The Canadians, our allies, with goodwill in their hearts, collected badly needed items, food, blankets, diapers, 40,000 pounds of much needed goods, for the victims of Oklahoma who has suffered massive damage with thousands left homeless, hungry and cold, and when they tried to get it to those victims, they were stopped at the border.
CBC News:
American officials will not allow the 20,000 kilograms of food, blankets and diapers into the country until every item on board is itemized in alphabetical order and has the country of origin of every product noted.
Dennis Sauve, the volunteer co-ordinator for Windsor Lifeline Outreach and the food bank co-ordinator at the Windsor Christian Fellowship, the two organizations that gathered the goods, said it's a "physical impossibility" to do the paperwork required in time to get the perishable food to Oklahoma before it spoils.
A tornado three kilometres wide ripped through Moore on May 20. The twister killed 24 people and injured close to 400. It destroyed 1,200 homes and damaged another 10,000.
[...]
Load considered 'commercial'
As of Friday, the truck still had not pulled out.
Sauve said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is now asking for documentation of every item on the truck, including manufacturer's documentation and country of origin before it will approve the shipment as "safe for consumption."
"That documentation for us would be an impossibility," Sauve said.
He is now worried the fresh food, picked on Wednesday, will soon spoil.
"We're holding our breath and saying our prayers," Sauve said.
Miller, meanwhile, has asked his congressman for help. He emailed U.S. Congressman James Lankford, who in turn raised the concern with FEMA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
"That's not something that ever crossed my mind, that we'd have these issues," Miller said. "Especially when it's coming from reputable people.
"They only had the heart to help people."
There are always national security issues and danger at the borders, but common sense alone should dictate that getting the help to the Oklahoma victims, clearly deserves someone to think a little out of the box to make sure that safety and getting those items to Oklahoma can coincide.
Ed Morrissey gets the last word here:
What’s crystal clear is the absurdity of the standoff that has 40,000 pounds of badly-needed aid stalled at at the US-Canada border. Under the circumstances, disaster declaration or not, Oklahoma needs the help. Furthermore, it should go without saying that the Canadian food system is modern enough to be low-risk to Americans even under normal circumstances. Not only is this absurd, it’s insulting to Canadians, who rallied to help us, not boost food exports.
H/T Exile1981