Smile! The U.S. Sees You Coming

(Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star)

High in the sky, down on the ground, agents with high-tech tools guard the border

About 15 metres before a car from Canada reaches the border inspection booth, the screenings begin.

A camera snaps your licence plate.

An electronic card reader mounted on a yellow post scans your car for the presence of any radio-frequency ID cards inside. If there is an enhanced driver’s licence embedded with biometric information, its unique PIN number is read without you offering it.

The Customs and Border Protection computer connects with your province’s database and in less than a second – .56 to be exact – your personal information is uploaded to a screen in the booth. A second camera snaps the driver’s face.

Welcome to the United States of America.

If Canadians were under the impression that the Canada-loving U.S. President Barack Obama would heed pleas to loosen border controls to ease trade and traffic, there should no longer be any confusion. He has not. Read more here.