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I'm going to express my frustration and anger with the direction things are taking. We have a friend who is Colombian, this lady is a naturalized U.S. citizen, she is in her 60s and has been working her entire career at Stanford University. She travels internationally for work occasionally, and she also goes back to visit her family in Colombia once a year.
She just got back from such a visit, flying into San Francisco, and apparently had a very bad experience with immigration. They took her passports and detained her for six hours before allowing her in. I'm not sure about the details, but according to her nothing like this had ever happened to her before and apparently there was no reason for it other than to harass people coming from South America.
This morning she's back at work at Stanford. So, what was the point of immigration giving her a hard time yesterday?
I have to say I'm very disappointed. I'm not alone in thinking that we're headed in a bad direction. This isn't the U.S. we grew up with, is it? I remember growing up, and although there was a lot of racism and issues, there was also a very open-minded melting-pot mentality. We were diversified and we embraced it.
That was then. This is now.
You don't know the details yet you say it's about harassing people from South America? Do you know how dumb that sounds? lol
No surprise. Trump's supporters see Hispanics as the new bogiemen. It's just a resurgence of the old Nativism that dates back to the 19th century and heavily fell along the Mason-Dixon line.
You don't know the details yet you say it's about harassing people from South America? Do you know how dumb that sounds? lol
As dumb as building a wall to keep out Mexicans.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DT113876
No surprise. Trump's supporters see Hispanics as the new bogiemen
It sure seems this is the direction things are headed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Finn_Jarber
but in this case the woman was a Latina, which is probably a good enough reason these days.
Why?
Quote:
Originally Posted by juneaubound
I'm a naturalized American citizen. When you get a passport you get an American passport. Period. No asterisks.
Well, your American passport still lists your country of birth.
Quote:
Originally Posted by EveryLady
Also, it's a surprise that a woman who travels as much as she seems to wasn't aware that bringing food in can be problematic.
She had been bringing in food for years without being questioned or harassed for it, until the incident this week.
Quote:
Originally Posted by EveryLady
Sometimes it can just be a matter of a bully who has some power and is in a bad mood.I'm so sorry for your friend; it must have been upsetting.
It's very possible that's all it was - a one-time bad luck encounter. But six hours is extreme, especially since she has travelled to and from Colombia every year (in addition to other countries.)
She had been bringing in food for years without being questioned or harassed for it, until the incident this week.
It's very possible that's all it was - a one-time bad luck encounter. But six hours is extreme, especially since she has travelled to and from Colombia every year (in addition to other countries.)
Many events are multi-faceted in causation. The six hours IS extreme and leads to the question why a supervisor didn't intervene if she had the misfortune to encounter the customs-agents-from h*ll. And here, I would never discount that who you are or appear to be and various biases make a difference in the outcome. I have seen it happen way too many times - often as the benefactor but on occasion as the victim, which is absolutely no fun.
This may well have started with the food - you don't mention what it was but take a close look at that Customs link. If she was bringing back say family "dishes" or products specific to Colombia that were largely unknown to the agents simply trying to interpret the regulations might have proved a challenge again as agents went off shift. (In my quick look at the regulations, I think I saw that listed ingredients are supposed to be in English???)
That India got dragged in does suggest that once triggered, the agents were on a roll. She was the interrogator "selection" of the day. Here, I would not discount that the agents are working on a quota.
That she has repeatedly travelled to and from Colombia is irrelevant. Each year there are changes to procedures in any one airport - and none of them for the "better" from the POV of the traveller - except that is when they "fix" the chaos created by initially-poor setups. That she hasn't had trouble in the past suggests there's no real issue. (An Egyptian friend travels to the US each year and every single time clearance takes endless hours.) OTOH, Colombia could certainly work to select her into the "quota." Here, I'm assuming that Homeland Security/Customs etc. are trying to dance around "targeting people" but back-dooring the process by higher "random" checks from certain country/flight patterns.
The agents are under a lot of stress to follow various procedures - you can see it in their demeanor. (Here, for example, new checks that lengthen lines not only frustrate passengers but reduce the time they can spend in duty-free lowering airport revenues.)
Again, I'm sorry this happened to your friend. Personally, I would be less concerned about the past and more concerned about how she's been coded for future trips. As for as I know, there's no way for her to find out until she again re-enters the country. You mentioned that her colleagues are irate and well they should be. Still, the reality of travel today is that the power center when security is involved does not rest in the hands of the passenger - and I would tread carefully that their outrage not become her future problem.
(For example, along these lines a dispute with an airline agent can result in your permanent passenger-name-record (PNR) being coded with all other agents from all airlines now seeing you as a potential difficulty resulting in computer algorithms that, for example, could bump you from oversold flights. The permanent PNR is shared with Homeland Security.)
Last edited by EveryLady; 07-25-2018 at 05:12 PM..
No surprise. Trump's supporters see Hispanics as the new bogiemen. It's just a resurgence of the old Nativism that dates back to the 19th century and heavily fell along the Mason-Dixon line.
I'm going to express my frustration and anger with the direction things are taking. We have a friend who is Colombian, this lady is a naturalized U.S. citizen, she is in her 60s and has been working her entire career at Stanford University. She travels internationally for work occasionally, and she also goes back to visit her family in Colombia once a year.
She just got back from such a visit, flying into San Francisco, and apparently had a very bad experience with immigration. They took her passports and detained her for six hours before allowing her in. I'm not sure about the details, but according to her nothing like this had ever happened to her before and apparently there was no reason for it other than to harass people coming from South America.
This morning she's back at work at Stanford. So, what was the point of immigration giving her a hard time yesterday?
I have to say I'm very disappointed. I'm not alone in thinking that we're headed in a bad direction. This isn't the U.S. we grew up with, is it? I remember growing up, and although there was a lot of racism and issues, there was also a very open-minded melting-pot mentality. We were diversified and we embraced it.
That was then. This is now.
I find it upsetting, too. There's a way to control the borders without this hate mentality. It's always been there under the surface, but now people feel free to harass people. Brown people are getting beaten up. Recently someone in my community in a community forum posted that if the new convenience store opening is owned by one of "them," people shouldn't go there. They're not American and send their money out of the country. (She was speaking of Middle Easterners.) Someone I know got a gun, for when "them A-rabs come bustin' thru the door."
It really is shocking and saddens me that people are treating others that way. Everyone here in my area is probably here legally, since this isn't an area where illegal immigrants come. The "us" vs "them" mentality.
I am heartened, though, by the many who have come out of the woodwork to speak out against it. Silence for the sake of not being confrontational won't cut it, any more. To be silent is to imply agreement. I don't like confrontation. But it is necessary, to stick up for people and make it clear that bigotry won't be accepted by decent people.
No surprise. Trump's supporters see Hispanics as the new bogiemen. It's just a resurgence of the old Nativism that dates back to the 19th century and heavily fell along the Mason-Dixon line.
It sure seems this is the direction things are headed.
Why?
Well, your American passport still lists your country of birth.
She had been bringing in food for years without being questioned or harassed for it, until the incident this week.
It's very possible that's all it was - a one-time bad luck encounter. But six hours is extreme, especially since she has travelled to and from Colombia every year (in addition to other countries.)
Nothing dumb about building a wall to keep out illegal aliens and yes the good walls do work it's already been proven. Why would you just mention Mexicans? They aren't the only ones violating our southern border.
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