Why do people claim they crossed over to Canada from the US border by mistake?

Many tourists make the mistake of crossing the border into Canada when visiting Niagara Falls.

A recent Reddit post on a person claiming that a friend, a Palestinian refugee, went inside Canada from the US border and then got detained while coming back has triggered a major debate on such claims. This particular incident goes like this: the Redditor said a friend and the friend’s boyfriend wanted to see the US-Canada border in Detroit. They ended up at a spot where they could not turn around and had to cross the border.The guards allowed them to enter and assured them that they would be able to turn back. But border police stopped them when they were entering the US. The boyfriend was a Palestinian refugee with a valid passport and an expired visa. But he had all the paperwork that he filed for the renewal of his visa. The girlfriend was an American citizen and she was released but the boyfriend was detained — the friend posted on Reddit.Many Redditors who claimed to be US citizens commented that it is a pretty common mistake and it happens all the time at several other places too but they faced no problem as they are citizens. But many claimed that if the story was true, the Palestinian with an expired visa would surely be deported. Some asked how people make this mistake while there are clear road signs.The Redditor claimed that it was a mistake and those two friends could have done nothing by the time they realized. The Redditor said the Palestinian man had a residency in Jordan where he could self-deport himself as an option instead of being sent to Palestine.“He’s probably on a T passport from Jordan. More than likely won’t be able to return to Jordan and it literally becomes a “What country will take him” situation, outside of Palestine,” one user weighed in. “Precedence says the US can hold him up to 6 months(potentially longer, Z vs. Davis case) before putting him in supervised release. He’s likely going to end up going to one of the countries the US has an agreement with. Mexico, El Salvador, Uganda, etc,” the advice said.

Do such mistakes really happen?

Going by social media responses, such mistakes are possible but only when the travelers are not attentive. The same mistake happens at Niagara Falls too, as it has one American side and one Canadian side. And many tourists inadvertently cross over to the Canadian side.