Canada will test the “customs precontrol” in the United States

Canada is preparing to install its first border services post in the United States. The two-year-old-pilot project will allow Canada to make “customs precontrol” on American soil.
The project will take place at the Earth’s Entrance point of Covey Hill, Quebec, not far from Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle. On the other side of the border, the American post is located in Cannon Corners, in New York State.
This “low -traffic border post will test the concept of land precontrol”, explains the Canada Border Services Agency.
Faster and faster
Concretely, Quebec border services agents will be assigned about 200 meters from their current workplace, in American US Customs and Border Protection facilities. They will therefore work on a foreign soil.
Generally, when a motorist in Canada wants to go to the United States, he must cross the border and introduce himself to American agents stationed in their own country. On the way back, it is the opposite: it must cross the border to the north, about 200 meters further, to answer questions from Canadian agents. With the pilot project, the two stops will be on American soil.
Canada will be the first country authorized to preconstrulate on American soil, whether by land or in airports. The United States is already doing preconstrusal in six countries around the world, including Canada.
The objective of these positions is to allow travelers and “pre -assembled” goods to cross the border faster. This system is safer “because you can identify possible threats earlier in the process,” said the agency.
Well known at airports
If you’ve already flew to the United States from one of the big Canadian airports, you’ve passed US customs before you even put the plane when you still had both well-posed on Canadian soil. This device exists at the Montreal airports, Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary, Halifax, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver.
Result: you avoid making the customs queue when you land in American airports, often overloaded, and you go directly to recover your luggage. This is called “customs preconstrusal”, or more specifically the US CBP Particrance.
This system also allows passengers to turn back more easily if they are denied access to the United States.
Agents who work on American customs are therefore Americans who live in Canada and who have a special work permit. They are not allowed to be armed. They can only apply the immigration and customs laws of their country. If a traveler became agitated or violent, for example, the police and the airport security agents should intervene.
“A clear frame” is requested
Several questions remain, especially if the agency wishes to extend the preconstrusal program to other places in the United States, as in airports, for example.
“With the current political situation, this remains delicate and we would like to see the Canada Border Services Agency to establish a clear framework,” said a spokesperson for the Customs and Immigration Union.
Recall that the American president accuses Canada of not tackling fentanyl traffic and irregular migrants who cross his border.
A new Black Hawk helicopter already flies over the long wooded border separating Quebec from the United States. (Royal Gendarmerie of Canada)
Canada is deploying a plan to enhance its border security, especially with the addition of a Black Hawk helicopter to fly over the long wooded border separating Quebec from the United States.