28 ms·
This assumes that he was not picked by random but instead there is some sort of list of people to check at airports that you can be put on because of your work
by chvid 8y ago
This assumes that he was not picked by random but instead there is some sort of list of people to check at airports that you can be put on because of your work within IT-security.
That would be a big story if that is the case.
I will offer a counter-narrative which is more in line with my own experience (from other places than the US):
The people who work at border control in particular in airports are bored.
They are also overstaffed and given extreme discretion over the people they patrol; most of whom are non-citizen and thus have basically no rights at all.
This leads to them doing work for the sake of showing they work, overreacting to the least of resistance and maybe even some games of entertainment.
- dsfyu404ed 8y agoThey're likely not stupid enough to have a "list". They have a set of factors and probably tally up some sort of score and search everyone above X. It just so happens that anyone they wanted to put on the list will score X or above. Doing IT security probably gets you a pretty high score just by itself. Add in the fact that he was originally from Eastern Europe and there you are. I will definitely agree bored cops looking for stuff to do cause a lot of problems.
- chvid 8y agoI don't disagree with you. I just don't think they have detailed information on your profession to the extend that they distinguish a software engineer from a software engineer doing security work. I think it is obvious that they profile on overall looks, race, citizen status, place of birth, travel patterns.
- ericye16 8y agoThey literally have a list [0] [0] https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/u-s-officials-made-list-reporters-lawyers-activists-question-border-n980301 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/u-s-officials-m...
- RyJones 8y agoWhen I was returning from Hong Kong a few weeks ago, the agent asked what city I was born in (fine) what hospital I was born in (I remember where it used to be, but I can't remember the name) and what the "number" of the county was I grew up in. What he meant was the prefix for the license plate. Luckily I remembered it. I suspect he grew up in the area, but it was super weird; also, he was probably fairly bored.
- _red 8y agoMoreover, its interesting that he believes that he was targeted because he said anti-Trump statements. Yet, it doesn't seem to occur to him that: This is what you get when you advocate for "big government". The downside of having big government is that it winds up being staffed with mad-with-power bureaucrats, who will mess your life up just because. I miss the time when most techies believed in civil liberties and were wary of government. Chickens coming home to roost and all that...
- cylinder 8y agoUm, this is definitely the case. DHS has an advanced record keeping system. They have tons of information on every person arriving in the US. Yes they even know what you ordered on your in flight meal.
- fernandotakai 8y agowell, one CBP officer almost sent me to secondary checks because i had two US entry stamps within a week and a half of each other. why? because i went to europe from my own country and both flights (to and from) had layovers in the US. she said it was absolutely not common (which i doubt very much) and she was concerned i was coming and going because i want to stay (?!?!?!).