Yeah, pretty much that. When my girlfriend-at-the-time was telling me the story, I did let out an audible “oh no” and shaking of the head when she got to the point where she told immigration she was there to marry her fiancee (and she had visited him in America at least one or two times previous.) I didn’t no for certain whether that an absolute dealbreaker of an answer, but I knew it was not an answer to give when there’s a much simpler (and even truthful) one available with “visiting friends.” (And, as a side note, of all the borders I’ve crossed–and I’ve probably done a couple/few dozen different countries across five continents–the one I’ve been most grilled at has always been the UK. Even when I had a legit work visa all ready to go. They needed to know where I was staying, how much money I had in the bank, how I was planning to make money while there, etc.)
Except there might be - she was being detained ( even if only for a short time) , and I am certain that my former employer was not the only agency in the world that has a policy to treat pregnant and recently-pregnant detainees differently than others. Sure, she shouldn’t have been asked specifically and only if she had had an abortion - but that could have been a mistake on the officer’s part or even a misunderstanding of a more general question about whether she had a pregnancy that ended recently.
If your former employer wasn’t border patrol, that’s not really pertinent to this discussion. And I’m sorry but asking “did you have an abortion” instead of “are you recovering from childbirth or pregnancy loss” is too pointed of a question to chalk it up to “oopsie” when we’re talking about an organization with a long and storied history of gleefully abusing its power to harm and embarrass its subjects.
If it was unintentional, it’s not because they made a mistake following the process. It’s because they are indifferent (at best) toward the rights of travelers, and are unaccountable for most abuses of power.
I’m not sure why it’s not pertinent - I said there might be a reason in response to
There is zero reason in their job description to ask that question
I don’t understand how other law enforcement agencies’ policies are not pertinent in whether this might be a legitimate question for border patrol to ask but you can just say there’s zero reason to ask without giving any reason for your belief. If CBP had a policy of not handcuffing detainees who had a pregnancy that ended in the last 8 weeks, people would be outraged if they did in fact handcuff someone who had a delivery/miscarriage/abortion four weeks ago and the fact that CBP didn’t know because they didn’t ask would not be seen as a good excuse.
I didn’t say they aren’t indifferent but I did say she shouldn’t have been asked that specific question and that it’s possible that a more general question was misunderstood . I can see someone being asked “Have you had a pregnancy that ended recently?” or “Have you recently been pregnant?” and thinking the question was only about an abortion.
There was no misunderstanding. The female officer definitely asked me about abortion. “Have you had a recent/recently had an abortion?”
That’s fucked up, and while they also deport men all the time, with and without any reasonable cause, I am willing to bet the amount of degrading sexual questions is far less. I assume they skipped over ostensibly reasonable medical questions like, do you have any allergies? However note that people get deported without being asked any personal questions at all, as they don’t have to let you cross, but beyond that nothing is their business.
I’ve learned US citizens are treated just as poorly (minus the reproductive health questions):
https://theintercept.com/2021/09/04/cbp-border-tactical-terrorism-response-teams/
To clarify, I was by no means implying that males and/or U.S. citizens invariably get treated any better at the border. I have no idea what the current “standard procedure” is, according to internal directives.
Offhand, I would recommend not crossing any borders with any mobile telephones or computers [with personal information you care about or that you would mind being hacked] to avoid the kind of search described in your link, but realize that may unfortunately be impractical or expensive for many travellers. As for online accounts they may find under your name, I am not convinced that giving them access to your bank accounts or blogs is going to sway any decisions—it would merely be cooperating with the intrusive intelligence gathering described.
That comment wasn’t directed at you! Sorry if it came off as rude—it was more of an FYI for anyone reading.
I didn’t have a choice (or maybe I did, but I didn’t want to be perceived as ‘difficult’) with the bank accounts. They asked to see them. I didn’t mention the blog at all. Friends have said I should’ve mentioned I’ve been interviewed by the likes of NY Post and NBC, but I didn’t think that would’ve made a difference.
They didn’t go through my phone, but they did ask if I only had one. Am I meant to have another for my illegal cat sitting business? 
Whether you agree with the current laws or not, it does seem like cat sitting in exchange for room and board does violate the terms of a US tourist visa. I haven’t seen you mention whether you acknowledge this or not. Would you care to comment on that?
Pet sitting in exchange for a place to stay didn’t seem to be the issue. The first immigration officer said feeding someone else’s cat is considered ‘employment’ (not allowed on ESTA (I know there’s no work allowed on ESTA)) and it’s taking a job away from a US citizen. I don’t see it as employment.
I still don’t have a definitive answer/reason for deportation, but the house sitting website I use has recently published these resources:
https://support.trustedhousesitters.com/hc/en-gb/articles/6261917234077-Advice-for-International-House-Sitting-
It’s a case of the company says vs what immigration says, but all I was told was my entry was being refused. I have to submit a FOI request to get my records—which will list the official reason for deportation—because the CBP lady investigating what happened can’t/won’t tell me the actual reason.
I understand that you don’t see it as employment, but apparently CBP does - although I’m not at all sure that the “taking a job away from US citizen bit” is accurate. A letter from Trusted Housesitters saying that they discussed the issue with an unnamed immigration attorney and they respectfully feel that their arrangements don’t require work authorization isn’t going to do you any good.
After reading that letter, I want to point out something you may not know. That letter refers to other well-known companies offering a matching service and mentions that this company specializes in households with pets that need care - and I suspect those other companies are the ones offering straight vacation swaps, where you exchange a stay in your home for a stay in someone else’s. But those are very possibly treated differently than you exchanging cat-sitting for a place to stay. By way of example, bartering is treated differently regarding taxes depending on the details - if it’s an informal situation where people exchange similar services , such as parents running a babysitting cooperative , it’s not considered bartering and there is no income to report.
However, if different services are being exchanged (dental services are exchanged for plumbing services) that is treated differently. Each person must report the market value of the services received as income and pay taxes on it. So if there was $1000 work of dental work exchanged for $1000 of plumbing work, each person must report and pay taxes on $1000 of income. Do people actually follow the rules ?- probably not. But those are the rules - and something similar may also be why cat-sitting is seen as employment that isn’t permitted on a tourist visa.
Certainly not when you are transiting on your way to Canada. I don’t know if the entrance to North America is a bit like the Schengen in Europe, so the Canadian authorities will complain to USA if they let an undesirable into North America.
I had a little laugh at this as well. And that there’s no name or signature on it either.
Back to the employment vs exchange vs whatever else they may call it, I still think it’s a grey area. The officer didn’t like when I said that and reminded me ‘Employment on ESTA isn’t allowed’. He wasn’t able to cite any particular section of the law (and it’s unlikely he would even know it) I was breaking, just that I was breaking it by going to Canada to feed cats in someone else’s house.
A little update: I submitted my DHS TRIP complaint yesterday. Next is the FOI request. In the meantime, I’m still waiting to hear back from CBP OPR about the status of their investigation…
I think the issue was that you did some cat-sitting in the US on the previous visit and having violated the rules previously , they weren’t going to let you in at that time, even if you were just passing through.
Oh ,and about that organization - the way they have those vague letters available, it seems that they are aware that people run into trouble in Canada, the US and the UK.
I feel they also need to warn home/pet owners who’ve gone with an international sitter. Kind of sucks when your pet sitter gets deported…
Yes, this happens constantly. I have a US friend who was volunteering at an event in Canada. This can be seen as taking away a job from a Canadian, I suppose, but the pay is only getting fed lunch. But it turned out that the previous year, due to the lack of local volunteers, some people had been paid to “work” the event. Well, my friend mentioned he was a volunteer when going through immigration and was kept there for 18 hours until some official confirmed that he would not be paid, and neither would the other volunteers. The let him go at 4 a.m. on the day he was supposed to be at the volunteer meeting two hours later. And he hadn’t eaten yet. Yikes.
I finally got a response from my airline, Qantas (code share with American Airlines), about the lack of connecting boarding passes.
There are a number of circumstances where Qantas cannot provide boarding passes for onward connections with our overseas partner airlines, including that the airline has not yet opened up their flight. This means customers cannot be checked in and a boarding pass cannot be provided.
If customers do not have onward boarding passes, they can show immigration officials a copy of their flight itinerary.
Too bad immigration didn’t want to look at that when I said I could show him my email booking.
Where are you now, @deported-cat-sitter ?
I read your last post with interest, as Qantas code-shared with Canadian Airlines back in the day, and I could typically get all my Canadian and Qantas boarding passes (YYZ-HNL-SYD-PER) when I checked in, in Toronto, aboard Canadian Airlines, changing to Qantas in Honolulu.
On the return, I could again get all my Qantas and Canadian boarding passes when I checked in, in Perth. One time, I had to go via Melbourne (PER-MEL-SYD-HNL-YYZ), and I had enough boarding passes to play a game of cards with. But the check-in desk in Perth could issue my Canadian Airlines pass from HNL to YYZ.
I guess times have changed, and not for the better.