Tuesday, June 5, 2007
More Border Blues--Canadian Mom Searching for Missing Daughter Denied Entry
Stop the Drug War.org by Philip Smith
LINK TO STORY: http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle_blo ... dian_mom_s
Just two weeks ago, in an article titled Border Blues (http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/487 ... user_entry), we wrote about how both the Canadian and the US governments can and do deny entry to people who admit to past drug use or have a drug conviction. Last week, a particularly egregious example of the abuse of this provision occurred.
In a sad tale first picked up by the Vancouver daily the Province, "Mother's Hunt for Missing Daughter Blocked at Border", Kamloops, BC, mother Glendene Grant related how she was turned away from the US as she headed for Las Vegas to search for her young adult daughter, Jessie Foster, who went missing a little more than a year ago.
Although Grant had made several previous trips to Las Vegas in an effort to find her daughter and even though she was scheduled to meet local law enforcement and appear at a Crimestoppers event about Jessie's disappearance, she was turned away a week ago today. Why? The 49-year-old mother was arrested in 1986 on marijuana and cocaine possession charges.
We are looking into this. Right now, I have emailed Ms. Grant to set up an interview, and I have calls in to US Customs and Border Protection and an anti-human trafficking unit in the Las Vegas Police Department. There is apparently some suspicion that Jessie Foster was the victim of sex slavers.
But who cares about that, right? Customs and Border Protection appears more interested in protecting us from a harmless woman who got busted on penny ante drug possession charges more than two decades ago than helping her spur an investigation with possible international implications.
My understanding that the decision to deny entry to people with old drug convictions is not mandatory (I'll be checking with CBP on this) but discretionary. In the case of Glendene Grant, the denial of entry looks to be an abuse of discretion, not to mention just downright mean, inhumane, and cold-hearted. Is there more to the story? Stay tuned.
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COMMENTS:
Entrey Denied
Comment posted by Anonymous on Tue, 06/05/2007 - 5:06pm
What for an arrest in 1986 for marjuana and cocaine. This is just ubserd and she has been to Vega's before. So what the other times she came to the US never happened. wow i hate the US border patrol they cant keep illegal immigrants out but wont let a person looking for there daughter in this is just insane.
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Denied Entry
Comment posted by Anonymous on Sun, 06/10/2007 - 3:05am (12:05am my time)
I am Glendene Grant. I am the mother of missing Jessie Foster and the person denied border crossing. I have been to Las Vegas 2 times and to New York City 1 time (for the Montel Williams show), this would have been my 4th trip to the USA (and this is in my entire life-and the trips have been within the past 8 months).
If there is ANYONE out there who is able to help me get this pardon done, or find a way around it, I would appreciate hearing from you ASAP. I need to get back to Las Vegas and get the appointments and interviews done that had to be postponed.
Please contact me anytime: jessiesmom@jessiefoster.ca and please visit our site: http://www.jessiefoster.ca and pass that site around to your friends, family, co-workers...everyone.
Thank you so much for your support in our search for Jessie and my quest to get back to the USA.
Sincerely, Glendene Grant.
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