horrible experience recently with immigration authorities

[new_LPR]

I had my LPR status approved in Nov last yr. Immediately I went and got my passport stamped. I am an Indian citizen.
Recently I was in San Diego and decided to take a day trip to Tijuana. When I was returning, the officer looked at my passport, asked my drivers license and immediately summoned his subordinates to register me specially and do a full search. He didnt even check his computer; nor asked me any questions.
What happened next is a nightmare - I was taken to detention room, they did a full body search on me, had to sit for 4 hrs and when my turn came, the officer there did all kinds of check and said - I was clean and I was free to go.
I asked him why I was put into that room - he said coz my passport is Indian and all citizens of India, will be asked for special registration even if they have green cards.
Reason? He said India was added to a list of countries "of special interest". I asked another officer when coming out and I was told the same thing.
Any experiences /suggestions on what to do ?

[setu]

what is LPR? when did this happen? did u ask him what was special registration for? u should have askedm him for some paper proof of such rule. if u have any lawyer u can talk to him. i have never heard about such thing with anybody. u can write letter to department of homeland security (DHS) or u can also talk to INS/USCIS mentioning your status and explaingin to them what happened. ask them if that rule was true. that is the best u can do.

Originally Posted by new_LPR

I had my LPR status approved in Nov last yr. Immediately I went and got my passport stamped. I am an Indian citizen.
Recently I was in San Diego and decided to take a day trip to Tijuana. When I was returning, the officer looked at my passport, asked my drivers license and immediately summoned his subordinates to register me specially and do a full search. He didnt even check his computer; nor asked me any questions.
What happened next is a nightmare - I was taken to detention room, they did a full body search on me, had to sit for 4 hrs and when my turn came, the officer there did all kinds of check and said - I was clean and I was free to go.
I asked him why I was put into that room - he said coz my passport is Indian and all citizens of India, will be asked for special registration even if they have green cards.
Reason? He said India was added to a list of countries "of special interest". I asked another officer when coming out and I was told the same thing.
Any experiences /suggestions on what to do ?

[ginnu]

Originally Posted by new_LPR

I had my LPR status approved in Nov last yr. Immediately I went and got my passport stamped. I am an Indian citizen.
Recently I was in San Diego and decided to take a day trip to Tijuana. When I was returning, the officer looked at my passport, asked my drivers license and immediately summoned his subordinates to register me specially and do a full search. He didnt even check his computer; nor asked me any questions.
What happened next is a nightmare - I was taken to detention room, they did a full body search on me, had to sit for 4 hrs and when my turn came, the officer there did all kinds of check and said - I was clean and I was free to go.
I asked him why I was put into that room - he said coz my passport is Indian and all citizens of India, will be asked for special registration even if they have green cards.
Reason? He said India was added to a list of countries "of special interest". I asked another officer when coming out and I was told the same thing.
Any experiences /suggestions on what to do ?

---no such law that Indian citizen need to be registred write a detailed letter, with date and time of incident, borderpost name, time
If you feel you were mistreated by an immigration employee, or wish to make a complaint of misconduct by an immigration employee, you may write directly to the:

Director, Office of Internal Audit
425 Eye Street, NW
Room 3260
Washington, DC 20536

[Upstate_NY]

Indian Citizens are NOT part of the registration process. Moreover you have GC status. Did you receive the plastic? If not, that may be a reason because they themselves may be wary of the stamp.

You must report this to folks at the US Dept of Homeland Security and request a reason as to why they did what they did.

Just curious, do you have a name that is similar to those in the Watch List? Do you do anything or act suspicious?

[yeppo]

I assume that Tijuana is on the Mexican border. I would think BP officers may not really be getting too many Indians crossing the border there and hence may not really be aware of the procedures moreso if you just had the stamp on the passport.

Yeppo

[pv1976]

Last time i crossed the Tijuana border was back in Dec 2000 (way before 9/11 incident). We were in Sandiego and decided to goto Tijauana for the night. On our way back he realised (to our horror) that we forgot to take our passports. We were stuck at the border for around 5 hours. But the officers were very understandable. We had our US driving licences. At last they let us in after paying a fine of $275.00.
Well...this was back in 2000. The laws must've changed by now...especially after 9/11.

[Jharkhandi]

Apart from what ginnu stated, check the following too:

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/border_se...go_general.xml


http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interap...orial_0373.xml


http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interap...orial_0326.xml

I would suggest - you must file a complaint.

[new_LPR]

Well, someone asked if I did anything suspicious - answer is NO.
I am a Hindu - dont think my name resembles to anyone suspicious. And I was properly dressed and was not in any disorderly state or anything.
I was told that there is now a list of "special countries" they call it S.I.C ( Special interest countries) and there are 67 of them - India was added just this yr.
Without any reason, those folks did a full body search on my - much more intrusive than what they do in airports, and was asked to sit with detainees with no access to my personal belongings ( not even my bottled water).
People were warned if they raised their voice, they will be locked up in cells.
I was asked, amongst other things - my address in India, my ph # in India etc - I told them I was a permanent resident in US and didnt have that in India - they still insisted I provide that since I was an Indian.
etc etc
Basically they totally disregarded my legal permanent status and treated me like a citizen from a terrorist country.
And yes, they took my fingerprints and my photo too.

[sam_c]

What happened to you is a total outrage! Please, please do yourself and all other lawful (and law abiding) immigrants in this county a favor and file an official complaint against those border patrol agents.
You might also want to do the following (I would really encourage it):
- Write a letter to your local newspaper to bring public attention to these kinds of incidents. This will also put pressure on the authorities to act on your complaint.
- Be sure to tell your local Indian orgainization(s) about it to further publicize the incident.
- Talk/write to your local congressman/woman. Even though you are not a citizen there have been various instances where they have stepped in to help because a) you are their constituent even though you don't vote and b) you are a potential (future) voter.

Please let us know what happened. Good luck!

sam

[ginnu]

Originally Posted by Jharkhandi

Apart from what ginnu stated, check the following too:

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/border_se...go_general.xml


http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interap...orial_0373.xml


http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interap...orial_0326.xml

I would suggest - you must file a complaint.

yes, file the complaint with above links, "sam_c" has posted

- Write a letter to your local newspaper to bring public attention to these kinds of incidents. This will also put pressure on the authorities to act on your complaint.
----- i dont think it will work they are not intrested in indian
- Be sure to tell your local Indian orgainization(s) about it to further publicize the incident.
----- nothing will happen, try it
- Talk/write to your local congressman/woman.
Even though you are not a citizen there have been various instances where they have stepped in to help because a) you are their constituent even though you don't vote and b) you are a potential (future) voter.


**********------------ if a teaches gives you punishment without any mistake do you go to principal/ headmaster or complain to peon??? write to all the addresses provided

[sam_c]

Originally Posted by ginnu

yes, file the complaint with above links, "sam_c" has posted

- Write a letter to your local newspaper to bring public attention to these kinds of incidents. This will also put pressure on the authorities to act on your complaint.
----- i dont think it will work they are not intrested in indian

Not true. In our area for example (NY metro) several harassment incidents after 9/11 which were written about in "Letters to the Editor" or similar were acted upon. I guess if you live deep in red-neck country then you're probably right.

- Be sure to tell your local Indian orgainization(s) about it to further publicize the incident.
----- nothing will happen, try it

Yes, this may be true but could be worth a try.

- Talk/write to your local congressman/woman.
Even though you are not a citizen there have been various instances where they have stepped in to help because a) you are their constituent even though you don't vote and b) you are a potential (future) voter.


**********------------ if a teaches gives you punishment without any mistake do you go to principal/ headmaster or complain to peon??? write to all the addresses provided

I'm not sure what you mean by that analogy, but an interested congressman can get bureaucrats to actually get things done. Two examples I personally know of: a cousin in the Philly area whose wife's GC was wrongly denied and a person in our neighborhood who was arrested and harassed by INS and FBI upon re-entering the US because of a name mix-up.


Naturally, I only state my opinion and everyone has their own.

sam

[ginnu]

Originally Posted by sam_c

Not true. In our area for example (NY metro) several harassment incidents after 9/11 which were written about in "Letters to the Editor" or similar were acted upon. I guess if you live deep in red-neck country then you're probably right.



Yes, this may be true but could be worth a try.




I'm not sure what you mean by that analogy, but an interested congressman can get bureaucrats to actually get things done.
Two examples I personally know of: a cousin in the Philly area whose wife's GC was wrongly denied
------ if the GC was wrongly denied and the base for GC was submited and it was USCIS mistake and you provide evidence of eligiblity through lawyer that is diffrent matter
and a person in our neighborhood who was arrested and harassed by INS and FBI upon re-entering the US because of a name mix-up.
------- I think I know about that case, these are diffrent knid of cases, and nothing wrong in writing to congressman or senator, what I posted is the person should write letter to concerned departments + what you said

Naturally, I only state my opinion and everyone has their own.

sam