U.S. border guards bar skilled Canadian from his job
Technician says increased protectionism at U.S. border is unfair
A highly skilled Canadian telecommunications specialist who worked in Utah for more than a decade has suddenly been denied entry into the U.S. in a case he and others say highlights the increasing difficulties Canadians are facing at the American border.
"Is there a war going on [at] the border that we don't know about?" Kevin Gibbons asks. "Why are Canadians getting hassled so much right now?"In a B.C. motel where he is now staying, Kevin Gibbons, right, shows Go Public reporter Kathy Tomlinson his numerous job qualifications and visas, which he says are not good enough for U.S. border guards.
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Gibbons is devastated because, he said, for the first time in his life, he's looking for a job and a new home — thanks to the discretion of U.S. border guards.
"I still can't believe that this can happen. They can take your life and trash it," said Gibbons.
Need to 'protect American job market'
A spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border protection said there is an increased demand on border guards to be very thorough with NAFTA applicants.
"We do have a commitment at the border to protect the American job market," said Jan Pete of Customs and Border Protection in Blaine, Wash.
"While this (NAFTA visa) is a benefit that's available to Canadians and we have an obligation to see that they get that benefit — we also have an obligation to make sure that we only allow those people in that should be allowed in," Pete said.Jan Pete, of U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Blaine, Wash., says new technology is causing U.S. border guards to exercise increased scrutiny.
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Gibbons was recruited by a large U.S. company in 1995, to work as a scientific technician for their Salt Lake City office. He was granted a work visa issued to non-immigrant NAFTA professionals, known as a TN Visa. Gibbons said his company's law firm also secured a permanent waiver, which he needed because of a marijuana possession conviction he received as a teenager.
Over the next 12 years, Gibbons said he acquired several U.S. security clearances and built a highly successful career.
"I worked for the airport communications systems," Gibbons said. "I installed a 911 system by myself down there. I have worked on their infrastructure and I have probably done more than most of the American citizens have to build their infrastructure."
Gibbons and his wife Heather bought a home in Utah. Their daughter married an American serviceman and they now have two U.S.-born grandchildren.
Kevin Gibbons and his wife Heather say overzealous U.S. border guards have forced them to leave everything behind in Utah, including a newborn grandson.
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Barred from his job, U.S. home
In July 2007, the family came back to Canada to visit relatives. Gibbons said he was shocked when U.S. border guards denied him re-entry, despite his valid work visa.
"I was stunned," Gibbons said. "They pretty much just slammed the door on me and said you can't go home."
Gibbons said he was told he needed to get a new waiver for his 30-year-old marijuana conviction. He turned his family around and spent four months in Canada, applying for and getting the waiver, while his company kept his job for him.
His dilemma worsened when he tried to go home again. A new U.S. border guard refused to allow him in, despite the new waiver, because, Gibbons said, the guard decided Gibbons suddenly wasn't qualified for his job or his visa.
'[A U.S. border guard] took my credentials, put them aside and told me they were garbage.'— Kevin Gibbons"He took my credentials, put them aside and told me they were garbage. I was told they were of no use for the classification that I was seeking that I had had for 13 years," said Gibbons. "It was a discretionary call on his part and I was just trying to follow the rules."
Gibbons said he was told, for a NAFTA visa, he now needed a university degree. He said his impression was the border guards thought he was trying to steal a job from an American, when in fact, he said, his company can't find a qualified American to take his place.
"It was a specialized field that I had a passion for," he said. "This experience has almost torn the life out of me."
Pete confirmed applicants under categories like scientific technician face more scrutiny because they don't need to have a university degree.
"They are difficult to adjudicate and difficult for people to provide the documentation to support that they are qualified for the job," said Pete.
Gibbons said he was allowed to travel back to Utah, temporarily, to sell his home — at a huge loss — and collect the family belongings. Since coming back to Canada, he's tried to cross again, unsuccessfully, at other ports of entry — because his U.S. employer still wants him back. Gibbons said, each time, he was made to feel more and more like a criminal.
"They (Customs and Border Protection) then accused me of border shopping and said they were going to put me in jail over the weekend up in front of an immigration judge," said Gibbons.NAFTA visa applicants should be prepared for tough scrutiny at the U.S. border, says Vancouver lawyer David Andersson.
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That threat was enough to scare the Gibbons family away from the border permanently.
"It feels like we must have done something really horrible, the way they treat you," said Gibbon's wife Heather.
Family forced to start over
The family is in Nanaimo, B.C., living out of suitcases, while Gibbons looks for work. He estimates the ordeal has cost them $100,000 in lost wages and home equity. What's worse, Gibbons said, the couple has have a grandson — born in Utah in December — that they haven't seen because they are too afraid to risk crossing again.
"The hardest parts for me is that the punishment has been taken out on my family as well and they don't deserve it," said Gibbons. "We had a life there and it was a good life and when it is taken from you for no reason, it is so traumatic."
'The border has become a harder place.'— Vancouver lawyer David Andersson"The stakes are higher when you show up at a port of entry," said David Andersson, a Vancouver lawyer who specializes in helping clients get U.S. visas. "The border has become a harder place."
Andersson said three NAFTA categories have become increasingly problematic: scientific technician — which was Gibbons's category — computer systems analyst and management consultant.
"You fall into what a friend of mine who is a border guard has affectionately called the fraud funnel," Andersson said. "There is a predisposition to give your immigration application a really good kick because there are people who do abuse those categories."
"I wouldn't say there's more deliberate fraud," said Pete. "I would say sometimes the employer is uninformed."
Pete said several recruits who have been allowed entry in the past are now being refused.
"The new technology that we have ever since 9-11 and the increased demand on the officers to make sure that there are no errors in the people they admit to the United States encourage them to be very thorough," said Pete. "They review documentation very thoroughly and they take each case very seriously."
Many more Canadians barred
Andersson said, the consequences for Canadians who try to cross multiple times are much more serious than before 9-11. Applicants can now be barred from the U.S. for five years, possibly for life, for trying to cross too many times without proper documents. Andersson said he knew of only a dozen such cases in the Seattle area in 2000, but that number shot up to some 300 Canadians barred last year, in the Seattle area alone.
"For the 300 who receive the (deportation) orders, it's devastating, absolutely devastating. And to repair yourself legally after you've been deported from the United States is expensive, time-consuming, and for the people it can be heart-wrenching," said Andersson.
His advice to NAFTA visa applicants is to do everything possible to make sure all paperwork is in order before trying to cross the first time.
That advice means little to Kevin Gibbons, though. His company provided a lawyer who told him his visa was in order.
"We've tried to do everything right and they've made the hoop smaller every time," said Gibbons.
