A Winnipeg couple mistakenly ordered at gunpoint by American border guards to get out of their vehicle during a vacation to North Dakota is being wooed back by residents and a radio station.
Jan and Donald Miller were at the border crossing at Emerson, Man., and Pembina, N.D., on July 17 when a U.S. border guard looked at their passports. It so happens that Donald Miller has the same name and birthday as a man considered armed and dangerous, and wanted by police in the United States.
The Millers were ordered from their vehicle, handcuffed, searched and questioned in interrogation rooms, said Jan. Less than half an hour later, border guards finally told them it was a case of mistaken identity.
Now, citizens of Grand Forks and a local radio station are offering the Millers a weekend stay at a hotel as an apology, hoping it will make up for the experience.
The gesture is very nice, said Jan, but the couple first wants to make sure Donald's name is cleared before they risk the same thing happening. They would also appreciate an apology from the border guards.
"We felt sort of like criminals going in and we felt like criminals when they let us go," she said. "You have that feeling like you have done something wrong and you don't get an apology, so you still kind of feel guilty about something you didn't do."
If things are smoothed over by then, the couple is thinking of making a return trip in September.
