The flat screens over the immigration stalls looped a "Welcome to the United States" video. "Propaganda," I observed to myself, looking at the images of healthy, happy, well assimilated people of color, images of African-American girls skipping rope in a sunlit park, and smiling, well dressed Central or South American Immigrants. I have learned to differentiate the fake PR face of the United States from the hard, street reality I witnessed firsthand while living in the country as a professional class visa holder on and off for the last 10 years. The flyover views of Manhattan, the mandatory inclusion of the Statue of Liberty, lest anyone forget what America professes to be, did not mix in images of homelessness, rampant obesity among the low income population, perennial theft and street vandalism, violent youth crime, prison overcrowding, and extreme poverty in hallmark cities such as San Francisco for example, where I used to live.It was my turn to step up to the booth and face the immigration official. The usual questions followed: why am I coming to the United States, how long and where will I stay. Being a poor strategist and arriving with genuine, lawful intentions, I didn't think twice about telling it like it was: I was coming to stay with my boyfriend whom I have not seen in a long time. I was going to live with him and hoped to stay for several months. Tired after a long flight and unsuspecting, I spoke in casual, conversational manner. In retrospect I ought to have stuck to dry facts, for it soon became apparent that the job the immigration officials at the airport take upon themselves is to nail and indict and not to fairly adjudicate.I was escorted to the back room for further questioning. I sat down, not yet excessively worried, and took a look around. There were others whose fate was swinging in the balance, while they waited too. I noted right away a young black woman on the bench in front of me, her back hunched, arms resting on her thighs, head hanging low. Three hours later, when I was set free, she still maintained her posture, as if immobilized by the weight of her predicament. During that entire time, her name was never called, not a single immigration official had approached her, and she never gave away a clue as to what her story might have been.Out of Vancouver, when the dust has finally settled, I investigated what went wrong for me that night. Not a hint of explanation was given to me during or after the interrogation to assure the office of US Immigration had a one-sided, overwhelming position of power. I wasn't informed of the bureaucratic inconsistency my case presented. As a Canadian citizen I'd made the mistake of attempting to enter the United States on a visa waiver, whereas I should have applied for an entry visa after all due to my expectation to stay longer than the 90 days accounted for by the program. I was suspected of having a dual intent without accompanying, appropriate visa or in lay terms, intending to immigrate into the US illegally."What is it that you want?" asked the first female officer with an all-knowing smirk, leaning back in her chair and cocking her head. I looked at her apprehensively, sensing that I was presumed guilty before my personal situation was duly examined. "I don't think you are asking the right question, it isn't up to me to say what I want, it is up to you to tell me what I can or cannot do." I was scolded for getting smart and forcefully led on with the expected line of inquiry. "Do you want to work?" I collected myself and delivered a vague explanation of being "in transition," and how I expected to take the time of my stay in the US following a difficult apartment renovation project in Warsaw to reconnect with my boyfriend and decide on a direction in which I was going to take my life. So no, I did not intend to work, at least not right away and certainly not illegally. I proceeded to remind her what should have been glaringly obvious had she payed even the slightest attention to my immigration history as opposed to the stereotype she saw me as — that of an Eastern European woman with a marked accent coming to stay with her "boyfriend who has a job and will provide," perhaps a case of a Russian Bride.I lived and worked in the States for seven years this time around while enjoying the H1B status twice, having had ample time to legally pursue a green card. I had made no such attempt. I consciously rejected the chance of becoming an American permanent resident. I simply did not want, or need to, having both a well respected Canadian citizenship and an EU passport. It wouldn't make any sense, given my history, to pursue the illegal alien route to US immigration. That irony was lost on my overzealous inquisitor. I couldn't point it out to her as I was rarely allowed to complete a sentence even in a direct attempt to answer questions.It was time to get back to the benches, along with the others, and wait. A Latin American family with kids was brought in, then another. None of the families spoke among themselves, but remained reserved, knowing full well their lower hand. Routine, random checks it seemed, since they were processed and handed back their passports without a word before my second round of interrogation came up. A Russian woman in her mid-30s, wearing tall white boots, flowery knit stockings, elaborate coat, and too much makeup arrived and sat down. She was confident. Perhaps she, like I in the past — armed with a thick stack of corporate documents and visa processing approvals — was yet unaware of the precarious, fine line she was walking. I overheard the officers speak among themselves within her ears' reach, knowing she would not understand, that she had all the necessary invitations by the Russian Foundation. To their poorly disguised surprise, they had no grounds to detain her. An old man with a hearing aid, whom I had seen lost and confused earlier when he was being helped by an airport worker also turned up and nervously tried to explain in his limited English that his son lived and worked here and he came to visit his son. He bowed repeatedly on exit when handed back his passport, thankful, shaken, and teary-eyed. There was Mrs. Ferrera or Ferreira, a Spaniard or a South American, whose brother, husband or companion — an airline pilot — peeked in and asked: "You're still here?" to which she just shrugged and nodded, as if immigration detentions were something she has come to expect.My name was called again. This time I was facing the first female officer and her supervisor, also a woman. The US border control watchdog was springing heads. The lights seemed to glow brighter, the entire experience started to take on a surreal quality. I realized that my words would make the difference between an allowed discretionary entry and a deportation. I repeated my story as I have recounted it previously. The supervisor kept interrupting. Questioning became personal, my relationship to my boyfriend quizzed, private arrangements and money matters combed through in embarrassing detail. I maintained that my stay would be a visit — not a migration. I was not listened to, believed or otherwise my story did not compute. The supervising officer summed it up: "You are not a bonified tourist," I was told, likely intending to convey that I did not deserve a special consideration. Sadly, that is precisely who I was. I arrived bona fide, never intending to break the law. While on a work visa in the past, I dutifully payed taxes, having had all the responsibilities of a resident but none of the privileges. With a squeaky clean immigration record, never having overstayed my visas, arriving as a tourist for the first time in a decade, my good faith was being violently questioned without justification. I was ordered to get back to the benches, once again.I was summoned back, for the third time, sometime later. The US immigration personified this time by a three-headed, all female, bloodthirsty chimera — Cerberus— guarded the gates of Hades. The newly arrived third officer turned the interrogation up yet another notch. I was yelled at and heard myself say: "Please don't raise your voice, why are you trying to intimidate me?"
"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Ruvy
The more I read about stories like this, the more convinced I become that the last place I wish to be on the planet is the United States of America. And I was born there....
2 - pablo
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
Why are you here, your papers please,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
thumprint here, bend over for freedom..
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
Welcome to our Obamanation."
3 - jeannie danna
Patrica,
This was a riveting portrayal of how we are all being systematically treated in this country today, in the name of, "Homeland Security."
Absolute power, implied or other-wise is very dangerous! and if it is left unchecked for much longer here , I hate to envision what's next.
You had every right to expect to be treated with respect! After all, and I hear this all the time, "If I am not breaking any laws then why should I be afraid?" I say, "Be very afraid."
Isn't it ironic that the same people who try to give Ronald Reagen all the credit for tearing down that wall, are busy tying to build one here!
4 - jeannie danna
Patricia,
Even though you do not want to live here, please continue to publish in the politics section of BC. We need to hear your voice here.
:)
5 - roger nowosielski
This is a horror story, Patricia.
6 - Dr Dreadful
As I've been a permanent resident since 2003 it's been quite a while since I've had to stand in 'the long line'. US immigration officers, as they are in every country in the world except Australia, are almost invariably surly and unwelcoming and it doesn't surprise me that they give people whose paperwork isn't quite straight a hard time.
I've been in the Back Room a couple of times while I was waiting for Adjustment of Status. I was officially in limbo at the time, and was staying in the US at the pleasure and discretion of then Attorney-General Ashcroft. In order to go back home to England to visit friends and family I had to apply for something alarmingly - and, I'm sure, quite deliberately - called Advance Parole. It was basically just a piece of paper with my photo on it, explaining why I wanted to leave the country temporarily; without it, I'd have been considered to have abandoned my immigration application and wouldn't have been allowed back, even as a tourist.
On both occasions I was looked at by the officer rather as if I was something he'd found in his Kleenex, and was waved through imperiously as if I was wasting his time - even though he wasn't actually doing anything except standing behind a counter in a waiting room half-full of Middle Eastern-looking men (who all seemed to have been there for some time).
My experiences with immigration officers at ports of entry stand in contrast to those at the local INS office here in California, where I was always treated with (albeit bureaucratic) courtesy. I was even able once, by being insistent, to get a work permit even though technically I shouldn't have been allowed one - after I pointed out that the information on their website was misleading as to who qualified.
The moral of the story, I suppose, is that you absolutely have to do your research and make sure you apply for the correct visa: I'm sure this is true of pretty much any country, not just the US. What you should have received, although I'm not surprised you didn't, is the very least that even criminal suspects are afforded: an explanation of why they are being questioned.
7 - Joel Wischkaemper
I don't believe it. Border Patrol Officer have a great deal of Empathy for the illegal aliens. Many are Mexican American. Many are Hispanic, very dedicated, and absolutely committed to the justice for the illegal aliens. What is really nice is that they are also very committed to nailing every rotten dope peddler to the barn door... and legally.
And everytime they take someone like that off the streets, that means one more Hispanic Child grows up in a place where he can...... just say no.
Hooray for our detention personnel and our Border Patrol Officers!
8 - Patricia Pawlak
Thank You all for your comments. The moral of the story to me, is not to "do all the research and apply for the correct visa" as Dr Dreadful suggested (I know that he means well) - but to question the perverse nature of an immigration system and government by extension we in the so called "civilized" world have arrived at. I imagine that all of us agree that some sort of a governing body is essential to running a country and arguably responsible for providing a rudimentary level of safety. We can debate terms and details of course, but the main point is that when a government finds its way literally inbetween myself and my loved one, when it restricts people's freedom of movement and treats every foreigner as an immediate suspect - it is an authoritarian State. The Polish communist state prevented its citizens from leaving without proper authorization and passports had to be held at special government office. The American government proves capable of the same exact totalitarian streak. Joel's comment highlighting the plight of Mexican Americans, Mexicans and Latinos - is right on the dot. They are a population which has historically greatly suffered from the immigration's systemic abuse. Yet, we amazingly tolerate it, put up with it and therefore condone it, as long as it doesn't happen to us.
9 - STM
Patricia ... this isn't confined to the United States.
I'm an Australian citizen and have been marked out for "extra" questioning on my return home on a number of occasions.
There is a bit of profiling involved. Shoulder length surfie har and a suntan mark you out immediately at first base as you go through the first line of customs.
The extra questioning is cursory stuff if a little detailed: where have you been, what were you doing, have you been there before, etc.
Returning from places like Thailand or the Philippines seems to cause a stir, although a couple of years ago I was returning from Portugal and they gave me the once over and I was bullied a bit by a very grumpy customs officer at the initial passport check.
They've never searched my bags, although if I were singled out I'd understand.
What worries me in regard to that is: ifr that's how they profile their own citizens and the grumpy, gruff treatment is what's dished out, how must first-time visitors to this country find that treatment?
"Welcome to Australia."
Yeah, right ... thanks for that.
So the US is absolutely not the only place this goes on.
Interestingly, the two times I haven't been pulled up were once going through with my family, although they went to move on me before they realised I wasn't travelling with wife and child, and once when I'd had my haircut before returning home.
10 - STM
And Doc, you must have been lucky when you came here.
Quiet morning perhaps, instead of the normal 50 flights and hour.
Or maybe it was coming up to Christmas :)
11 - Dr Dreadful
Well, the first time was 11 o'clock at night; the second was lunchtime.
Was close to Christmas on both occasions, though. Make of that what you will.
12 - STM
Doc: "Well, the first time was 11 o'clock at night; the second was lunchtime."
Most of the flights come in a rush early in the morning. It seems non-stop from about 5am for a few hours.
They get frazzled ... plus, if you're going through at 5.30 in the morning, some of them have got up on the wrong side of the bed.
I have heard some horror stories about the US, though.
It kind of makes me not want to go there again.
Imagine turning up for holiday with your family and being turned around ... thousands wasted in airfares and hotel accomodation, with no right of redress.
That's the worst bit. You have no comeback. They order, your obey ... even if it means going home on the next flight.
One Aussie family going to visit their ill father in LA were turned around last year and held for over 24 hours at LAX.
The problem I suspect: originally from Bangladesh. However, they own a nice house in a suburb not far from me, the kids are all going to local schools, husband and wife have jobs, and they had - importantly - dated return airline tickets to Sydney worth $6400.
They were also Australian citizens obviously going for a family visit. You can tell when people are trying to illegally enter a country. Why would you bother buying six grand's worth of return tickets??
They migrated to Australia four years ago and are happy here and have made their home here. When you are from a place like Bangladesh and miraculously get offered the chance to live in Australia, why would you be interested in the second prize: living in the US?
Doesn't make sense. It's obvious profiling ... and really, really unfair at first glance.
The US border mob said they had their reasons, but I'd bet London to a brick not a single one of them would stack up if they examined closely.
Plus, some of the kids had already visited the US the year before to see the family.
And one of our reporters was held at LAX a few years back too. His problem even though he was born in Australia and grew up here and is as Australian as the next bloke: his father was Egyptian and he has an Arabic surname.
I think the US border patrol were left in no doubt as to his nationality after he let fly with some Aussie invective. He got in (and was in possession of a valid visa), but there was drama.
Also, in regard top the family turned around, Australia has a visa waiver program with the US. You don't need to get a visa before you lob in the US.
I understand it's the right of the US to deny people entry, but there is no doubt they have become very heavy-handed.
I suppose jets flying into skyscrapers will do that to you.
But I'll bet most of the people getting caught up in this are just ordinary travellers with no ulterior motives, either to live in the US or to do harm to the US.
13 - Glenn Contrarian
Patricia -
I live not too far south from you, almost directly west of Seattle across Puget Sound.
I worked in Immigration for four months, and of all the jobs I've ever had - including my twenty years in the Navy - working at Immigration was the only job I ever really loved (but that's another story). My closest friend (other than family) still works there.
Let me turn the coin for you, that you might see the other side.
I'm progressive, to the left of most Democrats. I really don't like Bush, and I despise Cheney - I think they both should be standing at the Hague for war crimes...for our invasion of Iraq was a war crime by every definition of the term.
That said, America's had a siege mentality since 9/11. I refuse to live in big cities here in general, and especially New York and Washington D.C., because they're targets. We can't wish this fact away even though much of the hatred against us that we see is due to what Bush/Cheney did - for they certainly made it many times worse (thanks to Abu Ghirab et al).
It also doesn't help that while President Obama's trying to rebuild our reputation in the world, he's being ridiculed, torn down, and castigated by the very group of people that took us down the path to the invasion of Iraq.
What it boils down to, Patricia, is until the American people feel truly at peace once more - as we generally felt through most of the 1990's - we'll still have a siege mentality, and those who work for the Department of Homeland Security - who are strictly charged with protecting America and the American people - place your personal feelings and your dignity on a FAR lower priority than keeping terrorists out.
Please notice that I'm not saying that DHS and Immigration (which is part of DHS) are right or wrong. I'm telling you how they see it, and why they do what they do.
Now let me address a particularly wrong paradigm of yours:
I lined up in the long, winding queue indicated for visitors, my Canadian passport at hand, having disembarked off a Lot Polish airline flight from Warsaw to Chicago. I noted with irony how consistent all arrivals to the USA are, irregardless of the port of entry. US citizens and residents stand in a line apart which is always shorter and moves quicker than its languishing visitors' counterpart.
YES! Why, I ask you, should an American citizen who is returning to America have to stand in a longer line with all those who are not American citizens? Yes, you're just as human as any American citizen...but you're NOT an American citizen returning home. On this particular point, you need to get over yourself.
Lastly, (hopefully) this September I'll be retiring overseas to a third-world country where I expect to live out the remainder of my days. I know my country's many, many problems. I know there are many better, safer, healthier places to live (of which Canada is certainly one). But I will always stand up for my country, America.
14 - Glenn Contrarian
And for all -
If you want to avoid problems with immigration, here's how: be humble, honest, forthright, courteous, cooperative, and refuse to allow yourself to be offended because of this or that particular slight.
Now that you know this, if they see you have the least bit of temper or impatience, well, you deserve the treatment you get.
In all my travels in North America, Asia, and Africa, I've never once had a problem. Not even once.
15 - STM
Yes, actually Glenn's advice is pretty good.
Being courteous is the right advice; not getting frustrated and frazzled and uptight. If you have a genuine case to state, then state your case clearly.
As in (politely): "Do you mind if I explain something to you?"
If they still won't listen ... you're buggered :)
However, for all that, you don't have to be blind freddie to work out that the border control authorities in the US have become far more pedantic in the wake of 9-11. There is another classic case of a Canadian living legally in the US and working as technician in Utah for 10 years, had family there (including US citizen grandchildren), a house, job ... eveything, who was turned around at the border after going back to Canada for a week to visit family (not the first time he'd done so).
Apparently, there is now provision for border control and immigration to decide whether you might be keeping a job from an American ... even if you've had it for 10 years and no one else can do it.
Try googling Kevin Gibbons and Utah.
They are completely bemused by the whole thing, and rightly so. Their lives have been destroyed as Gibbons and his wife have had to mobe back to Vancouver, he's lost his job, had to sell the house, can't visit their family.
Would I be the only one who thinks that case is a case of taking everything one step (or half a dozen steps) too far??
16 - Jordan Richardson
Ah, the beauty of immigration. Canada's process, as experienced by my wife, has been slightly better but it's still a mad pain in the ass and they certainly don't do anything to make it easier. Harper cutting funding for immigration and shutting down a bunch of facilities hasn't helped either.
17 - jeannie danna
Patricia,
Always be yourself.
The individuals working in these terminals need to get over themselves and start treating all people with respect.
If they weren't looking at every one of us as terrorists, then maybe, they would see the real threats.
18 - jeannie danna
Hi Jordan :)
19 - Glenn Contrarian
Jeannie -
The reason I gave Patricia the advice that I did is that if she shows attitude at the airport, they might detain her and pay so much unwanted attention to her that they'll miss the REAL threats.
And if you encourage her to do that which might get her that unwanted attention, then what happens as a result is partially your fault, too.
You know how progressive, how far to the left I am. But I also appreciate the seriousness of the threat we face. Remember when the Cole was bombed in Yemen? MY office received a phoned-in threat telling us that when the Abraham Lincoln pulled into port in the Middle East, that a boat next to us would blow up. We informed everybody that needed to know, but we couldn't inform our families, and I spent a lot of sleepless nights in the three weeks before we deployed. My ship pulled into Dubai at the end of September (and we were keeping nervous eyes on all the other ships docked around us), and four days after we pulled out, the Cole was bombed. We were relieved ("It wasn't us!")...and we were outraged and shamed ("It should've been us!").
So do NOT go encouraging anyone to go making the jobs of those at Immigration and the Department of Homeland Security any harder. You will be literally doing more harm than good.
Those who work for Immigration and for the Department of Homeland Security have a job to do...and they are deadly serious. Thanks to idiots like the neo-cons and Cheney, DHS has to be deadly serious. As I told Patricia, to the Department of Homeland Security, your personal feelings and your dignity are a FAR lower priority than protecting America and American citizens.
And that's the way it should be, whether you like it or not.
20 - Glenn Contrarian
Pablo -
Thankfully, I've seen enough immigrants come to America who've made far better lives for themselves and their families that I know your comment using my favorite poem was made out of sheer ignorance.
21 - jeannie danna
Glenn, #19,
I am not encouraging anyone to make the job of Homeland Security any harder..and please don't yell at me in bold like that. It is rude.
I am sorry to read of your experiences while serving in the Navy, Glenn.
Those that work in the department of HS need to treat their own citizens with respect also...
and by the way, if we are to be judged by attitude alone, then I wouldn't be the only American citizen hauled off to GITMO.
:[
22 - Glenn Contrarian
Jeannie -
99 times out of 100 one should be gentle and courteous towards others, especially when one believes those others to be good and honest people...and when the other is one of the fairer sex, it's closer to 'never, ever, ever'.
However, there are times when the occasion calls for it. You encouraged someone who'd previously had a bad experience with DHS to continue to continue to show attitude...and if she followed your encouragement, she could wind up in further trouble even with her own government, and she could have drawn attention towards herself that needed to be paid elsewhere.
I'm sorry, Jeannie, but your encouragement of Patricia was not just unwise, but irresponsible. I had to get your (and her) attention, for her sake and for the sake of those strangers traveling with her. My rudeness to you was not just appropriate, but absolutely necessary. Why? Because next time you or Patricia (or other readers of BC who may've followed this thread) fly, you'll be a lot more likely to not do that which can only end badly for you.
23 - Patricia Pawlak
Glenn, what's been on my mind as you've been dispensing your unsolicited sexist advice to the fairer sex is a massive campaign contracting a charter plane to deposit politically conscious volunteers, ideally people of color at a US airport without proper documents. I'd like to see an entire plane of passengers mistreated, abused, deported and arrested for an act of civil disobedience. I'd make sure the media were present. You are arrogant to assume that I have done something to provoke the wrath of the border control officials. It is in equally bad taste as blaming the rape victim for her ordeal, after all she shouldn't have worn that mini-skirt.
24 - roger nowosielski
". . .to the Department of Homeland Security, your personal feelings and your dignity are a FAR lower priority than protecting America and American citizens."
That's no fucking excuse. They're hiring morons to do these jobs.
Why even bother visiting the US anymore? It's becoming a shithole anyway. If I were a foreigner, I'd say fuck you all and go to hell.
25 - pablo
Patricia 23
I just love it when so called liberals are the first in line to promote boot licking.
The fact is that these folks (border patrol) do have a job do to. However that being said, there is NO excuse for incordiality, arrogance, and meanness on their part, which unfortunately these jack booted thugs are showing on a regular basis now. I do not think however that it is being done by mistake.
It is my opinion that the thug behavior is being taught by their superiors. This new fascism demands obedience, and they are in the process of training us to be good slaves.
It is all part and parcel of the body scanners, taking off your shoes, frisking grandmothers, and treating all alike as a non person and a terror threat. It is indeed a sad thing to witness, I myself am a frequent global traveler and I have seen it first hand numerous times.
If people do not stand up and demand to be treated with courtesy and respect, this kind of thing will continue. Shame on Glenn for suggesting we continue to kiss the ass of such thugs.