Latest news with #bordercrossing
Russia Today
a day ago
- Politics
- Russia Today
Ukrainian man resorts to cross-dressing in bid to flee country – officials (VIDEO)
A Ukrainian man has been caught disguised as a woman in an attempt to flee the country, local authorities have reported. Martial law bans fighting-age males from going abroad without special permission. The 30-year-old suspect was detained at a Ukrainian security checkpoint while traveling by bus from the Black Sea port city of Odessa to Reni, a city located near the border with Romania, across the Danube River. According to a statement from the border guard service on Wednesday, the man was wearing a black satin dress, a wig, and sunglasses in an effort to pose as a female. The individual has been charged with attempting to illegally cross the border. Ukraine announced a general mobilization in February 2022, under which most men between the ages of 18 and 60 are barred from leaving the country. Kiev has struggled with widespread draft evasion throughout the conflict with Russia, with potential recruits hiding from military officers or attempting unauthorized escapes abroad. Authorities have documented various tactics, including bribery, forged documents, and direct attempts to cross the border. The latter approach has led to multiple deaths. Russian officials have accused Vladimir Zelensky's government of pursuing a war strategy that sacrifices its own citizens in order to remain in power. Moscow claims the administration is prolonging a losing fight while enriching itself at the expense of the population. Military mobilization has become a flashpoint in Ukrainian society, where critics allege that wealth and influence provide a path to exemptions. One alleged case was reported on Wednesday by the Dzerkalo Tizhnya newspaper. According to its sources, former Deputy Prime Minister Aleksey Chernyshov allegedly shielded personal staff members from the draft by employing them at a state-owned gas company he was heading. The investigation, initially led by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), was reportedly suspended after the agency was placed under the authority of the prosecutor general. The move has drawn strong criticism from Ukraine's Western backers, prompting the Zelensky administration to signal plans to reverse the decision.
CTV News
6 days ago
- CTV News
Canadian man denied U.S. entry ahead of wedding, cites alleged overstay
A Brockville, man says he was denied entry to the U.S. in June, days before he was going to marry his American fiancée. CTV's Tyler Fleming reports. A Canadian man says he was denied entry into the United States just days before he was supposed to marry his American fiancée in a small ceremony in upstate New York. Devin Hayden, a Canadian citizen who lives near Brockville, Ont., says he and his partner, Bridget Ellis, have been in a long-distance relationship for four years, regularly crossing the border to visit one another. 'It's not a long drive,' says Hayden. 'It's about an hour and a half, including the border.' The couple had planned a June 14 wedding at a park in Kent, N.Y., with a handful of family and friends. But when Hayden attempted to enter the U.S. on June 2, ahead of the ceremony, he was stopped and questioned by border officials and ultimately turned away. 'They asked me to go to the office to pick up a form, and I thought I was just picking up a form,' he says. 'It turns out I had what they called an overstay, and I had to exit the country immediately.' Hayden says officers reviewed his travel history dating back to November and flagged him for spending too many days in the U.S. as a visitor. He disputes that claim, saying his time south of the border totalled just 154 days. Typically, a visitor to the U.S. can only stay to a maximum of 180 days per year in total. 'Once I saw them all group up and stuff, I'm like, all right, something is about to happen. And then I kind of prepared myself,' he said. 'But once they stood me up, and took fingerprints and stuff, I was like, okay, this is a little worse than I thought it would be.' Adding to the confusion, Hayden says his Canadian passport was nearing its expiration date at the time of his attempted crossing and the 'reason' was left blank on the official denial of entry form he was given. Ellis, who lives in upstate New York and was with Hayden travelling across the border, says all she could do was sit and watch. 'It was a little nerve-racking,' she said. 'I had to turn around and come back to Canada and drop him off and then go back to the states.' The couple had envisioned a simple outdoor ceremony, something low-key but meaningful. 'We were just going to be doing it outside, like at a park with the birds and everything,' Ellis says. 'And live our life the way we want to.' Jennifer Behm, a U.S. immigration lawyer and partner at Berardi Immigration Law in Buffalo, N.Y., says denials like Hayden's are not uncommon, especially when marriage is part of the reason for a visit. 'They (US border agents) are inspecting every visitor for two things. One is, what is the purpose of your entry to the United States, and two, do you intend to depart the United States when you say you're going to depart,' says Behm. 'And so, if someone shows up and the scale is tipping a little bit more heavily towards really strong U.S. ties, that's going to raise a red flag and they're going to be asking a lot of questions,' she continued. 'There is no law that says you can't come to the United States and get married—they're not breaking the law—it's just all of these other factors and the compounded weight of not being convinced the individual has plans to return to Canada.' Behm adds this is a common occurrence at the U.S. Canada border, and that the border agent's actions are 'business as usual,' emphasizing this situation is not politically motivated and that an agent's perception of intent to stay can often be enough for a denial. 'I'd be shocked if he was permitted to enter as a visitor anytime soon,' says Behm. 'Generally, we tell clients once you've been denied entry to the United State, you have to do the heavy lifting to re-establish really strong ties back to your home country֫—here, that being Canada—to show the officer that, in the future when you do request entry, you've got something to return back to Canada to.' For now, Ellis continues to travel to Canada to see Hayden. Both are trying to stay positive. 'I'm hoping once the new passport arrives maybe I'll be allowed back in,' Hayden says. 'We're working well through it, considering the circumstances. We're making do with what we can right now. It's hasn't torn us apart.'
CTV News
17-07-2025
- CTV News
Border guards seize 70 kg of cocaine being smuggled into Canada at B.C crossing
This photo provided by the Canada Border Services Agency shows bricks of cocaine, seized at a B.C. crossing. A search of a pickup truck at a B.C. border crossing last month yielded the largest-ever seizure of cocaine at that port of entry, according to officials. On June 11, officers stopped a Canadian citizen returning from the U.S. at the Osoyoos crossing in the province's southern Interior, the Canda Border Services Agency said in a news release Thursday. 'Upon examination of the vehicle's truck bed, officers found bricks of cocaine weighing a total of 70 kilograms,' the statement said, adding that works out to an estimated 144,000 individual doses. The driver, who was not named and has not been charged, was transferred into police custody. 'With this significant seizure, illegal drugs will not end up in our communities, and the profits will not end up in the hands of organized crime,' said Canada's Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, in a statement.
CTV News
14-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
‘May not make it through the end of summer': Canada's duty-free shops struggling amid drop in cross-border travel
A sign for a duty free store at the Canada/U.S. border crossing in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Que., on Thursday, April 10, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes A duty-free shop at a New Brunswick border crossing is shutting down after more than three decades in business, with its owner warning that more closures could follow as Canada's trade tensions with the United States continue to strain cross-border traffic. John Slipp, owner of the Woodstock Duty Free Shop in Belleville, N.B., says he plans to close his store within the next six weeks, citing plummeting sales, a drop in Canadian travellers, and the lack of federal support. 'Canadians are not traveling across the border in anywhere near the numbers they normally would be,' Slipp said in an interview with CTV News Channel on Saturday. 'At the end of last year, we were down 20 per cent from 2019, still climbing out of the COVID hole. Now, we're talking 50, 55 to 60 per cent down versus 2019, which is the benchmark.' While American visitors are welcome, Slipp says his business is heavily dependent on Canadian travellers. 'Canadians are eligible and qualified to shop in a Canadian land border duty-free shop. They are the foundation of our business,' he said. 'And when you remove the tourism season in the summer months, we rely on those Canadians, who are no longer crossing the border.' The Frontier Duty Free Association, which represents 32 duty free stores across Canada, says many of its members have seen revenue drop between 60 and 80 per cent due to a slowdown in cross-border traffic and tourism. In June, the association joined 15 border-town mayors in calling for financial support from Ottawa and the alignment of tax and export rules to match American duty free policies. Slipp says he's spent the past year trying to manage with fewer resources and searching for government help. 'We certainly have been spending less money and trying to manage in a way that would allow us to extend life, if you would, and working with our trade association... to try to get government assistance,' he said, noting that his shop was closed for a year and a half during the pandemic and received some support at the time, under an emergency order, but that assistance has not been renewed. 'We've been asking for the ability to close temporarily and reopen,' he said. 'And for those of us that lease our land from the federal government, we've been looking for assistance, like rent deferral, which they did during the pandemic, but so far, there's been nothing on that front either.' Slipp says unless conditions improve quickly, more shops like his are at risk. 'Unless there is some miracle in the near future, it appears that my business, and I think probably another half a dozen Canadian land border duty-free shops, will not make it to the end of the year,' he said. 'Some of us may not make it through the end of the summer.' With closures looming, he's urging both the federal government and Canadian travellers to take action before it's too late. 'For many Canadians I'm sure they have appreciated the opportunity to receive the service and the tax-free goods, currency exchange, and the opportunity to spend their Canadian money in Canada,' he said. 'You're about to lose that not just at the Woodstock-Houlton border crossing, but at a number of border crossings across the country.' That's why, he says, the time to act is now. 'I would urge Canadians, if you are going to be crossing that border, keep your money in Canada. Spend it at a local Canadian duty free shop (and) help these businesses gain more life.'
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Texas may not enforce migrant arrest law, US appeals court rules
By Nate Raymond (Reuters) -Texas authorities may not enforce a Republican-backed state law that would let them arrest and prosecute people suspected of illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, a divided federal appeals court ruled late on Thursday. A 2-1 panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an injunction that blocked enforcement of the disputed law, which former Democratic President Joe Biden's administration had gone to court to challenge. Republican President Donald Trump's administration dropped the federal government's case, but the Texas law known as SB4 had continued to be challenged by, among others, the immigrant rights group Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, which argued federal law preempted the state's. The law, which Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed in December 2023, would make it a state crime to illegally enter or re-enter Texas from a foreign country and would empower state judges to order that violators leave the United States, with prison sentences up to 20 years for those who refuse to comply. U.S. Circuit Judge Priscilla Richman, writing for the New Orleans-based court's majority, said that for nearly 150 years, the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that the power to control immigration was exclusively a federal power. Relying on a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down parts of an Arizona immigration law, she said the Texas law, if allowed to be enforced by the Texas Department of Public Safety, would interfere with the federal government's ability to enforce complex U.S. immigration laws. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, vowed to appeal the decision, saying "I will always fight to stop illegal immigration." The ruling upheld a lower-court judge's February 2024 preliminary injunction. The U.S. Supreme Court a month later briefly allowed the law to take effect, but the 5th Circuit within hours halted it pending further review. The opinion by Richman, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush, was joined by U.S. Circuit Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez, a Biden appointee. U.S. Circuit Judge Andrew Oldham, a Trump appointee, dissented. He said the majority treated as irrelevant that Trump has been encouraging states to aid his administration's efforts to ramp up immigration enforcement. "It is a sad day for the millions of Americans who are concerned about illegal immigration and who voiced those concerns at ballot boxes across Texas and the Nation," Oldham wrote. Cody Wofsy, a lawyer for the plaintiffs at the American Civil Liberties Union, in a statement welcomed the ruling, saying state immigration laws like the one Texas adopted have been repeatedly rejected by courts and "are deeply harmful to our communities.'
