Paige Adamson, a 61-year-old Canadian citizen who has lived in Point Roberts, Washington, as a U.S. permanent resident for 14 years, was stopped at the Point Roberts crossing on Sept. 15 after a birthday dinner in Tsawwassen and asked if she had ever voted in a federal U.S. election. Adamson said she told the agent she had never voted in a federal election, was sent to secondary inspection just after 9 p.m., interrogated until after 2 a.m., and admitted after signing documents that include a line saying she "must surrender for removal from the United States, if so ordered." Department of Homeland Security documents allege Adamson falsely claimed U.S. citizenship to register to vote in Whatcom County and voted in Washington state's 2018 general election; Adamson told CBC she does not remember voting in a state election though she acknowledged receiving a ballot and may have been registered. Adamson is scheduled for a hearing in Seattle and faces possible removal from the state where she has lived since 2012. Blaine immigration lawyer Len Saunders told CBC he has heard from three people in the past week and a half about near-identical voting-related detentions, an uptick he finds unprecedented in his 25-year career. B.C. immigration lawyer Chris Anders said border enforcement is far stricter than in the past two decades and that expanding databases can surface errors that previously caused no problems. Washington state automatically registers some eligible voters when people get or renew a driver’s licence, but internal Department of Licensing emails obtained by the Federation for American Immigration Reform show instances of non-citizens being registered to vote, a point lawyers say may help explain some database mismatches prompting questioning at the border.
