"I just felt like I'd been holding my breath the whole time," says Remy Boulbol Sirls of her experience crossing the border Monday morning as a Canadian citizen of the Muslim faith.
Boulbol Sirls has been crossing the border since she started her job with the Detroit Public Schools Foundation last summer. As an American-born Canadian, she has faced questions from the U.S. Border Protection Agency before.
"I've been told that I'm an American masquerading as a Canadian and that I should travel on my U.S. passport, and some arguments back and forth about that," she says. "But never this rudeness and this coldness, which is what I think shook me more than anything else."
Monday's commute was the first trip to Detroit for Boulbol since U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order banning travellers from seven Muslim-majority nations took effect Friday.
The executive order caused chaos at some American airports as refugees travelling on previously-approved visas were detained or barred from the country. The action sparked protests at several airports.
Although the confusion was pronounced at airports, questions are being raised about the way the order was carried out at land crossings too.
As of Saturday, Windsor immigration lawyer Jason Currie was advising his clients to exercise caution travelling to the U.S., after he was told those who were born in, or held dual citizenship with Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Yemen and Somalia were barred entry for 90 days. He says he was told even travellers with permanent residency were being assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Boulbol Sirls says the experience Monday morning caused her enough anxiety that afterwards, she had to pull over.
"Partially the anticipation of coming up to that border was awful," she says. "Feeling like this is just beyond me."
