The U.S. has never actually lived up to the ideals we were taught in school, but less than two months into Trump’s second term, our country has become a truly dangerous place to visit. So it shouldn’t be surprising that a pair of power-tripping cops who had nothing to do with immigration enforcement took it upon themselves to harass non-citizens, including subjecting Canadian folk duo Cassie and Maggie MacDonald to a completely uncalled for loyalty test during an Ohio traffic stop, as the Globe and Mail reports. And it doesn’t sound like something two different cops independently came up with, either.
The sisters, who were in the U.S. on a tour, admit the initial stop was valid — Maggie MacDonald took a phone call behind the wheel of their Chevrolet Malibu rental car, and Ohio’s hands-free law makes it illegal to hold a cell phone while driving — but what should have been a quick ticket turned into a much longer ordeal after the cops learned they were Canadian. They were forced to wait while two Guernsey County Sheriff’s Deputies brought out a drug dog that allegedly discovered narcotics. Except when the cops searched the car, all they could find was a bottle of wine and some prescription medication. Curious, right?
Instead of writing the ticket and letting them go, the deputies continued to question the women, seemingly convinced that Trump’s already debunked Canadian fentanyl claims weren’t obvious lies. “The officer speaking to me seemed to believe that Canada was the root of where all these drugs were coming from,” Cassie MacDonald told the Globe and Mail. “It seemed very much in line with the narrative that has recently been touted.” Almost none of the fentanyl brought into the U.S. comes from Canada.
How much do you love America?
Their search for drugs that didn’t exist may have been a bust, but the deputies also put the sisters in separate patrol vehicles and started asking even more inappropriate questions. “Mine asked, ‘I have an important question to ask you, which do you prefer, Canada or the United States?'” Cassie told the Globe and Mail. “It seemed weighted, as if whether we were going to be given a further difficult time or if we were going to have the opportunity to go on our way depended on the answer I gave.”
And while it’s entirely possible the two deputies acted on their own, Cassie told the Canadian news outlet that it sure didn’t feel that way. “It was two police officers just doing their job, but the question seemed out of place,” Cassie told the Canadian news outlet. She also added, “I found it to be a very jarring question. And the fact we were both asked that question independently makes me think it was a mandate coming from above.” A spokesperson for the Guernsey County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the stop when contacted by the Globe and Mail, which, notably, is not a denial.
Cancel your U.S. holiday
Both Cassie and Maggie MacDonald have had U.S. work visas for more than a decade, so there was no reason for them to suspect they would have any issues. In fact, Maggie wasn’t even cited for the cell phone violation they pulled her over for in the first place. Instead, they let her go with a warning. Based on some of the stories that have made the news recently, they were also lucky the cops only wasted their time, accused them of fentanyl trafficking and subjected them to a loyalty test while detained. And even though cops harassing Canadian drivers isn’t completely new, it’s also hard to imagine they’ll risk booking another tour in the U.S. now that they know how quickly a simple traffic stop can escalate.
It’s also difficult to recommend anyone who lives in a different country still visit, even for a short holiday. You shouldn’t speed or use a phone while driving, but it’s also very normal to make mistakes while driving in a new country. And as much as it would be wonderful if we could guarantee law enforcement would treat people fairly and follow the law in those situations, that just isn’t possible anymore. For your own sake, it’s probably better to spend your tourist dollars in a country where you don’t have to worry about being disappeared without due process.
Hopefully, it won’t be the case forever, but I know I sure wouldn’t want to roll the dice like that. And while change does take time, maybe if all the tourist dollars dry up, business owners will finally get fed up enough with Republicans taking money out of their pockets to demand that change happen faster.
