Current Events > Jogger accidentally crossed US/Canada border, detained for 2 weeks

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A visitor from France says she was jogging along the beach south of White Rock, B.C., when she crossed the U.S. border without realizing it. So began a two-week nightmare that landed her in a prison jumpsuit.

Cedella Roman, 19, didn't know it at the time, but as she ran southeast along the beach on the evening of May 21, she crossed a municipal boundary and, shortly after, an international border.

As the tide started to come in, she veered up and onto a dirt path before stopping to take a photo of the picturesque setting.

She turned around to head back and that's when she was apprehended by two U.S. Border Patrol officers.

"An officer stopped me and started telling me I had crossed the border illegally," she told CBC News.

"I told him I had not done it on purpose, and that I didn't understand what was happening."

Roman said she didn't see any signs warning that she was crossing into the U.S. during her jog. She was informed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers that she had entered the country illegally, which they said was captured via security cameras.

"I said to myself, well I may have crossed the border but they'll probably only give me a fine or they'll tell me to go back to Canada or they'll give me a warning."

Roman, a citizen of France who had travelled to Canada to visit her mother in B.C. and work on her English, didn't have any government-issued ID or travel permits with her.

Her mother lives in North Delta, B.C.

She said the officers detained her for crossing illegally into Blaine, Wash., and transferred her more than 200 kilometres south to the Tacoma Northwest Detention Centre, run by the Department of Homeland Security. Christiane Ferne, Roman's mother, says she was in a panic when she found out her daughter had been taken to a detention facility in Tacoma, Wash.

"They put me in the caged vehicles and brought me into their facility," she said. "They asked me to remove all my personal belongings with my jewelry, they searched me everywhere.

"Then I understood it was getting very serious, and I started to cry a bit."

Roman said she was able to contact her mother, Christiane Ferne, who rushed to the detention centre to provide officers with documents including her passport and study permits.

Ferne said workers on site told her she had to present the documents to Immigration Canada to determine if Roman was eligible to be discharged back to Canada.

Roman was held in custody for two weeks before immigration officials on both sides of the border confirmed she was allowed back into Canada. Then she was transferred back into B.C.

"It was just unfair that there was nothing, no sign at the border," said Ferne, who visited her daughter several times while she was detained. "It's like a trap anybody can be caught at the border like this."

About 80 per cent of refugee claimants to B.C. cross the Canada-U.S. border through Peace Arch Park, in Surrey.

U.S. government documents shared with CBC News confirm Roman was discharged from the U.S. on June 6 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

CBC News called U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Immigration Canada. Neither agency would comment on Roman's case, citing privacy concerns.

The family is unsure if Roman will be allowed back into the United States.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/jogger-who-accidentally-crossed-u-s-border-from-b-c-detained-for-2-weeks-1.4717060
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sktgamer_13dude posted...

"It was just unfair that there was nothing, no sign at the border," said Ferne, who visited her daughter several times while she was detained. "It's like a trap anybody can be caught at the border like this."

Most people carry ID or travel permits dude.

It's bad that it took 2 fucking weeks for Uncle Sam to get off his fat ass and sort this out but you really can't blame immigration officers for arresting her, they were literally doing their job.
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What a fucking joke.

The correct response wouldve been to politely tell the lady she crossed the border and she should head back. Not treat her like she just murdered someone.

UnfairRepresent posted...

sktgamer_13dude posted...

"It was just unfair that there was nothing, no sign at the border," said Ferne, who visited her daughter several times while she was detained. "It's like a trap anybody can be caught at the border like this."

Most people carry ID or travel permits dude.

It's bad that it took 2 fucking weeks for Uncle Sam to get off his fat ass and sort this out but you really can't blame immigration officers for arresting her, they were literally doing their job.

You know anything involving the government takes forever. You have to wait a month to get a damn drivers license.
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*coughing chuckle*
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Build that wall man
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I don't get this... it's kind of weird

I mean, was she jogging in the middle of the forest or something?

There's no way it should be that easy to cross on the other side.
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This is so disappointing.
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frozenshock posted...

I don't get this... it's kind of weird

I mean, was she jogging in the middle of the forest or something?

There's no way it should be that easy to cross on the other side.

It's like that medicore Logan movie
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I found the place on google maps

There's a street with a border crossing point just outside the beach

But the beach itself is kind of under a cliff, so it doesn't seem like you can actually see the border crossing from down at the beach. Hard to tell from the map, but it does indeed appear there is no way to know from down there that you're crossing the border unless you know where you are. Which she probably didn't seeing as she's just visiting from France.

This is kind of dumb. There should at least be some kind of sign or something.

In any event I know from experience that girls who go out jogging often don't carry IDs... just because it's inconvenient to carry around a purse when you're jogging, and also because they're often wearing thights, which aren't really made for carrying stuff around. It may be a bad habit, but it's not really unusual.
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bump
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We better keep taxes high so that this large government can keep having the bandwidth to do this type of thing. Absolutely no harm can come out of it.
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This is exactly why we need a wall on the northern border. So much fentanyl comes in from Canada. They clearly dont have control over drugs and they bring these pharmaceuticals over the border without even so much as a second thought.
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southcoast09 posted...

This is exactly why we need a wall on the northern border. So much fentanyl comes in from Canada. They clearly dont have control over drugs and they bring these pharmaceuticals over the border without even so much as a second thought.

Nice sources.

And Im sure a jogger was bringing fentanyl over rofl
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gotta protect us from those SCARY joggers!
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Will shell out money to put a huge wall across their southern border.

Can't afford a few basic signs.
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Lol.
I had a friend intentionally does for fun at Montana.
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Canadians are white collar economic parasites
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