Unaccompanied people under 18 crossing border alone?

[Hari_Seldon]

I just took a train from NY to Montreal and the Amtrak border-crossing information included the startling (to me) phrase, “Unaccompanied children under 18 may not cross the US/Canada border.” Period, no parental consent letter, passport, nothing. This means that my 17 yo grandson could not come visit us either by himself or with his 15 yo sister. Is this correct, or just Amtrak’s policy? All three of my children were under 18 when they went off to the US to college and, while we accompanied them originally, no one questioned their right to come home for vacation breaks and then go back to school. This was in 80s and early 90s. This is paternalism gone mad. But I put this in GQ because I want to know if this is really policy. The web sites I found address only the question of children traveling with only one parent or with a third party.

[matt_mcl]

That must be either new or peculiar to Amtrak, because when I was 9, my mom sent me and my 7-yo brother from Winnipeg to Washington DC via Northwest Airlines, where my dad was on assignment.

[CalMeacham]

I don’t know about Amtrak, but we’ve had to sign paperwork for our daughter to go on a trip outside the country. She’s being escorted, but they still require a lot of paperwork. And my wife and I both had to sign a letter before witnesses – they’re apparently spooked by cases of one parent abducting a child without the other’s consent.

[Omar_Little]

@CalMeacham

She’s being escorted,

That’s not unaccompanied.

[CalMeacham]

I know. The rest of it is what I came to say.

[Ravenman]

From Amtrak’s website:

No Passengers under 18 across the US-Canadian Border Unaccompanied

The Canada Border Services Agency and US Customs and Border Protection Department are very concerned about the safety of children crossing the border. The following applies to any situation where a passenger under 18 years old is not crossing the border accompanied by both parents:

If one or both parents are not accompanying the child, bring a letter from any parent or legal guardian not present giving permission to cross the border. (If part of an organized group, see below for the requirement.) Include addresses and phone numbers.
If one parent is deceased, a copy of the death certificate will minimize questions and delay.*
Parents who share custody of their children should carry copies of the legal custody documents.*
Contact the appropriate government agency for additional information.

• Amtrak will not deny travel to an adult without this, but the adult may be subject to extensive questioning and delay by border control officers.

Passengers 17 years old and younger traveling alone may not cross the US-Canadian border regardless of ID or notarized letter, unless accompanied by another passenger who is at least 18 years old.

Exception: Children 15-17 years old who are citizens or residents of one country and bearing identifications proving this, but who are already in the other country, may return home by themselves. For example, a 16-year-old who is a Canadian citizen and has a Canadian passport or other required document is already in the United States, that 16-year-old may return home to Canada.

The headline seems fairly misleading.

[Duckster]

@matt_mcl

That must be either new or peculiar to Amtrak, because when I was 9, my mom sent me and my 7-yo brother from Winnipeg to Washington DC via Northwest Airlines, where my dad was on assignment.

Did you cross prior to 9/11 and the passage of international parental child abduction laws?

[MikeS]

@matt_mcl

That must be either new or peculiar to Amtrak, because when I was 9, my mom sent me and my 7-yo brother from Winnipeg to Washington DC via Northwest Airlines, where my dad was on assignment.

I’m going to vote for “peculiar to Amtrak”. Here’s Delta’s current unaccompanied minors policy. Here’s United’s. Both pages specifically mention international flights as possibilities for unaccompanied minor travel.

[Hari_Seldon]

Yes, it would appear to be Amtrak’s very own policy. Strange. In the case of my children going to college they had US passports and Canadian immigration papers, so I guess they could go in either direction unhindered. And my grandchildren are also dual citizens. I could not find such a prohibition on either the US State Department’s or Canadian Foreign Affairs’ web site, but, in the case of Canada at least, I know of one instance where the Border Patrol takes the attitude that they have their own rules distinct from those of Foreign Affairs (and they have no web site to describe those differences).

But why would Amtrak make up their own rules on this?

[matt_mcl]

@Hari_Seldon

Yes, it would appear to be Amtrak’s very own policy. Strange. In the case of my children going to college they had US passports and Canadian immigration papers, so I guess they could go in either direction unhindered. And my grandchildren are also dual citizens. I could not find such a prohibition on either the US State Department’s or Canadian Foreign Affairs’ web site, but, in the case of Canada at least, I know of one instance where the Border Patrol takes the attitude that they have their own rules distinct from those of Foreign Affairs (and they have no web site to describe those differences).

But why would Amtrak make up their own rules on this?

Well, unlike planes, the train has to stop at the border and wait until everyone’s cleared. Perhaps they have more restrictive admission policies to further reduce the chance of delays for everyone.

[MikeS]

@Hari_Seldon

But why would Amtrak make up their own rules on this?

Two WAGs occur to me:[ul][]Compared to the airlines, a relatively small portion of Amtrak’s traffic is international. Maybe they just decided not to spend the extra money to maintain the procedures, bureaucracy, etc. that would be needed to travel allow for international travel by unaccompanied minors, effectively ceding that small market to the airlines and saving money in the process.[]A kid can accidentally get off a train at an intermediate stop; he/she can’t get off a plane at an intermediate stop in quite the same way. Note that Amtrak’s general unaccompanied minors policy is more restrictive than the airlines’ policies, even for domestic travel. It’d be enough hassle to track down a kid who got off the train at the wrong stop within the U.S., let alone trying to do it when an international border was involved.[/ul]

[Ashes_Ashes]

Technically, unaccompanied minors need at least a passport and a parental affadavit. There are variations depending upon mode of transportation, whether they’re completely unaccompanied or have a chaperone, etc.

The affadavit is part of trying to fight child abductions, run aways, and who knows what else.

In areas where unaccompanied minors crossing are common, the paper and even passport aren’t always checked. To travel to Mexico I simply walked across, not even waiting in line.

[guizot]

@Ashes_Ashes

Technically, unaccompanied minors need at least a passport and a parental affadavit. There are variations depending upon mode of transportation, whether they’re completely unaccompanied or have a chaperone, etc.

In fact, quite a few students at schools close to the border in south San Diego (such as San Ysidro Middle School) have students who live in Tijuana and cross the border (unaccompanied) everyday to go to class. They use the Sentri Pass system, so they obviously wouldn’t be the kind of minor that’s referred to in the sign mentioned in the OP, though.