Donald Trump the Megathread part II - Mod Warning updated in OP 12/2/26

”Drive to border. Drive across border. Present self at Canadian or Mexican border officials for entry.” Not a difficult escape process.

The US does not have exit control. It’s why you may have noticed that US domestic flight gates are intermingled with international flight gates at airports. Unless, for some reason, you have had reason to come to US government attention while you were overstayed, the US government has no way of knowing that you stayed longer than you should have.

Of course, that doesn’t guarantee re-entry on the same basis as before, but it’s not impossible.

It was one of the things we noticed after we moved to Texas from California, that a lot of “services” which one might expect to be provided by the state (if at all) are instead provided through private charity, often faith based. Sure, they won’t mind if you join their church afterwards, but it’s legitimately motivated by “help thy neighbour”. I don’t recall, for example, free swimming lessons for the toddler being offered by California, but a local church in Texas offered them. Fantastic, he knows how not to drown if he falls into a pool and can reach the side. San Antonio’s model for dealing with homelessness is a joint venture between the city and a church, and is considered highly successful and a model to be followed due to its success rate.

In effect, the practical difference is the State in one case saying “we as a society shall prioritize what we think is important to help your neighbours, and you are going to contribute to those things whether you like it or not”, whilst in the other case the state is willing to let loose the idea of “you as individuals know to help your neighbour, and we trust you to do it to a large extent”. Both work, the it becomes a matter of preference.

Case in point, what’s the Northern or Western equivalent of the heavily redneck “Cajun Navy”? They are an officially integrated NGO of volunteers for flood rescue operations, whereas a lot of other areas would be relying on local, state or federal employees to do the job.