They can turn away anyone they want for any reason. As a person who has crossed the Surrey/Peace arch border 100's of times I know this for a fact. My husband had a record for possession of a homegrown joint in his early 20's and when we tried to cross (long before 911) he was denied access due to his record. He had to apply for a pardon, which he did get. We eventually made our way back to the border and were told very clearly "our President of the United States does not recognize Canadian pardons. We then needed to apply for a waiver which at the time was about $800 (this was 20 years ago) . They can turn Yaniv away and I guarantee you that, even though he may try, there will be nothing he can do about it. The powers of the US border control are almost omnipotent . They can and will do anything they want and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.
No, they're not 'almost omnipotent' They are not even close. I'll say it again: no organization in the US, federal, state, private, or anything else - border control included, can not do anything that violates US federal law, international law the US is party to or any agreements they have with whatever other state is involved
I didn't say a thing about pardons, this has nothing to do with pardons, this is about dispelling the myth that you can be refused entry 'for any reason whatsoever even illegal ones' and that they can magically do anything they want in violation of US law.
I'll say it again:
- deny someone entry for being black, see what happens. The border patrol will be sued to kingdom come
- deny someone entry for being a woman, see what happens, The border patrol will be sued to kingdom come
- deny someone entry for being a muslim who we suspect but have no evidence of being a potential terrorist, see what happens, The border patrol will be sued to kingdom come. Every major law firm, the ACLU, the ADL and probably a dozen other similar organizations would froth at the mouth like cujo in the hope you hired them to take that legal case
- deny someone entry for a reason other than what was stated as the actual reason, see what happens. Thats a discrimination lawsuit waiting to happen. yaniv falls under this one. if you seriously think there is nothing you can do for being turned away for discriminatory reasons you are not familiar with US law, at all. Both the media and every major law firm in the country would have a field day with border patrol over it
- deny someone entry for accusations you have no evidence for - 'we think you're trying to smuggle drugs, but we searched you and the vehicle and refused entry anyway, by extension we just defamed you in an unlawful manner by calling you a drug smuggler without evidence' see what happens. The border service gets sued
- have a border patrol agent force you to strip and do degrading things, see what happens and how fast the border patrol gets sued
- have a border patrol agent physically assault or threaten someone, see what happens and how fast the border patrol gets sued
The border service has to operate within the bounds of US law, period