It's not just the agents, as a foreigner, it's CBP as a whole. I lived in the US for 3 years on an E-3 visa (like a weird H1B that's only for Australians). I w

It's not just the agents, as a foreigner, it's CBP as a whole. I lived in the US for 3 years on an E-3 visa (like a weird H1B that's only for Australians). I wasn't eligible for any of the expedited entry procedures like Global Entry since I was an Australian without a green card. The journey starts in the foreign airport. Did you know that the US has its own security in many foreign airports? After you've already been through the airport's own security and are waiting at the gate, just prior to or even during boarding, the US can have you pulled aside and searched thoroughly once more. They'll make you take off your shoes, jackets, go over you with a wand, unpack all of your carry-on luggage on a table and then make you pack it again. This happened to me on 3/4 international flights returning back to the US from Europe (France, Germany). Then, once I arrived in the US, I had to go through the "foreigner that needs to see a human" line. Have a look at the wait times for that line, as reported by CBP [0]. I ran an average for October 2019 at SFO and the _average_ wait time was 26 minutes but depending on when you arrived, it could be hours. In my experience ~45 minutes was the norm (I chose unlucky arrival times I suppose). When you get to the human, they basically treat you like a criminal. They take your fingerprints, make you look into a camera for biometrics and interrogate you about why a foreign peasant deserves to enter the utopia that is America. On each visit after renewing the visa, you also have to carry a massive pile of documentation with you (documentation that was already submitted to the State Department as part of the visa application). And then, after immigration, you have to go through customs. Normally customs isn't so bad but every now and then you can get pulled aside for a baggage search. This means being told to stand in a line for easily an hour without any indication of why, no access to food or drink and of course you can't use your phone either. I've travelled fairly widely and the US border really is the worst I've had the misfortune of crossing. When I enter the US the whole CBP process gives a sense of dread and makes me feel like a huge pile of weights is being dumped on top of me. When I leave the US it's like I'm finally free and returned to civilization. Even "oppressive" countries like Russia and Turkey feel better than the US. [0]: https://awt.cbp.gov/ https://awt.cbp.gov/