Hell, my dad has an inbound entry on the files at Ellis Island, and he was born here. [it was back in 1925, my grandparents wandered west to east around the world. I can not imagine wanting to take a 3 year old around the world back in the days of steamships … for fun. Sigh I am spoiled!]
I knew a family that switched sisters flying back and forth between Aus and the USA. One sister would fly out, and a different sister would fly back on the return ticket and original ID… never triggered any extra scrutiny and I doubt the discrepancy was noticed.
The US embassy here told me that they now (post 9/11)specifically do not approve of different ID’s on different legs going into the USA. You have to be approved to board on the same ID as you are approved to enter with. But…They also still require you to enter on your American passport. So when you turn up in the USA, the imigration officer insists on your American passport, even though you boarded and registered on a foreign passport with an entry visa.
In my case, they were multiple US passports (personal and official) and more complex itineraries rather than legs of a single flight. If they are tracking these things, they probably think some version of myself has been lost in China since 2008.
No way, he must have contacted the embassy and given them the info he was in the country.