Social media is active with claims the US land borders will be open to unvaccinated Canadians as of Thursday at midnight due to temporary restrictions expiring..Temporary travel restrictions were put in place on January 22 and, according to the Federal Registry, will expire Thursday at midnight, unless amended..“This Notification announces the decision of the Secretary of Homeland Security (“Secretary”), after consulting with interagency (sic) partners, to temporarily restrict travel by certain noncitizens (sic) into the United States at land ports of entry, including ferry terminals (“land POEs”) along the United States-Canada border,” said the notification on the Federal Registry website..“These restrictions go into effect at 12 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on January 22, 2022, and will remain in effect until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on April 21, 2022, unless amended or rescinded prior to that time.”.Several posts on Twitter are drawing attention to the expiry indicating unvaccinated Canadians will be permitted to cross at land borders into the US by Friday morning..“Tonight (as of now) will end the US vaccine requirement for entry at land borders!” tweeted @MelissaLMRogers..“This means unvaccinated Canadians can now enter the US and get on a plane from there.”.“In a few hours, unless extended before midnight, all US vaccine and public health mandates at the land border with Canada expire and entry will return to pre-pandemic,” said @WatcherAfar in another tweet..“Unvaccinated Canadians, still abused and segregated by their own gov, will now have a legal means of escape.”.The Western Standard contacted US Citizenship and Immigration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), US Customs and Border Protection and the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Sweet Grass Port of Entry at the Alberta-Montana border and was not able to obtain confirmation whether the travel restrictions have been amended and will remain, or will expire at midnight Thursday..An attendant with US Customs and Border Protection said they could not confirm the lifting of vaccine requirements to cross into the US at land borders and said, “all questions related to health matters should be directed to the CDC.”.“DHS will requireâ¯non-US individualsâ¯seeking to enter the United States via land ports of entryâ¯andâ¯ferry terminalsâ¯atâ¯the US-Mexico and US-Canadaâ¯bordersâ¯toâ¯be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 and provide related proof of vaccination,” according to a current fact sheet on the DHS website..The Western Standard spoke to a CBP officer at the Sweet Grass Port of Entry at the Alberta-Montana border who said he had “not heard anything at the port-level.”.“We have not seen anything at this point, but we had heard a decision was coming on the twenty-first (of April),” said the officer but was unable to provide further details..The officer confirmed the current policy for non-US citizens crossing from Canada into the US requires anyone 18-years and older to show proof of vaccination unless an approved medical exemption is provided..More to come….Melanie Risdon is a reporter with the Western Standard.,.mrisdon@westernstandard.news
