Canadian Border Crackdown May Keep
Bush from Trade Summit
By Jennifer C. Berkshire
QUEBEC CITY -- Tough new enforcement
of immigration laws at the Canadian border has prompted concern
that President George W. Bush may have trouble entering the country
for the Summit of the Americas, scheduled to begin on Friday.
In preparation for the Summit,
authorities have implemented unprecedented security precautions
at the border, including checking the arrest records of every
entrant into Canada. Now, say some officials, those measures
may even be extended to Summit participants including George
W. Bush.
"We are looking for any
history of criminal activity, any
evidence that a certain individual may be harmful to himself
or the Canadian people," said Francois de Rigaud, an immigration
official in Quebec.
Yesterday, border police at
the Derby crossing in Vermont refused entrance to a prominent
New England labor leader, on the grounds that he had been arrested
during a Vietnam-era protest in 1971.
The exclusion of the labor
official, who was to have
participated in an international pre-Summit meeting starting
last night, has triggered speculation that President Bush himself
may have difficulty crossing the border, due to a conviction
for drunken driving in 1976.
"We`re obviously concerned,"
said one Republican party leader close to the President. "We
weren`t aware that the Canadians were going to be checking records."
Asked earlier this year about
the DUI arrest, President Bush expressed sorrow over the incident.
"I regret drinking while intoxicated," he said, "but
I was never under anybody`s influence at the time." CP
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