Men Abandon Car At Border, Flee To US – Bomb Squad Called

Both ends of the Ferry Point Bridge from St. Stephen to Calais, Maine were apparently closed shortly after 6 p.m. last night and the RCMP bomb squad was called to stand by as American authorities questioned five people who attempted to enter the United States on foot  after abandoning their vehicle.

Update: The incident began when five men left a vehicle on the Canadian side of the border, walked across the Ferry Point Bridge and attempted to enter the United States, confirmed Ted Woo, spokesman for the U.S. Office of Homeland Security.

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No one was arrested by U.S. authorities, Woo said, and the men were returned to Canada.

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Woo said he was scrambling Monday to counteract “wild rumors” and dozens of telephone calls from people who believed that the car contained a bomb and that the men were from Afghanistan.

He said the men were not from Afghanistan, but he said U.S. privacy laws prevented him from providing details about their citizenship status or identification.

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Border agencies in neither Canada nor the United States intend to charge the five people with anything, Gillmore and Woo said.

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From The Telegraph Journal
The five people who attempted to cross into the United States are not Canadians and are possibly illegal immigrants – possibly from Afghanistan, RCMP J Division media relations officer Sgt. Claude Tremblay said late Sunday night from Fredericton.

“The reason we closed the bridge is because they left their vehicle and went on foot,” Tremblay said.

The RCMP spokesman declined to say precisely where the five people parked the vehicle, but admitted that a person could draw a logical conclusion from the location of the police roadblocks at either end of the bridge.

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He did not know Sunday night if the American authorities would return the five people to Canada or deal with them in the United States. For that reason he could not say whether to expect court appearances in St. Stephen today.

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Passports Become Mandatory at Mexico, Canada Borders

New rules requiring passports or new high-tech documents to cross the United States’ northern and southern borders are taking effect Monday, as some rue the tightening of security and others hail it as long overdue.

The rules are being implemented nearly eight years after the Sept. 11 attacks and long after the 9/11 Commission recommended the changes. They were delayed by complaints from state officials who worried the restrictions would hinder the flow of people and commerce and affect border towns dependent on international crossings.

In 2001 a driver’s license and an oral declaration of citizenship were enough to cross the Canadian and Mexican borders; Monday’s changes are the last step in a gradual ratcheting up of the rules. Now thousands of Americans are preparing by applying for passports or obtaining special driver’s licenses that can also be used to cross the border.

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Terror On Our Borders

For years America’s northern and southern borders  5,938 miles of dense forest and open land  were fair game for drug dealers and illegal immigrants looking to sneak into the U.S. That was before September 11, 2001.

After the 9/11 terror attacks, securing America’s borders became a national priority, says Jay Ahern, deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Read more