Brits visiting Canada detained after accidentally driving into USA

I’m at a gate now at Pearson. The customs people are Americans. One goes through customs here at the airport for flights to the US. I’ve heard the US customs area at the airport is considered US territory some how but not sure about that.
It's not legally US territory. It's just property owned/leased by the US government for an official government purpose. For instance, if a pregnant woman in labor just happened to give birth in that area, the child wouldn't be considered a US citizen by birth according to US jus soli citizenship/nationality law. However, the US can assert special jurisdiction over its own property overseas, and bring criminal suspects to trial in such areas for suspected crimes.

Canada has apparently done that once, and it was a special case where they declared a hospital maternity room to be outside of Canada.

The Princess was born in Ottawa Civic Hospital, Ottawa to Princess Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. Her mother was heir presumptive to Queen Wilhelmina.​
The Dutch family had been living in Canada since June 1940 after the occupation of the Netherlands by Nazi Germany. The maternity ward of Ottawa Civic Hospital in which Princess Margriet was born was temporarily declared to be extraterritorial by the Canadian government. Making the maternity ward outside of the Canadian domain caused it to be unaffiliated with any jurisdiction and technically international territory. This was done to ensure that the newborn would derive her citizenship from her mother only, thus making her solely Dutch, which could have been very important if the child had been male, and as such, the heir of Princess Juliana. It is a common misconception that the Canadian government declared the maternity ward to be Dutch territory. Since Dutch nationality law is based primarily on the principle of jus sanguinis it was not necessary to make the ward Dutch territory for the Princess to become a Dutch citizen if the parent is Dutch. Since Canada followed the rule of jus soli, it was necessary for Canada to disclaim the territory temporarily so that the child would not become a Canadian citizen.​
 
There is a sign up in the Calgary airport at the secured entrance to US Customs saying something to that effect. I'd guess it's designated the same way an embassy is.

Not really, and yes it's not all that easy to understand. There can be jurisdictional issues (I mentioned it in a previous post) but all properties owned/leased by the US government for official government purposes legally remain the territory of the nation where they're located. There was one particular court case that made it clear.

A United States embassy, however, remains the territory of the receiving state, and does not constitute territory of the United States. Restatement (Second) Sec. 77 comment a. Thus, United States embassies are not within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.​

This article explains it pretty well:

If we think of embassies as a kind of official safe house, the reality is not quite that. Although embassies do enjoy a degree of extraterritorial status, they are not, as is often thought, sovereign territory. Under international law, they are still subject to the jurisdiction of host states.​
The veneer of inviolability is "thin," says Gar Pardy, who spent more than three decades with Canada's foreign service. For someone who takes shelter in a foreign embassy, "it's a very ambiguous existence, because once you take somebody in, it doesn't mean you can necessarily get them out."​
 
@BadPinkTink The story has pretty much been forgotten in the US by now. Is there anything in the UK or Irish news about then since they returned home?
 
You will also get the Irish Travellers bare-knuckle boxing as part of their culture- this is an example below- this one is with two of the biggest clans- the Stokes and McDonagh, who by coincidence I have also come across in my line of work in the UK.

Edit- I removed the link as it is not suitable for this site (violence/ profanity) but search Youtube for 'Irish Traveller Bare Knuckle' if you wish to see such examples.
 


I thought of this thread this morning after accidentally crossing the border into France :)

I live right on the border (Switzerland and France) and some of the borders are unmanned (Switzerland isn’t part of the EU but is part of Schengen). I ran a route that I don’t usually and went farther than planned and didn’t even realize that the “hut” that I ran passed was a border crossing. It wasn’t until I was going back and noted a sign pointing out the Swiss road speed limits that I realized. Though often unmanned, technically, I should have my passport and resident’s permit if crossing the border (there can be people at the border and I have been asked before). I had no ID at all on me this morning. Luckily, it was unmanned both times that I crossed :)
 

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