What happens if an arriving passenger into the US/Canada assaults a border officer?
One of my close British classmates will be travelling soon to Canada and the the United States for a week. Although hes a 'decent' guy who has gathered no criminal charges or arrest records as a 20yr old guy, he has some serious 'mental instablity'/ personality issues and has made some serious verbal threats towards people along with various physical altercations in the past.
Watching these border security shows, he believes that those people are only concerned about drugs, immigration status, and illegal stuff. He has a short temper and thinks that throwing a few swear words or threats will be fine. however I have seen various signs on these shows pasted around airports warning passengers about the penalties for verbal and physical assaults on officers. He seems to be downplaying the seriousness of all this.
From a legal standpoint, what is the limit to what can be considered a threat to an immigration officer aside from punching them in the face? I have heard stories of people arrested in Canada for swearing at CBSA officers but I'm not exactly sure if that's standard policy or a once-off thing.
Best Answer
It certainly depends on the mood of the officer he swears to or threatens, but with high probability, they have a low threshold, and it is a felony.
He can expect arrest, some nights in detention, with a conviction (probably on parole), deportation, and a multi-year ban for the country. Nobody wants people with this attitude.
This could also (negatively) influence getting visas for other countries.
I am aware that for many brits, a sentence without 'bloody' is syntactically incomplete, but he should try to adjust to other cultures a bit, before he has to learn the hard way. Just shutting up will go a long way; he is allowed to think what he wants.
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