When I originally posted this it got a lot of shares but not much feedback; maybe there will be more responses this time around. It looks like this story was picked up by a number of news outlets and so several different URLs yield the same story. No worries.
As a US citizen I am slightly embarrassed by this. Unless there is more to the story than the author is telling, it's a ridiculous way to treat those wishing to see our great country. There was nothing in his suitcase and he said nothing incriminating, the only thing he did wrong was to be a traveler of the world."We are under the impression you have more ties with more countries we are not on friendly terms with than your own. We decided to bring you back to the Canadian border."
-What a crock.
Then the Canadians happily took him. Even as an American citizen these type of things can be very heavy. When I went through border security after my trip to Turkey the attitude was pretty much the same sentiment: "Why would you want to go to Turkey?" As if people didn't just want to travel and see the world. I am embarrassed and quite frankly feel helpless. I've written my congress person and senators to this effect but neither political groups seem to care enough. I wonder if things like this will ever change.
I think as the world becomes increasingly "plugged in" to an online existence co-mingled with IRL, things like this will be less likely. You'll be able to know 1. Who/What a person is 2. Who they also know well 3. That person could in real time project out the troubles they're having at the border with supporters rallying to their defense. -All in real time.
The entire time I read this article my heart just kept sinking bit by bit. America seems to be the weird neighbor that lives down the street, and is quickly slipping down a path to a completely paranoid shut-in. Of course it is a great country, America has a history of a kind of open door policy for immigrants from nearly every country. It seems the price of admission or living here (giving up many personal freedoms, with more disappearing all of the time) is on pace to outweigh the benefits.
I've been to that border crossing on the train. Barren doesn't begin to describe it: it's not near much of anything. He got turned away and left an hour away from Montreal or any transit. Rouses Point, NY (and Lacolle, Qc, on the other side) is a nasty place to be without a car. I found an interesting response to this when I searched on the author's name. Please note that the response article is more interesting as metadata than as content. The response has a valid point that the Dutch author's white privilege is showing. However the author's pseudo-worldliness makes him come across as a whiner. Thank goodness most of his response is a cut-and-paste of the transcript from a piece from On The Media. The response gives away a different kind of privilege: I think the response author may be envious of travelers.As a caveat, I want to make it clear that my intent is not to belittle Lohman's experience. I've not traveled outside the country since I was a small child, and our world is much different place now than it was when I was boy. I've never dealt with customs agents, and I don't know what it's like to have a broad assortment of your civil liberties flagrantly violated under the pretense of suspicion.