As of Friday, Canadians crossing the border into the US must be photographed both entering and leaving. Wow. We cats remember when all you had to do was show a driver's license — or maybe just chat up the friendly customs agent. It was a lot more relaxed, because the US and Canada had the longest undefended border in the world.
We still do.
More rigid rules came into effect after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 — but there have been no such attacks since, and the only reason that Canadians are having to put up with this crap now is because Donald Trump and his minions are a bunch of dicks.
Plenty of Canadians on social media are complaining about this rule, and saying that it will only reinforce their decisions to avoid the US for vacations and other travel. Treating our closest ally like a suspicious character has a chilling effect — who knew? Visits by Canadians to the United States have dropped by nearly a quarter. It's not just that they loathe Benedict Donald. They don't want invasions into their privacy, or maybe even the possibility of being detained. Holy smokes!
It's a tribute to the power of our postwar and post-Cold War influence that Canadian goodwill remains at all — they're able to separate the Trump regime from their affection for the American idea. But how long will that last? It's just one of the many things we cats worry about going into 2026, and one of the zillion reasons we know we have to win the midterms. Let's get working, everyone. We cats PURR.
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