Long waits and rudeness

MISSION — It’s a long haul from Canada to South Texas — 2,260 miles from Ottawa to Mission, for example — and the last thing Winter Texans need is a long wait at the U.S.-Canada border while sometimes rude U.S. border agents inspect RVs and other vehicles heading south.

More than 8 percent of Winter Texans in the McAllen-Mission-Harlingen area are Canadian, according to Penny Simpson, director of the Valley Markets and Tourism Research Center at the University of Texas-Pan American. At some area RV parks, though, Canadians account for up to 30 percent of the residents.

Nearly all of them are arriving this year with new tales of what happened when they approached the U.S. border.

For many, this was the first year in many years of crossing that they were hassled.

Lou Henke, manager of Bentsen Palm RV Resort, also in Mission, spoke of woeful times returning to the United States at International Falls, Minn., from a Canadian fishing trip.

“They’re real snotty,” he said of U.S. customs agents. “And the lines were huge.”

And it’s just as bad entering the United States from Mexico, he said. Henke reported passing a long line of cars waiting to enter the United States from Nuevo Progreso as he was crossing over to the Mexican side. By the time he visited a dentist there and returned to the port of entry, “It looked like many of the cars that were there when I crossed were still there,” he said.

Michael Wilson, Canada’s ambassador to the United States, said on a Tuesday visit to San Antonio that border crossings will get tougher next year. Starting Jan. 31, U.S. and Canadian citizens will be required to show a government-issued identity card and proof of citizenship, like a passport or birth certificate, when entering the United States by land at the northern and southern borders.

Nor is it a problem just for Winter Texans — or civilians.

Last month, U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped a Canadian fire truck responding to a request for aid from a New York department for about 8 minutes while they checked the papers of the truck and firefighters.

John S. DeMott writes about Winter Texans and covers general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at 956 683 4422.