It’s no secret that the number of British Columbia residents travelling over the border to the U.S. has dropped significantly, but the change reveals just how linked B.C. and places like Bellingham are.
Fears of issues at the border and in the U.S. have been some of the reasons why traffic to the U.S. via the land border has dropped significantly.
But it’s not just B.C. residents who are dealing with the fear. Now, even some Blaine and Bellingham residents are afraid to travel back across the border after a visit to Canada.
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Is it safe to cross the border?
David Buzzard/ Shutterstock
Someone recently asked the Bellingham Reddit community if it was safe for a brown U.S. citizen to cross the border.
“Brown U.S. citizens of Bellingham, have you encountered issues crossing back into the U.S. after a visit to Vancouver? Would you recommend the Peace Arch or Sumas? Asking for a friend (with a very brown name),” they said.
The fear was prompted by news stories of Americans being detained or harassed in the States. While some, including comments from folks suggesting they were also brown, said they’ve had no issues, others weren’t as sure.
“My family is brown. We have crossed the border multiple times recently without any incident. Actually, in our experience, crossing the border hasn’t changed for us at all,” one comment said.
Another Redditor claimed, “My husband is Chinese, and before all of this nonsense, he was constantly harassed at the border. It’s significantly worse now.”
It’s also not just people of colour who are feeling the tension.
“I’m white as white can be with lots of tattoos and was pressed about if they were gang related when coming back to the U.S. via Peace Arch last weekend,” one Redditor said.
Comment
byu/Ford_Ferret from discussion
inBellingham
Based on all the comments, it seems like it’s a toss-up in terms of how you might be treated at the border. As it has been in the past, it often depends on who you get when you’re about to cross.
How significantly has travel dropped?
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In recent weeks and months, numerous stories have highlighted the drop in travel to the United States.
We’ve even seen the direct impact of a lack of visitors on some businesses over the border.
Earlier this week, Seattle Magazine spoke to the CEO of Bellingham Whatcom County Tourism, Dylan Deane-Boyle, and they shared that visits from Canada have plummeted.
And, earlier this month, we reported that in February 2025, daily southbound traffic was around 3,500 vehicles a day, down from around 5,000 in February 2024. In March 2025, compared to last year, the number of folks who crossed over into Washington from B.C. was almost halved.
The drop in vehicle traffic from B.C. to Bellingham for tourism purposes was over 30 per cent lower this February than last.
All of this reveals how connected the Washington town of Bellingham and others are to British Columbia, and we’re seeing it as we have all year in the sentiments shared by residents and business owners alike.
Deane-Boyle said as much when he told Seattle Magazine that the two regions are “inextricably linked,” and that they love Canadians. He added, “We’re here when you’re ready.”
In 2024, we chatted with Visit Seattle’s Chief Communications Officer, Michael Woody, about Canadians’ impact on Seattle’s economy. What Woody revealed was staggering. In 2023, Canadian travellers contributed around $563 million to the U.S. economy in Seattle alone.
Now, some Bellingham residents are wondering how to fill the hole created by diminished tourism dollars, while others want Bellingham to become part of Canada. Despite the sentiments of some residents, like a Bellingham Redditor who said, “This is now Bellingham, B.C. Has a great ring to it, IMO,” it is improbable that Bellingham ever becomes a B.C. city.
Will this thriving border community recover?
Google Maps
Business owners in places like Blaine and Bellingham have already been feeling the effects of ongoing political tensions. With B.C. residents less inclined to travel to the States, businesses near the border are seeing a drop in customers.
Gary Slavin is one of those business owners who runs a bar and grill in Blaine called Gateway1890. Earlier this month, we spoke to Slavin about what he’s been seeing at his business and what he’s been hearing from fellow business owners across the border.
“For Blaine, that is one of the ‘hubs’ for Canadians to have parcels delivered to and picked up; that has dropped too. One owner said the last three to four weeks have seen an 80 per cent drop in business. For us, we have seen a drop of 30 per cent in sales in February and a 27 per cent drop in March over last year.”
Slavin said business had just started to pick up after the pandemic.
“We were starting to pick up after COVID-19 and see the city thrive again; this is a definite hit to our small city on the border,” Slavin said.
“With a strong tie to Canada with family and so many friends, it is very frustrating. But at our level, our little corner of the U.S., we need to support each other on both sides when you are a border town.”
Has the situation stopped you from crossing the border to places like Bellingham and Blaine? Let us know in the comments.