The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland

by Jim DeFede

The second reason the border was significant was Alexandria. As soon as their adopted baby girl set foot in the United States, her legal status as an American was secure and she would be instantly designated a lawful permanent resident and a United States citizen. As the line of cars moved slowly toward the checkpoint, Clark decided to walk Alexandria across the bridge and into the United States. Wanting to capture the symbolic moment, he yelled for Roxanne to grab their camcorder. Halfway over the St. Croix River he found a line marking the border. Clark set Alexandria down so one of her feet was on the Canadian side of the line and the other was on the American side. He told Alexandria to wave to Roxanne. “Alex becomes a citizen the hard way,” Roxanne declared. “You had to walk and take boats and fly and drive and your country was attacked.”