by Jen Mallia
Last updated: 3:15 PM ET, Thu May 8, 2025
When travellers cross the border from the U.S. into Canada they must pass through Canadian customs and border control for inbound screening. Both countries also reserve the right to do outbound screening checks as an added measure of security. These outbound checks are performed periodically, but are not a part of every transborder crossing. As lawyer Len Saunders explained to CBC News, these types of checkpoints are typically put in place during a crisis such as an amber alert or when there's a criminal on the run.
"What's new is that they're doing them every single day, which I've never seen," he said.
Reports from the Peace Arch and Pacific Highway crossings in British Columbia indicate that U.S. customs and border patrol (CBP) are stopping people as they leave Washington, leading to delays of several hours. "I went and watched on Saturday and they were stopping every fourth car, looking in the trunk, looking in the backseat and letting them go," Blaine Washington Mayor Mary Lou Steward told the CBC.
“As part of its national security mission U.S. Customs and Border Protection routinely conducts inspections on outbound traffic,” CBP public affairs specialist Jason Givens told a reporter from The Northern Light, Blaine’s local paper. “These inspections are a vital tool in apprehending wanted individuals as well as in seizing a variety of contraband – which ultimately makes our communities safer.”
Canadians are already feeling increasingly uneasy about crossing the border and residents of Blaine, which relies on cross border traffic for sales tax revenue are concerned that the added time and hassle at the border will lead to even fewer Canadians making the trip south. Josie Frodert, Ship49 general manager, told Northern Light that if the checks continue she believes it will reduce the number of Canadians visiting the parcel store, where business is already down 80 to 85 percent.
“Everyone is losing trust,” Frodert said. “No one wants to come down.”
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