Racist border policies mean Toronto school board will no longer allow trips to Trump's USA

Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/03/23/allies.html

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Thanks for keeping the America in North America guys! Keep up the good work.

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Once the Girl Guides stopped their trips it was just a matter of time before the TDSB did as well.

From a completely pragmatic standpoint, it just makes sense. What are the teachers supposed to do if one or more students are denied entry?

And maybe, just maybe, it might make more Americans open their eyes about the real outcome of their “increased security measures” – although that’s probably hoping for too much.

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Really? I don’t remember any.
Maybe it was just the rich white schools that got to go?

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The inception of the students or of the schools?

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Trump’s USA

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It makes sense for the schools to adopt this policy.
But its also giving the Trumpkins what they want - keeping Muslims out of USA.

The whole travel related stuff over the last two months has been really depressing for me. Fewer people in all categories are coming to USA for visit, study, work etc. Liberals keep pointing this out, thinking this will turn people against Trump. Meanwhile conservatives are going yeah, ban them, Trump is succeeding in doing what we want.

There is just a big gap in communication.

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That’s going to happen regardless.

When your two options are:

  1. Have individual students refused entry to the country on a fieldtrip and get sent home.
  2. Have fieldtrip elsewhere with no issues.

Trump will get to “keep the muslims out” in both cases, but option #1 is far, far worse than #2 for everyone involved.

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I’m expecting a record low year for Latin American migrants as well. Vegetables might get pretty expensive coming up here.

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And I grew up near Buffalo—and I remember our high-school trips to Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum warmly!

I sadly imagine this will go both ways—i.e., as more and more USians worry about hassles getting back in if they cross the border, educational trips to Canada for US students will be cancelled, too.

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Or, you know…if one of their relatives shares a name with somebody who said something craycray one time online a few years back, perhaps being turned away from the border might be the least of these children’s problems when they try to cross.

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I came back to NYC from Montreal by train on Wednesday and I cannot say the USA Border Patrol (as their bulletproof vests were labeled) treated the Canadian passengers particularly warmly. They were quite short with them, particularly the ones who primarily spoke French and were flustered by the rapid fire questioning in English. Those passengers were sent to the cafe car for further questioning before being allowed to continue.

Not a warm welcome and I couldn’t imagine wanting to chaperone a bunch of students through such an unpleasant experience.

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I guess it makes sense that racists are attracted to INS as a job. I imagine they spent the past 8 years very frustrated about having to treat immigrants with courtesy most of the time. But now they get to show their true colors.

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I wouldn’t plan a trip to the US if I was responsble for a bunch of kids. What if one of them gets snatched and shipped to Gitmo? Who knows what they have posted online?

Not at all worth the risk, and I just wouldn’t even consider it.

This is becoming an issue as my kid’s hockey league will include Seattle next year. We may have to insist that the Seattle teams come to us as visitors. Of course, if any of their players are Muslim or otherwise not WASPS they will need to think about the risk on re-entry as well.

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Heck, that was somewhat true at least 10 years ago with the wife and I returning from Canada…
Heading into Canada, chat a bit with the border feller mention that it is the wife’s first visit to Canada/etc – feller looks at our IDs; says wait a minute and walks away (we think, crap what is wrong); feller returns with a Canadian flag pin for the wife and wishes us a pleasant visit.
On returning a few days later, we get the US fellers in their paramilitary costumes that give us the third degree and have us pull over and check out our car and bring us inside for vetting… At then end we have a nice chat with one of the guys who was originally from L.A., but it was a very different experience.

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Fify: “keeping anyone who has enough melanin to not pass for white out of USA”

In this case it seems more like “An apple a day keeps the doctor away, a garlic a day keeps everyone away”.

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I agree, but it’s not really fair to ask (foreign) kids to be foot soldiers in the Trump resistance either. Getting barred entry to a country can stay with you for life, even if it’s completely bogus. It’s not worth the risk. I’m assuming the TSB consulted extensively with parents before coming to this decision.

America is going to have to figure this out themselves. When they realize:

1- That these policies restrict labour (skilled and unskilled) from entering the US, thereby stalling innovation and lowering productivity;

2- That they don’t prevent terrorism

3- That they give America a bad name

4- That the rest of the world just keeps trying to get along,

Then maybe the other 50% of Americans will come to their senses.

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