same entity

[snake in the grass]

17. Just for accuracy's sake...

...perhaps you are right that the TSA proper doesn't operate in Canada, but I can assure you that U.S. agents do. I just arrived in L.A. from Edmonton today and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has its own private U.S. sovereign territory in the Edmonton International Airport. It was made very clear at the check-in counter that once we entered a certain room, we were no longer in Canada and that the agents were calling the shots. I was at the airport 3 hours before my flight was to commence and the entire Homeland gauntlet took 2.75 hours because they fingerprinted and photographed every non-U.S. citizen en route to the Land of the Free.

Needless to say, I am very tired and am going to bed now.

Goodnight!

:boring:

[Bluebear]

21. I know US agents do, they have for years. But not the TSA

Sleep tight!

[ProgressiveProfessor]

23. I have never seen/heard that in Israel, and I have seen some given

the 3rd degree/anal probe treatment there. TSA, unionized or not have way too many buffoons

[Posteritatis]

50. I'm thinking when security gets more paranoid than El Al it's time to settle down. (nt)

[muntrv]

3. How many 25 year olds own homes?

:eyes:

[Rincewind]

14. I did

I bought my home when I was 23.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

24. Both of my daughters did.

They were admittedly special cases.

[cartach]

32. I guess you knew

that you would get some idiotic answers. Is Sarah Palin lurking here?

[mudplanet]

35. All the rich ones. Especially all that inherited money and have a trust fund.

[krabigirl]

45. and so what? Owning a home nowadays isn't the best thing for everyone.

[Posteritatis]

47. Plenty of them, but kneejerk away. (nt)

[Randall Flagg]

4. What a sad state of affairs.

It seems as if the terrorists may have won.

Land of the free no more.

[dkf]

5. Travel is a privilege not a right.

As is access into any foreign country.

[MadLinguist]

9. That begs the question. Why was her privilege revoked?

Nothing is illuminated by making this distinction between privileges and rights. If there is unequal application of either, one may inquire into the asymmetry. That is all.

[TheCML]

16. oh yeah.

privilege not a right, silly me being offended by racial profiling and the message we are sending to the world.

[Prometheus Bound]

18. Travel is not a right?

Times sure have changed in Canada then.

[msanthrope]

19. Your blanket statement ignores settled constitutional law.

The 'right to travel', while not absolute, is most definitely a federally-recognized right--not a privilege.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

25. The right for non citizens to enter another sovereign nation is at the total discretion of that

nation. Sounds like a privilege to me.

[msanthrope]

43. That the right is not absolute is without dispute, But non-absolute

rights do not then become 'privileges'.....they are 'rights,' defined by 'laws.'

[cartach]

34. If that's the case

If the US resticts entry to certain people,in this case a Canadian citizen, then the Canadian government could and should raise an official objection. There are a lot of Canadian citizens who were born in and come from Middle East countries who travel to the US for various reasons,shopping being one of them. I don't think this matter is over yet.

[Posteritatis]

48. That would involve Harper making a peep to defend a non-WASP Canadian

Not gonna happen.

[mudplanet]

36. Freedom to move is a privilege? Where did you come up with that?

Since when is freedom to move about the country or to leave the country (or enter it if you're a citizen) become a "privilege"?

The folks who wrote the Constitution were so concerned about freedom that they used very deliberately broad language in outlining those freedoms, stuff like the rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

It seems that you're taking the stance that if it isn't written in law verbatim a person has no right to it, or that I'm entitled to travel only if I can prove I'm NOT a threat.

[carla]

39. Travel is a right.

It is defined as one of the "liberties" that characterize democratic societies. Apologism, in the face of oppression is collusion.

[robo50]

6. What kind of numbnuts are working for TSA?

These people need to be fired FAST!

A Canadian citizen, no less, from Jordan, (our ally), no less.

Since when are Canadians denied visits to the USA? Since Monday, I guess.

Total insanity.

[Bluebear]

8. The TSA does not operate in Canada

This was immigration/border "security", just to be accurate

[robo50]

10. Equally numbnuts! Americans working in Canada did this to her.

I don't care what agency they work for, they are as dumb as rocks.

Questioning a 25 year old about her rental arrangements, pregnancy status, why?

[Donnachaidh]

12. the Americans working the border are complete assholes with attitudes

We were given a ration of shit when we were returning to the States after vacationing in Nova Scotia. We had all our paperwork, but they still had to be obnoxious. Now with the *terrah* crap, they are going to be really bad.

[Posteritatis]

49. We're being leaned on for having less ridiculous security theatre than the US, basically

There's been a lot of stuff that amounts to "use our no-fly lists, enact all our security measures, etc., for air travel anywhere near your country, or we're going to make it more difficult for Canadians in the US." It's enough to make me reluctant to travel within Canada, and I'm not even dreaming of visiting the US anytime soon.

We're starting to adopt the stuff, too. The last few times I flew within Canada I got incredible amounts of flak for wearing boots in January, and it's gotten more inane since then.

[ShortnFiery]

13. It's a shame for OUR COUNTRY. It's precisely the young Muslim people that

"American Security" professionals should attempt to impress. How can we glean any semblance of good human intelligence or "community outreach" with stories going around such as this?

I met an intelligent and attractive Marine Lieutenant at the local Gym who had an Iranian heritage. I recognized her features because unlike many non-enlightened American Citizens, I've had the privilege to reside for a time in Iran as a child of diplomatic American Parents.

Guess what? She was assigned to the "Finance Branch." What a waste! She could speak Farsi and her parents were first generation (Cultural understanding) but instead of recruiting her for INTELLIGENCE, she was stuck in finance.

Meanwhile, lily white skinned kids from Georgia are going to the DLI learning Arabic and Farsi.

With our "automatic shift" to be distrustful of people with ME ancestry, is it any wonder it's not just the Muslims hailing from the Middle East who DO NOT TRUST THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT?

[Skip Intro]

15. "lily white" - is that a bad thing?

I just ask because I see that term every now and then and I'm never sure exactly what it means.

[ShortnFiery]

28. No but forgive me because many people ...

of Iranian ancestry, IMO, have "the most beautiful" dusky dark brown skin tone. I think it's beautiful because it's not all that common in the area of Northern Virginia where I reside.

As a woman of Southern German and Black Irish ancestors, I know the freakish feeling of having a State trooper stop me as I was driving by Yuma, "What Country are you from?" I KNOW what it is like to be scrutinized and questioned quite rudely in the Republic of Panama when I dyed my hair jet black and "passed" as a light skinned Latina. They kind of caught on when my accent was "half-baked" as my two years of college Spanish from The University of Nebraska. :P

In the foreign areas where I have resided (Panama, Iran, Japan, and Singapore) being "lily white" in skin tone is usually considered "a plus." However, that was before all hell broke loose with regard to America's reputation after 9/11.

However, what's most IMPORTANT where it comes to National Security, it's more valuable to employ people who not only speak the language but understand the culture. Those people for Iranian intelligence usually sport dusky dark brown skin. However, language specialists can be gifted regardless of heritage and/or skin tone. :silly:

[14thColony]

37. I understand your point

But keep in mind that officers often get fairly wide latitude to select their career fields. She may have chosen finance to prepare herself for a post-military career, or she may just like math a lot. I had a US Navy officer friend who was also Iranian (born in Tehran), and the Navy was very pleased to have him as an intelligence officer. Of course he went through much bullshit immediately after 9/11, was interviewed by NCIS and almost had his clearance suspended, even though his family had been Persian Christians for centuries in Iran, but he had dark skin and a funny-sounding name... Ironic that the Persian Christian got the third degree because some Arab Muslims hijacked some planes, but that's the brave new world we live in.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

26. There is a very tight link between US and Canadian border police

which includes the TSA. Seen it be a PITA to people going both directions.

[polly7]

22. The last time I went through U.S. airport security I

felt like a fool. I was picked out of a line of about 30 people and headed off to an area where they could still all see, every bit of clothing, including underclothing in my luggage was gone through, held up in the air while two men in uniform smirked back and forth between themselves. I have no problem with being singled out because I have nothing to hide, but the attitude was arrogant, condescending and pi**ed me off. The only reason I transferred in Minniapolis is because the straight flight to Mexico had been delayed. No more will I go through that kind of embarrassment. It was purposeful, and disgusting. They can shove it.

[ShortnFiery]

29. Don't feel alone. They pulled out my 80 year old mother and patted her down.

She's a little slip of a lady, 4'11" and 98 lbs.

However, they even stuck their fingers into her tiny hair bun to ensure she wasn't "storing" anything illicit there. :crazy:

I don't believe in "Profiling" but they should seriously consider drawing the line at underweight and fragile (osteoporosis) wheelchair bound elderly women. :(

[daleo]

27. Travel to the U.S.

Is beginning to seem like travel to the USSR in the 1970s - forbidding, unfriendly, officious, paranoid, the feeling that one could be arrested for nothing...

I remember the days when we mocked the Soviets for this.

[robo50]

30. Ah but those Soviet Hotels... the picture of luxury, right?

I spent a night in an East German Hotel.

No TV just a radio with German stations.

And this was AFTER the wall came down in the 90's!!

[polly7]

31. Perhaps things have changed since the 90's, and whatever ...

a hotel is a place to sleep for a night or two. They really don't all have to be luxury escapes, unless you paid for it to be one, I guess.

[carla]

40. We have given up

on travel to the USA. The offerings are not appealing, to begin with. It seems like the whole place has been homogenized and become so dull. I used to be a citizen, until BFEE started their campaign against the Republic. After "9/11" the corrupt State imposed draconian measures to promote authoritarian agendas, and I went from being "innocent, until proven guilty" to being a "suspect"(just like the rest of you). They rescinded my rights and gave me fear in exchange. I refuse to live in a prison. And sadly, that is what the USA has become. For the economically focused, we used to spend around 5,000$ on vacations, including shopping, but not hotels. If the USA keeps losing tourists because of these asinine policies, how long before the State becomes the cause of economic decline? I hope for your people, but I mourn for your nation.

[krabigirl]

46. Yep. I often wonder why the heck people even want to come here.

Now, at least they still let us leave...for how long, who knows. lol.

[cartach]

33. She's a Canadian citizen whose religion is Muslim

If this isn't a clear case of religious discrimination I don't know what is. Is Canada also considered a hotbed of terrorists? Never mind the country she was born in, the woman is a Canadian citizen and has been one for 12 years. End of story. This country should have a name change to - Excited States. Just one more policy that will cause further resentment and increase further the world hatred toward the US.

[muriel_volestrangler]

38. The more I read this, the more it looks like over-zealous "anti-illegal immigrant" policing

During the four hours of questioning, the officials asked for her bank account number and then called her bank to get all her financial information.

The officials took her photo and her fingerprints and eventually let her go, but Manna says she still doesn't understand why this happened to her.

"I asked them why, they just didn't answer... I'm still looking for answers why they did this," she says.

Manna says as she was being let go, she asked the officials what she would need to be able to enter the States.

"So they (said), 'You need to bring a bank statement, a doctor's note that you're not pregnant -- I don't know what that has to do with anything else -- and a note from your employer that you're coming back to work'," Manna says.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100106/manna_100106/20100106?hub=Canada

Ayat Manna, who lives in Halifax, said she had a one-way ticket departing Monday for Cleveland, where she was planning to spend several months to visit her husband.
...
"She presented herself as coming into the U.S. for one purpose. We determined that we believed it was for a different purpose and she has not been able to overcome our suspicion of why she was trying to enter the United States."
...
Manna said she returned to U.S. Customs on Tuesday with documents from her employer indicating she was intending to return to her job and also provided bank statements.

She said her plan had been to visit her husband and return home to her job and her parents. She said she expected her husband would begin making an application for her immigration to the United States later this year.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5icMgH3Q6t6NnRWmqs6v10T_gC58A

While her husband is in the US already, it's not clear if he's American or not (and even if he is, that doesn't mean the US lets her in automatically - my cousin, a Canadian, married an American in the 90s, and she had problems with crossing between the countries at first). I think this is an immigration person sticking their heels in and saying "I think you intend to stay in the US permanently, and since you can't prove otherwise, I can keep you out". The pregnancy question sounds like "you want to have a baby in the US so it gets US citizenship, don't you?"

[daleo]

42. I have seen this one up close

"an immigration person sticking their heels in and saying "I think you intend to stay in the US permanently, and since you can't prove otherwise, I can keep you out"."

A pair of hiking boots in the car was enough, in the case I know of, back in the early 1990s. The border guy said they looked like work boots, ergo you are looking for a job in the States.

[chrisa]

41. If we become afraid of our own shadow,

the terrorists win. Looks like the terrorists are winning.

[krabigirl]

44. Wow...this is scary. Also, the creepy questons about renting.

lol, are renters terrorists now also?