Has this ever happened to You???!!!

[chasetf]

I am one of those "little old ladies" that for some reason always gets checked when traveling internationally. I have been told that it is probably due to my common last name or because I have quite a few stamps in my passport. I have to say that everytime I have been checked, either by an American or an immigration person from another country, they have never been rude to me. Maybe I am just lucky. I have seen some people who have been treated unfairly and I feel for them. All I can say is just cooperate and hopefully everything will be ok.

No... I do not think you are lucky... you are polite and do not come across with an attitude. :) ..........Unlike some of the posters here who express and display an unwillingness to "go with the program" .... like the one claiming they are no longer a citizen... just a suspect.

 

Anyone who travels a lot is going to get "picked out" ... some more than others. But if someone starts with an attitude then they better get ready for the agent's "attitude". They are just doing their job... and they meet lots of folks with "attitude" all day long so they won't put up with it.... and I am glad they don't. They are there for our protection and if someone doesn't believe it ... then, in my opinion, they shouldn't travel. ;)

[fraidknot]

Many years ago when I was in the 6th grade and Nintendo Gameboy was a very NEW thing, my family flew to the Europe. When we put my backpack thru the system in Paris on our way home all sorts of crazyness broke loose. The one Security agent turnned in to 3 then 5... they asked me to open my bag myself and take out everything, then when they saw the Gameboy they had clearly never seen anything like it. They asked me all sorts of questions about what it was and what it was used for. I even had to turn it on and showed them how to play Tetris... And I was a little kid! :D

 

To this day, I think its funny I travel with a laptop, Ipod, Iphone, portable hard drive, USB drives, etc. these days and no one ever says anything to me...

[dforeigner]

Some of you have it all wrong. ICE is an investigative Agency www.ice.gov

 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency of the Department of Homeland Security, protects national security and upholds public safety by targeting criminal networks and terrorist organizations that seek to exploit vulnerabilities in our immigration system, in our financial networks, along our border, at federal facilities and elsewhere in order to do harm to the United States. The end result is a safer, more secure America.

Organizationally, ICE has five operational divisions, each containing a number of law enforcement, intelligence or mission support positions:

• Office of Investigations (OI)
  
• Office of Detention and Removal Operations (DRO)
  
• Office of Federal Protective Service (FPS)
  
• Office of Intelligence
  
• Office of International Affairs (OIA)

CBP is an enforcement Agency www.cbp.gov

 

CBPis one of the Department of Homeland Security’s largest and most complex components, with a priority mission of keeping terrorists and their weapons out of the U.S. It also has a responsibility for securing and facilitating trade and travel while enforcing hundreds of U.S. regulations, including immigration and drug laws.

 

CBP is responsible for guarding 7,000 miles of land border the United States shares with Canada and Mexico and 2,000 miles of coastal waters surrounding the Florida peninsula and off the coast of Southern California. The agency also protects 95,000 miles of maritime border in partnership with the United States Coast Guard.

 

 

 

To secure this vast terrain, more than 13,000 CBP Border Patrol agents and CBP Air and Marine agents, and approximately 20,000 CBP officers and agriculture specialists, together with the nation’s largest law enforcement canine program, stand guard along America’s front line.

 

• CBP officers protect America’s borders at official ports of entry, while CBP’s Border Patrol agents prevent illegal entry into the United States of people and contraband between the ports of entry.
  
• CBP Air and Marine, which manages the largest law enforcement air force in the world, patrols the nation’s land and sea borders to stop terrorists and drug smugglers before they enter the United States.
  
• CBP agriculture specialists prevent the entry of exotic plant and animal pests, and confront emerging threats in agro- and bioterrorism.

The Agency that checks you when entering (re-entering) the United States is CBP not ICE. There is a big difference between the two Agencies.

 

 

TSA www.tsa.gov has a few divisions within the Agency. The one you deal with before trying to board an airplane are:

 

We are the Transportation Security Administration, formed immediately following the tragedies of Sept. 11. Our agency is a component of the Department of Homeland Security and is responsible for security of the nation's transportation systems.

 

Air travel is an essential part of our daily lives. Over 600 million people fly each year, not to mention the millions bags which go along with them. That’s why most of our efforts are dedicated to ensuring the unthinkable doesn’t happen. We screen every passenger and every bag boarding a commercial aircraft today, including international travelers arriving in the United States before they meet a connecting flight.

 

Our team highly of trained Security Officers operates at over 700 security checkpoints and nearly 7,000 baggage screening areas each day. We use the latest technology and equipment combined with continually improving screening techniques and our other layers of security to prevent any terrorist or criminal activity.

 

With our state, local and regional partners, we oversee security for the highways, railroads, buses, mass transit systems, ports and the 450 U.S. airports. We employ approximately 50,000 people from Alaska to Puerto Rico to ensure your travels – by plane, train, automobile or ferry – are safe and secure.

 

The ones you do not notice (or at least you are not suppose to) :D

 

Federal Air Marshals serve as the primary law enforcement entity within TSA. We deploy on flights around the world and in the United States. While our primary mission of protecting air passengers and crew has not changed much over the years, Federal Air Marshals have an ever expanding role in homeland security and work closely with other law enforcement agencies to accomplish their mission. The men and women who make up the Federal Air Marshal Service are dedicated, well trained law enforcement professionals, each equipped with the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to keep our aviation system safe and secure.

[Leejnd4]

No... I do not think you are lucky... you are polite and do not come across with an attitude. :) ..........Unlike some of the posters here who express and display an unwillingness to "go with the program" .... like the one claiming they are no longer a citizen... just a suspect.

 

Anyone who travels a lot is going to get "picked out" ... some more than others. But if someone starts with an attitude then they better get ready for the agent's "attitude". They are just doing their job... and they meet lots of folks with "attitude" all day long so they won't put up with it.... and I am glad they don't. They are there for our protection and if someone doesn't believe it ... then, in my opinion, they shouldn't travel. ;)

 

I love it when people blame the victim. :rolleyes:

 

I have seen and read about perfectly pleasant, completely compliant poeple being abused and treated like scum by government employees. Not everyone who has been abused this way brought it on themselves by an "unwillingness to go with the program". I'm sorry, but if the program involves some government employee treating me like a criminal when I have broken no law, I should not have to go along with it.

 

Will I go along with it? Yes, I will -- because I am well aware that if I don't, I could very well be abused in far worse ways. Does that mean it's right? No. I went along with it when I was abused by TSA agents (and I do realize that's not the agency of the original story, but it's a similar situation). But I am still angry...and I most certainly do not need anyone telling me that my abuse was my own fault because I "didn't go along with the program". Trust me, I went along with everything they said...and still got abused.

[ehfl]

Unfortunately, the cruise lines have no control over homeland security. They can do anything they want. They can take your computer, and demand your passwords. They can damage anything, and do not have to pay for the damage.

[chasetf]

I love it when people blame the victim. :rolleyes: .

And.... I like the way in our society ......everyone is a victim. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

I have seen and read about perfectly pleasant, completely compliant poeple being abused and treated like scum by government employees. Not everyone who has been abused this way brought it on themselves by an "unwillingness to go with the program". I'm sorry, but if the program involves some government employee treating me like a criminal when I have broken no law, I should not have to go along with it. .

....And I read the cited story of the guy and his pregnant wife ...and no where do I see him or his wife as a victim. He overreacted and ....point blank... they do not take guff... they take their jobs seriously..... and he got what he deserved. He even admits it in his writing.

 

This is a life and death situation.... and if you don't believe it ask the passengers on those 4 airplanes on 9/11.

Will I go along with it? Yes, I will -- because I am well aware that if I don't, I could very well be abused in far worse ways. Does that mean it's right? No. I went along with it when I was abused by TSA agents (and I do realize that's not the agency of the original story, but it's a similar situation). But I am still angry...and I most certainly do not need anyone telling me that my abuse was my own fault because I "didn't go along with the program". Trust me, I went along with everything they said...and still got abused.

Well then I guess I've been abused too... if an agent getting gruff with me is abuse. I have had dogs hit on me, and the agent pull me aside.......I've laso been selected for those "extra special" searchs.... and I am certainly not "foreign" looking. I just look at it as the folks are doing their jobs...a thankless job.......and give them lots of "Yes sirs" and "Yes Maams".

 

We all know the rules, we all know the process... and we need to let the agents do their job..... and quit calling "Police Brutality" ...unless it really is.

 

Travel to Israel sometime if you want to see how "security" really needs to be done. ;)

[G'ma]

HA!!

 

That's what customs and immigration people do.

 

And.....they are under no obligation to be pleasant while doing it. They have a tough job and just want to get to it.

 

I was coming from the Caribbean several years ago...had been on St. Maarten for a week. The flight stopped in Puerto Rico where I would change planes to get back to Philly.

 

I was pulled out of line when clearing customs, brought into a private room with all of my luggage. They had me stand against a far wall while one of them put my bags and purse on a huge table. They then proceded to tear everything apart. Went through everything. They even checked the seams of my suitcases and my purse.

 

When they were through, they called in a female officer. She patted me down like you see on Cops, ran her fingers all through my hair, looked behind my ears and under the boobs. She checked all the seams on my slacks....and the hem, too. It took about 45 minutes.

 

Needless to say, my heart was in my mouth - but I was fascinated at the same time. What a thing to watch!!

 

Afterward, they brought up a motorized cart to whisk me to the plane (which was being held at the gate -- waiting for me). On the ride, I asked the guy "why me"?

 

He grinned and said he couldn't divulge secrets... He did say, however, that they have a 12 point profile. If any passenger matches more than a certain number of those points, they are automatically checked. Of course, he wouldn't say what those points were......

 

Until that current passport expired, everytime I cleared Customs and Immigration at any U.S. gateway from San Francisco to Houston to New York, I got the "hairy eyeball" from the officer and they checked my passport AND airline ticket receipt/copy very carefully.

 

It was creepy. I just kept in mind they have a job to do and my conscience is clear........:confused:

[Leejnd4]

And.... I like the way in our society ......everyone is a victim. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

 

I didn't say that. Nor did anyone. You are putting words in people's mouths. There are documented cases of people being abused by government employees, through no fault of their own. You can deny this all you want, but it is a fact.

 

We all know the rules, we all know the process... and we need to let the agents do their job..... and quit calling "Police Brutality" ...unless it really is.

 

And you need to stop assuming that it NEVER is. Letting agents "do their job" does not mean they can do whatever they want, with impunity. Unfortunately, sometimes they do.

 

Travel to Israel sometime if you want to see how "security" really needs to be done. ;)

 

Been there. I was treated with respect. As I have been MOST of the time by gov't and security personel I've encountered in all of my travels. With one notable exception.

[zantedeschia]

That checkpoint you went through is manned by a totally different Agency. The one at the border entries have blue uniform. The agents that checked your bus away from the border wear green uniforms.

Who was who?

 

Both the people they took were Mexican and neither had ID and IIRC, neither spoke English. Tho I remember at least one person near us, an underage girl, had no ID and they let her stay, I thought that was kind of strange.

 

My bf got pulled aside at the border and questioned due to a flag on his passport, that wasn't fun. But it only took about 20 minutes. At the border they didn't ask didn't care about what we were bringing back from Mexico. And I thought that was kind of odd. And I even said I have a lime I picked from a tree, is that okay? And they were like go ask some other person.

 

For the record, I've been out of the country so many times, it's a piece of cake coming back. Only time I've ever had a problem was at an airport from buying a plane ticket with too short lead time but they just search and let me go, no biggee.

[dforeigner]

Who was who?

 

Both the people they took were Mexican and neither had ID and IIRC, neither spoke English. Tho I remember at least one person near us, an underage girl, had no ID and they let her stay, I thought that was kind of strange.

 

My bf got pulled aside at the border and questioned due to a flag on his passport, that wasn't fun. But it only took about 20 minutes. At the border they didn't ask didn't care about what we were bringing back from Mexico. And I thought that was kind of odd. And I even said I have a lime I picked from a tree, is that okay? And they were like go ask some other person.

 

For the record, I've been out of the country so many times, it's a piece of cake coming back. Only time I've ever had a problem was at an airport from buying a plane ticket with too short lead time but they just search and let me go, no biggee.

 

Maybe I missread something. I was under the impression that the checkpoint you went through was after you came back to the US.

 

Yep, I just read your post again. You clearly stated in Mexico. My bad.

[chasetf]

I didn't say that.

I know you didn't. I said it. ;) :)

 

.... There are documented cases of people being abused by government employees, through no fault of their own. You can deny this all you want, but it is a fact.......

And I agree... it does happen and it needs to be investigated, ...prosecuted, .....or whatever.

 

My point was the cited incident of the man and his pregnant wife failed to meet that criteria in my opinion. ;)