From Canada<\/p>\n
Ontario boater baffled by lengthy U.S. internment<\/strong><\/p>\n Trevor Wilhelm Monday, August 27, 2007<\/p>\n WINDSOR, Ont. — The man from Woodstock, Ont., who spent weeks languishing in a U.S. immigration jail after refusing to boat back to Canada because he had been drinking, was back in this country Monday, minus his identification, credit cards, $400 in cash and his clothes.<\/p>\n Terry DaCosta, 39, had been in a Michigan jail since Aug. 3, despite committing no criminal offence. <\/p>\n He appeared at the Windsor tunnel’s immigration office Monday, in a T-shirt, rolled-up blue jeans and shoes from the Monroe County Jail’s lost-and-found box. The jail had lost his effects.<\/p>\n During his ordeal, DaCosta said he endured cramped quarters, grumpy guards, a broken toilet and the company of dozens of others detained for long periods for similarly unclear reasons.<\/p>\n He said the U.S. border patrol jailed him after he was denied access to the country, and he was unable to boat back to Canada because he’d been drinking.<\/p>\n DaCosta and some friends, who drove their own pleasure boats, left Leamington, Ont. on Lake Erie and docked at Put-in-Bay near Sandusky, Ohio, on Aug. 3. While tying off the boats and waiting for entry approval — which he’d been granted several times previously, including two weeks prior — DaCosta had a few beers.<\/p>\n Then the border patrol said they were denying him entry. He still doesn’t know why.<\/p>\n Since DaCosta had been drinking, he and his friends had dinner to decide what to do. While they were thinking about the dilemma, border guards returned.<\/p>\n DaCosta opted to be detained instead of risking the loss of his licence, his boat and jail time if he were caught boating under the influence.<\/p>\n DaCosta said he ended up in a jail cell and was given the choice of checking one of three boxes on a form. The first was to claim he feared for his life in his own country. The second was a request to see a judge, something he was told could take a month.<\/p>\n So he checked the third box. In exchange for promising not to return to the U.S. for 10 years, the border patrol said they could have him back to Canada in a day or two.<\/p>\n The next morning he was sent to the Monroe jail, where he got some bad news<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nCanWest News Service <\/p>\n