Field Trip Fun: Touring the Pembina POE

I love field trips. They allow us to bring students to the physical spaces that they read about in class and to meet with people doing on-the-ground work. It’s why I’m so passionate about teaching Hofstra’s border class.

Living close to the northern border means that I don’t have to limit my field trips to once a year in San Diego with Hofstra. I can bring my UND students to the border.

On Friday, I did just that. A group of my Immigration Law students took the 3 hour round-trip ride to the Pembina Port of Entry, the busiest POE on a stretch including all of Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, and Idaho. On a particularly busy day, the port screens between 2,500 and 3,000 passenger vehicles and 800-1,000 commercial trucks.

My students met with a senior CBP Officer who answered every question imaginable about life on the northern border – from the training CBP officers undertake, the hiring process (and pay scale!), and the frequent immigration issues that they see (inadmissibility being tops).

Beyond answering questions, we were able to tour the facility – checking out the on-site firing range, the truck inspection garage (with its cage for locking up confiscated goods), the passenger vehicle inspection garage, and the holding cells.

The students were also taken to a car in the inspection garage and instructed us to look for contraband. Our group discovered (with some guidance), guns, a knife, money, drugs and drug paraphernalia. It was a wonderful learning experience.

-KitJ