Tag Archives for immigration.
The U.S. government has taken the opportunity during the global pandemic, when people aren’t traveling out of the country much, to roll out a new platform for storing information they believe they are entitled to take from people crossing the border. A new filing reveals how the U.S. Border Patrol will store data from traveler devices centrally, keeping it backed up and searchable for up to 75 years.
The federal government is considering new rules “that would allow border officials to temporarily block an American citizen or legal permanent resident from returning to the United States from abroad if the authorities have reason to believe the person may be infected with the coronavirus.”
However they’d do this based on their best guess – and not testing – and they’re considering doing this now after the coronavirus barn door has already been left open.
A Cathay Pacific passenger boarded a flight from Canada to Hong Kong back in March, intending to connect to Vietnam. Hong Kong transit was shut down March 25. Vietnam closed its border to arrivals. He lived inside the airport for three months.
Then he walked out.
Omni Air is a profitable ‘deportation airline’ operating charter flights for the Department of Homeland Security, and before securing the $67 million bailout they were awarded a new $78 million Defense Department contract.
They take deportation charters no one else will, billing the government as much as $11,000 per passenger. Their CARES Act funding appears to cover more payroll per person than any other airline receiving government funds.
Currently the border closure lasts through June 21, though Canada has loosened restrictions somewhat to allow family members of citizens and permanent residents to return starting today.
However the ban is expected to be extended by both the U.S. and Canada into late July, according to sources on both sides of the border.
With borders closing in response to the spread of the novel coronavirus, and national policies in some cases changing quickly, some passengers got stuck in the middle. Most people got advance notice, but what if their flights home were cancelled? Or there was confusion, and they were allowed to board a flight when they won’t be admitted at their final destination? Not every country ran rapatriation flights, either.
Coronavirus has been a strain on relationships, from the hotel that markets itself as a great break from your spouse and monetizes its guest list with a divorce lawyer who offers free consultations to the 85 and 89 year olds who live on opposite sides of the Germany-Denmark border and meet each day for a picnic, staying on their own side of the border and social distancing.
To one 20 year old, no coronavirus border restriction was going to keep him from his love. Then he ran into the German Federal Police.
There’s no longer a single country that doesn’t have a restriction on arriving passengers of some kind. Countries that don’t have a major coronavirus problem don’t want one. When and how will restrictions lift? Like most of what we know about coronavirus, heterogeneity rules.
The U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico are closed to non-essential travel, but agents on the border processing immigration say they haven’t received guidance on what that means and they’re left to make up the rules themselves.
Immigration officers further resent the number of people coming into the U.S., viewing them as physical threats to their health.
In December New York State law began allowing undocumented immigrants to get drivers licenses and stopped sharing applicant information with immigration enforcement agencies.
In Early February the Trump Administration announced that because of this law, New York residents would no longer be allowed to enroll in or renew Global Entry. They claimed they needed access to New York’s DMV database as part of their identity verification process. Several New Yorkers are suing.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
