3 ms·

Is there any evidence that this guy was specifically singled out for being non-white, or that this has anything to do with Trump at all? Border guards are allo

Is there any evidence that this guy was specifically singled out for being non-white, or that this has anything to do with Trump at all? Border guards are allowed to ask you questions to see how you react and to corroborate your story. If someone (from any country) entered claiming to be a physicist, would it be reasonable to ask him to try to solve some integrals?

bobwaycott 10y ago
How would a border agent even prove they possess the necessary skills and knowledge to even verify the veracity of an answer? As a tech consultant who spends inordinate amounts of time explaining to clients various kinds of plausible-sounding bullshit from others, I seriously doubt border agents can fare better.
- eh78ssxv2f 10y ago
  Well, they might have the key. If your answer does not match the answer in the key, BAM, you are not allowed. (Not saying that this is the correct approach, just saying that this is possible if correctness is not a goal.)
- briandear 10y ago
  That's not the purpose of questioning - the answer doesn't matter, it's how the questions are answered. How are immigration officers supposed to do their jobs? The purpose of immigration officers isn't to just blindly stamp passports; they actually have to determine if the person attempting to enter should be allowed to enter. Which interestingly, is the job of immigration officers across the world. I feel like people are just looking for fight and begging for something about which to be outraged. Immigration and Customs officers from all countries have been doing this as long as there have been Customs and Immigration.
  - moftz 10y ago
    You could give any answer to those kind of questions and as long as you seem confident and sound truthful, you breeze past and aren't given a second look. The CBP officer might just happen to be knowledgeable in your field enough to be able to verify your answer or he may have no clue and just pulled a question from his ass. They are just looking for a reaction and the tone of your answer.
nevi-me 10y ago
I never said he was singled out, or by race/ethnicity/color even. Whether this relates to Trump: As others have pointed out, yes this has been happening before Trump, I'm not alluding to Trump being the sole cause. The point that I'm making is that leaders (president and even local leaders) who can make statements or take actions that are contrary to the country's laws have an effect on the guy on the streets. If you tell me that foreigners are taking our jobs (regardless of its truth), I might not be very objective as a CBP employee. I might even be biased against certain people, but that's hard to judge as we are different as humans. The guy on the tweet said he was asked 10 other questions, and they seemed to expect textbook/Wikipedia type answers. A blog post from him will hopefully have more details for us to make better observations. You make a fair point about the physicist, but everything in moderation is fair. My point if any, is that what leaders/politicians say affects our attitude and often opinions. Whether we like such leader or not, I hope we can agree on that at least.
- 67726e 10y ago
  This story has nothing to do with Trump, his policies, or rhetoric. CBP tries to assess if a story is valid, this sounds like some kid who took a few classes being a dick. Stop trying to make every little thing about Trump because of your personal bias. You sound just as ignorant as the idiots who tried to pillory Obama at every turn.
467568985476 10y ago
No, it wouldn't? What does a border guard know about calculus, much less some physicist's particular area of research? The whole reason this is farcical is that self-balancing search tree algorithms are notoriously based on multiple balancing cases and it's ridiculous to expect someone to have memorized them. Some even rely on amortized bounds which only complicates the implementation and explanation further.
- comex 10y ago
  Even ignoring the border guard's competence, there's a difference between being able to solve problems and being able to solve problems after traveling for 23 hours straight - as @cyberomin said he had been. Maybe if it's pure recital from memory, something so basic that it should come to mind automatically without active thought (self-balancing trees are not even close), then I might trust myself to answer while sleep-deprived to that extent; but even then, I might easily make very stupid mistakes. If solving the problem requires even a bit of active intellectual effort, then forget about it; I'm too tired for that shit.

bobwaycott 10y ago

How would a border agent even prove they possess the necessary skills and knowledge to even verify the veracity of an answer? As a tech consultant who spends inordinate amounts of time explaining to clients various kinds of plausible-sounding bullshit from others, I seriously doubt border agents can fare better.

eh78ssxv2f 10y ago
Well, they might have the key. If your answer does not match the answer in the key, BAM, you are not allowed. (Not saying that this is the correct approach, just saying that this is possible if correctness is not a goal.)
briandear 10y ago
That's not the purpose of questioning - the answer doesn't matter, it's how the questions are answered. How are immigration officers supposed to do their jobs? The purpose of immigration officers isn't to just blindly stamp passports; they actually have to determine if the person attempting to enter should be allowed to enter. Which interestingly, is the job of immigration officers across the world. I feel like people are just looking for fight and begging for something about which to be outraged. Immigration and Customs officers from all countries have been doing this as long as there have been Customs and Immigration.
- moftz 10y ago
  You could give any answer to those kind of questions and as long as you seem confident and sound truthful, you breeze past and aren't given a second look. The CBP officer might just happen to be knowledgeable in your field enough to be able to verify your answer or he may have no clue and just pulled a question from his ass. They are just looking for a reaction and the tone of your answer.

nevi-me 10y ago

I never said he was singled out, or by race/ethnicity/color even. Whether this relates to Trump: As others have pointed out, yes this has been happening before Trump, I'm not alluding to Trump being the sole cause. The point that I'm making is that leaders (president and even local leaders) who can make statements or take actions that are contrary to the country's laws have an effect on the guy on the streets. If you tell me that foreigners are taking our jobs (regardless of its truth), I might not be very objective as a CBP employee. I might even be biased against certain people, but that's hard to judge as we are different as humans. The guy on the tweet said he was asked 10 other questions, and they seemed to expect textbook/Wikipedia type answers. A blog post from him will hopefully have more details for us to make better observations. You make a fair point about the physicist, but everything in moderation is fair. My point if any, is that what leaders/politicians say affects our attitude and often opinions. Whether we like such leader or not, I hope we can agree on that at least.

67726e 10y ago
This story has nothing to do with Trump, his policies, or rhetoric. CBP tries to assess if a story is valid, this sounds like some kid who took a few classes being a dick. Stop trying to make every little thing about Trump because of your personal bias. You sound just as ignorant as the idiots who tried to pillory Obama at every turn.

467568985476 10y ago

No, it wouldn't? What does a border guard know about calculus, much less some physicist's particular area of research? The whole reason this is farcical is that self-balancing search tree algorithms are notoriously based on multiple balancing cases and it's ridiculous to expect someone to have memorized them. Some even rely on amortized bounds which only complicates the implementation and explanation further.

comex 10y ago
Even ignoring the border guard's competence, there's a difference between being able to solve problems and being able to solve problems after traveling for 23 hours straight - as @cyberomin said he had been. Maybe if it's pure recital from memory, something so basic that it should come to mind automatically without active thought (self-balancing trees are not even close), then I might trust myself to answer while sleep-deprived to that extent; but even then, I might easily make very stupid mistakes. If solving the problem requires even a bit of active intellectual effort, then forget about it; I'm too tired for that shit.