3 ms·

As someone who flies into and out of the US fairly regularly-ish ... the way I'm treated by Homeland Security when I fly with my wife & son vs. alone, is a bit

As someone who flies into and out of the US fairly regularly-ish ... the way I'm treated by Homeland Security when I fly with my wife & son vs. alone, is a bit shocking. Alone: I'm asked what I am doing there (despite having a US passport; so it shouldn't matter), why I live in a foreign country instead of the US, what I do for a living, why I have a backpack on instead of suitcase, etc. While they sit there holding my passport hostage, scrolling through who knows what data... sometimes I even "randomly" get sent to a back room to have all my stuff dumped out and my phone confiscated. It's like they want to make _really_ sure I never come visit my parents. With my family: welcome home! Have fun! If you want to sneak into the US, just go with a wife and kids. /s

objclxt 3y ago
> While they sit there holding my passport hostage, scrolling through who knows what data Legally it's their passport, not yours. A passport is the property of the US government at all times.
- withinboredom 3y ago
  Yeah, that doesn’t make it any less terrifying…
alliao 3y ago
I did go with a wife and kids but no US passport, got pulled into a small room and questioned till we missed our connection flight, US customs is so obnoxious is the number 1 reason why I avoid travelling to the US...
- eszed 3y ago
  Yeah, I (well, she) had this experience entering the US with a non-American girlfriend, 10+ years ago. She was pulled aside, grilled, treated terribly, and emerged in tears 30+ minutes later. It really made me angry, because it's not as effective _security_-wise as what we were used to flying the other way. Immigration agents at Heathrow were generally so polite and accommodating (eg, let me go through the EU citizens path, when we were traveling together), that I typically revealed more about my travel plans than I probably _had_ to, and / or may have been wise. It's dumb and self-defeating, and should be a source of shame for all USA-ians.
  - alliao 3y ago
    yeah, it's not even a job well done the way it's done. usually more power tripping above all else. the security theatrics of TSA should be gutted to be honest. I remember flying into the US in the 80s, that was a treat. Very different times.
komali2 3y ago
If you're a USA citizen you're under no obligation to answer any of their questions, and in fact answering any of them can only really hurt you. You shouldn't ever answer questions from any form of cop without your lawyer present, and even at the border you still don't have to, though they have more unconstitutional but legal leeway to seize your stuff and hold you as punishment. American cops across the board are getting more bold in their degradation of civilians and we shouldn't stand for it. Even tsa only has one thing they're legally allowed to do: determine you don't have weapons you're trying to bring onto the plane. Whenever I have to deal with TSA I say I forgot my ID. "But you're in the international terminal you need your passport to board." Aw bummer I guess the airline won't let me fly, here's my boarding pass. They pat me down of course but they eventually let me in, every time, cause they have to. If every American exercised their rights with the TSA the charade would collapse instantly as lines extended to hours long and security protocols were relaxed so people could get to their flights. I got to witness this firsthand after defcon once when all the attendees arriving at the airport around the same time were refusing to show ID to TSA and refusing to do the genital scanner, and a bunch of tourists were stuck in line for hours with strange people in black hoodies extolling to them the dangers of their Facebook account, until TSA finally just started pushing people through the metal detector as fast as they could.

objclxt 3y ago

> While they sit there holding my passport hostage, scrolling through who knows what data Legally it's their passport, not yours. A passport is the property of the US government at all times.

withinboredom 3y ago
Yeah, that doesn’t make it any less terrifying…

alliao 3y ago

I did go with a wife and kids but no US passport, got pulled into a small room and questioned till we missed our connection flight, US customs is so obnoxious is the number 1 reason why I avoid travelling to the US...

eszed 3y ago
Yeah, I (well, she) had this experience entering the US with a non-American girlfriend, 10+ years ago. She was pulled aside, grilled, treated terribly, and emerged in tears 30+ minutes later. It really made me angry, because it's not as effective _security_-wise as what we were used to flying the other way. Immigration agents at Heathrow were generally so polite and accommodating (eg, let me go through the EU citizens path, when we were traveling together), that I typically revealed more about my travel plans than I probably _had_ to, and / or may have been wise. It's dumb and self-defeating, and should be a source of shame for all USA-ians.
- alliao 3y ago
  yeah, it's not even a job well done the way it's done. usually more power tripping above all else. the security theatrics of TSA should be gutted to be honest. I remember flying into the US in the 80s, that was a treat. Very different times.

komali2 3y ago

If you're a USA citizen you're under no obligation to answer any of their questions, and in fact answering any of them can only really hurt you. You shouldn't ever answer questions from any form of cop without your lawyer present, and even at the border you still don't have to, though they have more unconstitutional but legal leeway to seize your stuff and hold you as punishment. American cops across the board are getting more bold in their degradation of civilians and we shouldn't stand for it. Even tsa only has one thing they're legally allowed to do: determine you don't have weapons you're trying to bring onto the plane. Whenever I have to deal with TSA I say I forgot my ID. "But you're in the international terminal you need your passport to board." Aw bummer I guess the airline won't let me fly, here's my boarding pass. They pat me down of course but they eventually let me in, every time, cause they have to. If every American exercised their rights with the TSA the charade would collapse instantly as lines extended to hours long and security protocols were relaxed so people could get to their flights. I got to witness this firsthand after defcon once when all the attendees arriving at the airport around the same time were refusing to show ID to TSA and refusing to do the genital scanner, and a bunch of tourists were stuck in line for hours with strange people in black hoodies extolling to them the dangers of their Facebook account, until TSA finally just started pushing people through the metal detector as fast as they could.