DHS agent cites private medical history to deny disabled Canadian woman entry to U.S.

[diabeticman]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/11/29/dhs-agent-cites-private-medical-history-to-deny-disabled-canadian-woman-entry-to-u-s/


A Canadian woman said she was denied entry into the U.S. by a Customs and Border Protection Agent who cited her hospitalization last year for clinical depression.

Ellen Richardson, of Weston, Ontario, said she intended to fly Monday to New York City on her way to a 10-day Caribbean cruise, but she said the agent working with the Department of Homeland Security told her she must first get medical clearance.

SNIP--
A customs spokesperson said the department was prohibited from discussing individual cases due to privacy laws.

Canadian lawmaker Mike Sullivan said the incident was “enormously troubling,” and he intended to contact the nation’s federal privacy commissioner to determine how U.S. agents got access to Richardson’s personal medical information.
________________________________________________________________________________

FIRST off I believe that stupid NSA spying bullcrap has a LOT to do with this knowledge.

second of all Customs officals can't discuss individual cases because of privacy laws YET THESE SOBs can use PRIVATE information to deny someone entry to the country

[ananda]

1. And how many customs and border agents have ever been treated or medicated?

I wonder.

[msanthrope]

7. A lot. But how many of them attempted suicide, generating a police report?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=660101

I don't think I'd want an armed agent with a history of suicide attempts. Would you?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

2. the complete and utter bullshit between the Canadians and USA

when it comes to Borders and Customs should be an embarrassment to both countries. it is like two children fighting over a fucking toy...

sP

[diabeticman]

3. hey Canada didn't do half the crap! It was the U.S. that caused a lot of the issues. It has

destroyed tourism in the areas like Niagara Falls where people would drive back and forth between the 2 countries and it was a nice weekend trip NOW you need a passport to go between the two and most Americans don't have a passport.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

5. it has been a pain in the ass since well before the passport flap

and the Canadians are just as fucking bad as the jerks on the US side... I have to cross that border several times a year and it is a total nuisance.

sP

[msanthrope]

9. Canada did it here--they generated a police report based on her 2012 suicide attempt that got

picked up on the FBI database.


http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/11/29/mental_health_activist_wants_us_vicepresident_to_intervene_in_ellen_richardson_case.html

[cali]

4. The U.S. is by FAR the greater offender

[msanthrope]

8. What privacy offense do you think was committed here? nt

[MADem]

10. No, they aren't.

http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/courier_times_news/denied-entry-canada-turns-away-american-dui-offenders/article_08c7af50-7ee8-11e0-907c-0019bb30f31a.html

Each year, Canada denies thousands of visitors with criminal histories, including misdemeanors such as a DUI. And it doesn't matter if you plan to be behind the wheel in Canada.
Nations, including the U.S., have always denied entry to non-citizens for many reasons, including criminal history because of the potential risk.
In Pennsylvania and other states, DUI is a misdemeanor. But DUI is a more serious offense in Canada.
The crime is an example of where the U.S. and Canada differ on what kind of conviction automatically makes someone "inadmissible," according to American officials and attorneys. However, an Ontario-based attorney said Canadians with DUIs can have just as much trouble getting into the states.
Americans - and several Bucks County residents - with DUI convictions have been caught off guard at the Canadian border despite warnings on both government's websites and elsewhere. Some Bucks residents said they were pulled off trains and buses because of one DUI conviction several years - even decades - old.
It doesn't matter if someone's DUI was expunged through Bucks County's program for first-time offenders, officially known as Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition, attorneys said.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the U.S. and Canada have granted each other deeper access to their respective criminal databases to screen people trying to cross the border. Those checks reveal expunged charges.
Getting into Canada with a criminal conviction can mean waiting years to be considered "rehabilitated," paying at least $1,500 in legal fees and putting down a really good reason on a waiver application, attorneys said. .....

If the Canadians hadn't put her "private" medical history on THEIR criminal database, the US wouldn't have had access to it.

[msanthrope]

6. There's nothing private about a police report generated by a suicide attempt. The suicide note

she wrote in 2012 was turned over the Canadian police, and a report was generated by the Canadians, which shows up on the FBI database....

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/11/29/mental_health_activist_wants_us_vicepresident_to_intervene_in_ellen_richardson_case.html

Blame Canada.