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That's the awesome thing about sovereignty- we get to run background checks and see if someone's been hanging out in Pakistan Frontier Provinces or Yemen lately

That's the awesome thing about sovereignty- we get to run background checks and see if someone's been hanging out in Pakistan Frontier Provinces or Yemen lately. If someone looks sketchy, we boot them out. Coming to an expensive first world country with $600 for 2 weeks is pretty clearly sketchy. CBPs make wrong decisions sometimes. This wasn't one of those times.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
groby_b 15y ago
The problem is, the CBP people get to play god. They're (as far as I can tell) not bound by any rules. Two examples: When my dad wanted to come over, the US Embassy told him that technically, they can turn away people at the border for no reason except they don't like you. When I first got here, many moons ago, I had a Visa from the US embassy inserted in my passport. Since the officer at the border was having a bad day (or whatever triggered this), he was asking for the full set of paperwork leading up to the Visa - two large binders with 500+ pages of paperwork. ---- I don't object to CBP being able to turn away people, that's reasonable. I object to there being no clear rules and regulations that you can check before you e.g. board a 12-hour transatlantic flight. If, in the above example, there was a clear rule that you must bring $X per day, you could avoid this nonsense. But there isn't. It's entirely the border agents discretion.
bigwally 15y ago
> we get to run background checks and see if someone's been hanging out in Pakistan Frontier Provinces or Yemen lately. You are overestimating the competence of the US government. > If someone looks sketchy, we boot them out. So dress nice and talk a lot of crap and they let you in. >CBPs make wrong decisions sometimes. This wasn't one of those times. Yay for security theater. I am glad someone feels safer.
jules 15y ago
The reply of groby_b was wrongly killed.
owenmarshall 15y ago
>Coming to an expensive first world country with $600 for 2 weeks is pretty clearly sketchy. Bingo. Entering the US with $5000 in Bitcoin would be equivalent to crossing the border with $5000 in Somaliland Shillings. They are both currencies that are bought and sold every day, but you can't take either to your neighborhood bank and convert them to USD. They have a very limited -- hell, even zero -- utility outside of circles that deal directly with them. As such, CBP was rightly suspicious.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

groby_b 15y ago

The problem is, the CBP people get to play god. They're (as far as I can tell) not bound by any rules. Two examples: When my dad wanted to come over, the US Embassy told him that technically, they can turn away people at the border for no reason except they don't like you. When I first got here, many moons ago, I had a Visa from the US embassy inserted in my passport. Since the officer at the border was having a bad day (or whatever triggered this), he was asking for the full set of paperwork leading up to the Visa - two large binders with 500+ pages of paperwork. ---- I don't object to CBP being able to turn away people, that's reasonable. I object to there being no clear rules and regulations that you can check before you e.g. board a 12-hour transatlantic flight. If, in the above example, there was a clear rule that you must bring $X per day, you could avoid this nonsense. But there isn't. It's entirely the border agents discretion.

bigwally 15y ago

> we get to run background checks and see if someone's been hanging out in Pakistan Frontier Provinces or Yemen lately. You are overestimating the competence of the US government. > If someone looks sketchy, we boot them out. So dress nice and talk a lot of crap and they let you in. >CBPs make wrong decisions sometimes. This wasn't one of those times. Yay for security theater. I am glad someone feels safer.

jules 15y ago

The reply of groby_b was wrongly killed.

owenmarshall 15y ago

>Coming to an expensive first world country with $600 for 2 weeks is pretty clearly sketchy. Bingo. Entering the US with $5000 in Bitcoin would be equivalent to crossing the border with $5000 in Somaliland Shillings. They are both currencies that are bought and sold every day, but you can't take either to your neighborhood bank and convert them to USD. They have a very limited -- hell, even zero -- utility outside of circles that deal directly with them. As such, CBP was rightly suspicious.