Border trauma for couple

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Donald and Jan Miller were looking forward to a weekend in Grand Forks. But their trip got off to a terrifying start when they were ordered out of their vehicle at gunpoint, handcuffed and then held for questioning by U.S. border guards. It was just a case of mistaken identity. (TREVOR.HAGAN@FREEPRESS.MB.CA)

A Winnipeg couple on a weekend trip to Grand Forks was ordered out of their car at gunpoint, handcuffed and marched inside the Pembina border crossing station for questioning on Friday.

Their crime?

Having a common name.

Jan and Donald "Dusty" Miller were questioned for several minutes by U.S. border agents after the 54-year-old man's name and birthdate came up listed as "armed and dangerous" on a border crossing computer.

"I just find it very frightening," Jan Miller said on Monday after returning to Canada the day before.

"All of a sudden, six guns were pointed at our car. We were told to get out and walk backwards. They handcuffed me.

"I've never had handcuffs on in my life. I was just in shock."

She said neither she nor her husband and herself have been in trouble or have criminal records so she doesn't understand why the incident happened. About 15 minutes after being ordered from their vehicle, the couple was told it was a case of mistaken identity because of the man's name and birthdate.

The husband said he was expecting smooth sailing at the border because the couple -- who were heading to Grand Forks for a weekend golf and shopping getaway with some friends -- had planned ahead for the new passport rules.

The couple made the trip about once a year, and Donald Miller said he never had trouble crossing the border with his driver's licence.

The last thing he expected was to have guns trained on him, a sight that petrified him despite his military background.

The fear was mixed with embarrassment. As he was being handcuffed, he noticed passengers from other cars leaning out their windows to snap photos using their cellphones.

The husband and wife were then put in separate interrogation rooms, and Donald Miller underwent an embarrassingly intimate search.

"That's the only thing they didn't do, was a strip search," he said, but added the agents removed his shoes and socks looking for concealed weapons.

Although he asked numerous times, Donald Miller said, no one would tell him why he was being detained.

After a long line of questioning by one agent -- while another searched him and yet another trained a gun on him -- he was uncuffed and led toward the lobby where his wife was waiting.

Only as he was leaving the interrogation room did the agents tell Miller the mistake had been his identity.

Looking back at the incident, Miller said he wasn't angry at the American border agents for searching and questioning him.

"They were doing their job, what they should do," he said.

But Miller said it's upsetting that he wasn't uncuffed sooner, and that no one offered an apology.

"Thing is, the Americans don't know how to say 'I'm sorry for the inconvenience.'"

The couple both expressed concern the experience could have been far more traumatic if there had been children travelling with them, or someone with a heart condition.

"I can understand the high security at the border -- I really do -- but there has to be some way of not doing this," Jan Miller said.

"I'm afraid of going down there now."

When a vehicle stops at a border crossing, border agents punch in names and birthdates into computers linked to the National Crime Information Center, the country's central database for crime-related information.

Chris Misson, supervisor at the Pembina Port of Entry, said when a name pops up as armed and dangerous, customs agents proceed on that basis until information comes out to refute it.

"This does happen from time to time -- especially with common names like Smith and Johnson," Misson said.

"It's unfortunate, but the officers have to do with what's in front of them. We have to proceed until we find out it's not a match.

"On a given day, there are an average of 76 arrests throughout the country -- we have to take each hit seriously."

But Misson said now that Donald Miller of Winnipeg has been checked out, they have added information to the computer so he won't get pulled over again at a border crossing.

Still, Miller said he wouldn't be convinced until he tried crossing the border again.

"I'll go back by myself because I don't want to take the wife through that again," he explained. "I don't want to take the chance."

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca arielle.godbout@freepress.mb.ca

Information on FBI database

THE National Crime Information Center is a computerized database operated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The database contains information on criminal records, fugitives, missing persons and wanted persons. As well, stolen licence plates are on file, as well as stolen boats and guns.

The information comes from several areas including the FBI, federal, state, local and foreign criminal justice agencies.

The database is open only to federal, state, local law enforcement agencies and other related justice agencies.

Source: National Crime Information Center

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 21, 2009 A3