# Fucking U.S. customs.... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 28, 2003, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-u-s-customs/158221 "2003-02-28T20:19:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![litost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@litost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/litost)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-u-s-customs/158221/41 "2003-03-01T04:58:56Z")
Just imagine if she was a citizen of a powerless country. This whole thing would be buried quietly and this is exactly the reason why INS officers abuse their power and the sad truth is nothing will ever be done about it. ---
**Author:** ![CuriousCanuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@CuriousCanuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CuriousCanuck)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-u-s-customs/158221/42 "2003-03-01T05:10:04Z")
Well now there is the whole Delta scheme rating passengers that are US CITIZENS either “red, yellow, or green” risks based on…get this … PERSONAL CREDIT HISTORIES AND OTHER PERSONAL IDENTIFIERS. (sorry, I know Caps does not make my argument more intelligent… I am just that angry). Your government is marching towards a place that Orwell predicted years ago and wrote about… Sadly, the rest of the world is going down with your sinking ship… But at least with all the warning levels out there you can admire the pretty colours on your descent… ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-u-s-customs/158221/43 "2003-03-01T05:19:28Z")
**CC:** _Your government is marching towards a place that Orwell predicted years ago and wrote about…_ There there, don’t give up hope. A lot of us are bound and determined to stop this outrageous nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-u-s-customs/158221/44 "2003-03-01T05:27:16Z")
I don’t understand my country. On the one hand, we have the most liberal immigration policy of any country in the developed world, bar none. On the other hand we pull stuff like this. We’re too tough or too lenient; we never get it right. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-u-s-customs/158221/45 "2003-03-01T05:28:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by litost \* > \*\*Just imagine if she was a citizen of a powerless country. This whole thing would be buried quietly and this is exactly the reason why INS officers abuse their power and the sad truth is nothing will ever be done about it. \*\* Maybe I’m misunderstanding your post, but she _is_ a citizen of a powerless country. Canada pulls absolutely no weight with the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![ProjectOmega](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b487fb/32.png) [@ProjectOmega](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ProjectOmega)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-u-s-customs/158221/46 "2003-03-01T07:13:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by featherlou \* > \*\*Maybe I’m misunderstanding your post, but she _is_ a citizen of a powerless country. Canada pulls absolutely no weight with the U.S. \*\* Maybe not with the average American citizen, who has a 50/50 chance of knowing if Canada is either north or south (75/25 if they’ve seen the South Park movie) but I would expect _anyone_ that works in an American airport, especially one that has connecting flights to Canada, to not pull a stunt like that. How can you have your head screwed on right if you’re checking passports all day long and suddenly read “TERRORIST” between the line that says “Canadian” and “Citizen” and then not even have the courtesy to let the woman show you other identification or contact some Canadian authorities? Now, I don’t blame the American people, but I _do_ blame those idiots that did all that to her, and I _do_ lay partial blame on the idiots that decided racial profiling would be a good idea to curb hate-filled terrorism against US targets. ---
**Author:** ![litost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@litost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/litost)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-u-s-customs/158221/47 "2003-03-01T07:30:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by featherlou \* > \*\*Maybe I’m misunderstanding your post, but she _is_ a citizen of a powerless country. Canada pulls absolutely no weight with the U.S. \*\* This incident was at least reported in the Canadian press. The Canadian government has promised to make an issue out of this. At the very least, the US government will have to cough up some explanation. Who knows, may be the officers might be suspended or dismissed. Canada does have some power in its capacity as an economic partner. If this was Nepal, this wouldn’t get a second’s attention. The scariest part of the story is that it can happen to anyone. It could happen to me next time I enter immigration through O’Hare. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-u-s-customs/158221/48 "2003-03-01T15:18:05Z")
As an American, I apologize (God knows why) on behalf of all non-U.S. Dopers on behalf of any moronic INS (actually, it’s March 1 now, so INS technically no longer exists - they’re part of Homeland Security now. Doesn’t that make you feel more comfortable?) agent who gives you crap. As a human being, and one who has been treated with nothing but hospitality when she has been in foreign countries (well, there was that one guy at the information desk at the Gare de Lyon in Paris, but I digress) it just seems like the right thing to do. If anyone has immigration-related questions or worries, post them and I’ll take a crack at them. And yes, this is the sort of thing that makes me wish some immigration personnel weren’t protected by so many layers of regulations. It would be nice, though, to think that at least the supervisors who are supposed to approve decisions like this would have enough of a clue to hold off and do somechecking before sending people halfway across the planet. I think part of any INS officer’s training should be arriving in a foreign country, preferably one where they don’t speak the language, with no documentation and trying to get home. Sort of an immigration boot camp/obstacle course kind of thing. Eva Luna, Immigration Paralegal ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-u-s-customs/158221/49 "2003-03-01T15:22:36Z")
> [@](#): > > Now, I don’t blame the American people, but I do blame those idiots that did all that to her, and I do lay partial blame on the idiots that decided racial profiling would be a good idea to curb hate-filled terrorism against US targets. Well put. ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-u-s-customs/158221/50 "2003-03-01T15:47:07Z")
This never would have happened if you Canadians would just agree to our rule over your country. Sooner or later you non-Americans will learn that we call the shots. That’s what being the big kid on the block is all about. ---
**Author:** ![cherry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cherry)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-u-s-customs/158221/51 "2003-03-01T17:47:39Z")
**wolfman** cruz, is a common name if you are goan, goa is part of india. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-u-s-customs/158221/52 "2003-03-01T18:33:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CuriousCanuck \* > \*\*Well now there is the whole Delta scheme rating passengers that are US CITIZENS either “red, yellow, or green” risks based on…get this … PERSONAL CREDIT HISTORIES AND OTHER PERSONAL IDENTIFIERS. (sorry, I know Caps does not make my argument more intelligent… I am just that angry). Your government is marching towards a place that Orwell predicted years ago and wrote about… > > Sadly, the rest of the world is going down with your sinking ship… > \*\* I don’t if anyone has seen [this news item](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2795055.stm) Airlines hand over their information to the FBI. The FBI decides that because some guy is called Derek, he must be a notoriuos criminal. They phone up the _South African Police_ who then go and arrest a totally innocent man. He was finally cleared after the FBI received an [anonymous tip](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2799929.stm) off 27 days later. Note to FBI. There’s this new fangled invention called a camera. You can “photograph” people to see what they look like. You can then compare it to the “photgraph” you have on record. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-u-s-customs/158221/53 "2003-03-02T02:51:41Z")
Is there anything we’re missing? Aren’t there any checks in place to stop PEOPLE BEING DEPORTED AT RANDOM? Hell, she was lucky. They seem to do what they like; they could have ‘deported’ her to mexico or china or somethingstan! What if they decided she snuk into india and deserved to be dropped back on some island in the middle of fucking nowhere to starve to death pleading to be jailed somewhere with food? Hey, look at all this fake money you have here! ::RIP:: Hey, look she kidnapped a kid who looks just like her! Lets send one to Peru and and one to Antactica! Hell, let’s drop her in the ocean with some concrete deportation orders! WE’RE FUCKING GODS, WE CAN DESTROY LIVES AT A WHIM! Sorry, I was freaked out ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-u-s-customs/158221/54 "2003-03-02T05:31:21Z")
For Christ’s sake don’t give them ideas!! ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-u-s-customs/158221/55 "2003-03-02T06:37:44Z")
I haven’t got a cite, and I might be off on a few details, but there was a recent story about a guy who lives on the Canada/USA border in (I think) Quebec. It’s quite a small town and the local gas station happens to be on the US side. There’s a tiny checkpoint that people are supposed to go tharough, but it’s more or less in the opposite direction from the gas station. For who knows how many years, Canadians have been hopping over for a fillup without bothering to check in and the tacit agreement of both sides. Off goes this guy, like a hundred times before, and gets busted for illegal entry and having his hunting rifle in the vehicle, also S.O.P. for the neighbourhood. I’m not sure, but I think he’s still sitting in the US jail. Now, granted, he was technically in the wrong, but in many border communities this kind of thing is really a nescessity. I know Mr. zoogirl’s Dad used to go down for gas and groceries almost daily. I’m not even going to try going to see my best friend in Spokane until things calm down. I had a mis-demeanor back in '84, and I’d probably get jailed as a dangerous criminal! Ain’t the world a fun place to be just now?! ---
**Author:** ![hampster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/53a042/32.png) [@hampster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hampster)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-u-s-customs/158221/56 "2003-03-02T18:04:15Z")
[Jalbert](http://cbc.ca/storyview/CBC/2003/02/28/jalbert_030228) ---
**Author:** ![Bongmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Bongmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bongmaster)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-u-s-customs/158221/57 "2003-03-04T21:13:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kung fu lola \* > \*\*Fucking Americans. I hate those bastards. \*\* Fucking people like you…I hate you bastards. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-u-s-customs/158221/58 "2003-03-06T12:57:44Z")
Having working with immigration documents for several years (admitting foreign students to universities, a significant percentage of which were from India), it doesn’t surprise me that the INS took a second look at her passport and asked a few questions; India is rife with falsified documents and stamps, which people use to try and get out of India and into the US or UK, and it’s the job of the INS to try and catch the fakes. That part was perfectly reasonable. What you’re supposed to do next, however, is _verify_ the documents as best you can. Look at her other documentation. Phone her employer. Call the fucking embassy, ferchrissake. You don’t automatically assume that just because someone _could_ be lying that they _are_ lying. You don’t shout at them, you don’t rip up their passport, and you don’t ship them off to some other country they’re not citizens of. That’s unprofessional and stupid. And that goes for Mr. Arar too (and to some extent Derek Bond). If the US can violate the human rights of non-citizens that easily and to that degree, who do you suppose is next? ---
**Author:** ![litost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@litost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/litost)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-u-s-customs/158221/59 "2003-03-07T04:18:23Z")
unprofessional and stupid? May I suggest wrong and inhuman? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-u-s-customs/158221/60 "2003-03-07T11:07:59Z")
Unlike the INS, I was trying to be diplomatic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-u-s-customs/158221.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-u-s-customs/158221.md?page=4)