airport experience

P

pqq

Registered Users (C)
i got back from a 4 day trip to central america and i just want to share my experience at the entry point (Houston airport).
Somehow i started feeling that i should have chosen another line the first moment the officer looked at me after i gave him my RTD. The first question he asked was- "what's the reason you got an asylum for?" I briefly told him the situation (2-3 sentences), but he seemed like he didn't want to beleive anything and his next question was "Are you sure you didn't apply for it because of economic hardship in your country?" I said "certainly no". Then he slid my RTD and said:"you have not been in the US for over a year, maybe you don't need an asylum any more?" I have no idea how he came up with that time of my absence, i've been out for only 4 days, and my RTD was even issued less than 3 months ago! I told him that it was only a few days and provided him with the dates, then he asked me several general questions- where i work, etc, and then he asked one guy to show me to the room. I was already expecting the questioning to be continued while waiting for my turn for about 25-30 minutes, however, a lady in the room took my RTD, stamped it, then called my name and said :"you are all set". That was it.

My question is - do you guys think the officer had the right to make such assumption about me and my asylum? If not, should i try to report this to USCIS? I quite understand that this one letter won't do anything to that officer, but if they start getting complains about same officers over and over again maybe it will help us to get rid of such unprofessional, rood and senseless officers at the border.

for those who travel through Houston- it was a 50-55 year old chinese looking guy- i would suggest not to get into that line, although maybe he was like that toward me only
 
pqq said:
i got back from a 4 day trip to central america and i just want to share my experience at the entry point (Houston airport).
Somehow i started feeling that i should have chosen another line the first moment the officer looked at me after i gave him my RTD. The first question he asked was- "what's the reason you got an asylum for?" I briefly told him the situation (2-3 sentences), but he seemed like he didn't want to beleive anything and his next question was "Are you sure you didn't apply for it because of economic hardship in your country?" I said "certainly no". Then he slid my RTD and said:"you have not been in the US for over a year, maybe you don't need an asylum any more?" I have no idea how he came up with that time of my absence, i've been out for only 4 days, and my RTD was even issued less than 3 months ago! I told him that it was only a few days and provided him with the dates, then he asked me several general questions- where i work, etc, and then he asked one guy to show me to the room. I was already expecting the questioning to be continued while waiting for my turn for about 25-30 minutes, however, a lady in the room took my RTD, stamped it, then called my name and said :"you are all set". That was it.

My question is - do you guys think the officer had the right to make such assumption about me and my asylum? If not, should i try to report this to USCIS? I quite understand that this one letter won't do anything to that officer, but if they start getting complains about same officers over and over again maybe it will help us to get rid of such unprofessional, rood and senseless officers at the border.

for those who travel through Houston- it was a 50-55 year old chinese looking guy- i would suggest not to get into that line, although maybe he was like that toward me only
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he doesnt have a right to ask u those questions about your asylum case . his job is to check your papers if they are in order that is it .next time you get so many dumb questions you have to tell him "i cant answer your questions regarding my asylum case without lawyer,let me call my lawyer"and that you will give him all that info concerning your asylum case through your lawyer .never answer any tricky questions to police or IO without lawyer they can use it against you in court. if you report him .he will definitly understantd his rights.he just discriminated you .it is power abuse.probably he still lives in 1960th .or he was high on drugs and thought he is back in ASIA.and he probably thinks new immigrants dont know laws.maximum what he could do with u he could put u to detention center but what reason? you would screw him later with lawyer.
if you have a lawyer ask him to send appropirate letter of complain in case if he put any mess on your record.even illegal immigrants whom they catch in mexican border they catch and call them to court .(but they never show up to court) :) next time try to get his name and lastname.he should have name tag.
 
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It is my observation that naturalized citizens who are immigration officers tend to be smart asses.

One time I had an experinece with this black Bitch while crossing the border between Canada and US (I was wth my family) As I came to the booth (American side) gave her our RTD she started asking questions, which was fine then she looked at the RTD and started comparing my picture saying it was not me. I started laughing as I could not believe how low she could get. After that she tells me that she does not think people form my country should be eligible for asylum; gave our RTD back and let us cross the border. Now folks this was a number of years ago and I did not know any better. If this were to happen recently I would have told her that I will let the immigration judge know who thought otherwise and I would have filed a complaint against her. No wonder why I dont see her anymore cause she got fired.
 
I would say GRIN AND BARE IT. Do not get into any arguments with any Immigration officers ever. Yes he was wrong but the last thing you want to do is to give him a reason to deny your entry.

When these things happen, just take it lightly. Last year when I entered U.S, when in Customs, the guy looked at my cutoms form and pulled me over and searched my bags...

After he was done, I asked him politely that "Officer, can you please tell me why I was singled?"

To which he said "Sir, In 2003, when you entered through Washington Dulles, we found a banana in your carry on which you didn't report to us. Now that are you cleared, you will not be flagged. Its just policy"

I was happy with the answer because it was true...

So just chill and dont give them excuses to make a big deal.
 
wantmygcnow said:
I would say GRIN AND BARE IT. Do not get into any arguments with any Immigration officers ever. Yes he was wrong but the last thing you want to do is to give him a reason to deny your entry.
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Thanks Man. This is a very smart thought. I will do that if I have problems some day. Thanks again.
 
Copper1 I do agree with you. I had a similar experience with an IO(naturalized) in Newark airport. I arrived from London( that was my 3rd trip abroad) and as usual I was sent to the small room for my RTD to be stamped, the smart ass apparrently just started working there, I guess to make himself important he started asking me all sorts of questions like where are you from, what was the purpose of your trip, where do you work. I answered all his questions then he asked for my wallet and started looking through it checking all my credit cards and business cards I had on me. The idiot had the audacity to ask me who those people where. I was so pissed , I asked him why do I have to go through all this questioning, he said that it was routine. he then went to another officer started asking him a bunch of questions then came back stamped my RTD and wrote something on the customs forms. When I went through customs I was pulled aside and was asked to open all my bags for searching.I have rehearsed what I am going to say if I run into a similiar situation.
 
pqq...i sympathize with your experience. it's never easy going through immigration or customs and feeling like you're being violated. it sounds like you handled it very well and i'm glad you got through ok! :) if i had taken down the identifying information of the IO, i might contact USCIS to make a customer service complaint. i don't see anything wrong with that.

while i understand the responses in support of pqq, i feel i have to point out the irony of the assumptions some of the responses are making of the IO and of the situation in general. pqq mentioned that the IO was "chinese looking", to which a response of maybe he "thought he is back in china" followed. then the following response followed, "It is my observation that naturalized citizens who are immigration officers tend to be smart asses". we all make assumptions about the world, but in this string of posts, we went from, the IO looking chinese to him being from china and a naturalized citizen. i know you are all good hearted people, and i have been at awe at the level of support and care that i have seen you provide in other posts. however, i hope we are more careful with the big leaps and assumptions we make and propogate. it is the same type of stuff going on here in this post that results in asylees feeling interrogated and violated whenever they encounter immigration and customs!

cheers! ;)
froff
 
pqq said:
i got back from a 4 day trip to central america and i just want to share my experience at the entry point (Houston airport).
Somehow i started feeling that i should have chosen another line the first moment the officer looked at me after i gave him my RTD. The first question he asked was- "what's the reason you got an asylum for?" I briefly told him the situation (2-3 sentences), but he seemed like he didn't want to beleive anything and his next question was "Are you sure you didn't apply for it because of economic hardship in your country?" I said "certainly no". Then he slid my RTD and said:"you have not been in the US for over a year, maybe you don't need an asylum any more?" I have no idea how he came up with that time of my absence, i've been out for only 4 days, and my RTD was even issued less than 3 months ago! I told him that it was only a few days and provided him with the dates, then he asked me several general questions- where i work, etc, and then he asked one guy to show me to the room. I was already expecting the questioning to be continued while waiting for my turn for about 25-30 minutes, however, a lady in the room took my RTD, stamped it, then called my name and said :"you are all set". That was it.

My question is - do you guys think the officer had the right to make such assumption about me and my asylum? If not, should i try to report this to USCIS? I quite understand that this one letter won't do anything to that officer, but if they start getting complains about same officers over and over again maybe it will help us to get rid of such unprofessional, rood and senseless officers at the border.

for those who travel through Houston- it was a 50-55 year old chinese looking guy- i would suggest not to get into that line, although maybe he was like that toward me only
Click to expand...

Just ignore Naturalized citizens wherever they are doing the job need to take an advantage on other aliens...Some US born citizens do the same as well...They need to make everything harder once they're facing someone who was not born in US.We will still facing some problem the time w'll carrying our US passports since we were not born in US.

RD Aug 22,2001
Approved Sep 15,2005
GC received Sep 20,2005
 
froff22 said:
pqq...i sympathize with your experience. it's never easy going through immigration or customs and feeling like you're being violated. it sounds like you handled it very well and i'm glad you got through ok! :) if i had taken down the identifying information of the IO, i might contact USCIS to make a customer service complaint. i don't see anything wrong with that.

while i understand the responses in support of pqq, i feel i have to point out the irony of the assumptions some of the responses are making of the IO and of the situation in general. pqq mentioned that the IO was "chinese looking", to which a response of maybe he "thought he is back in china" followed. then the following response followed, "It is my observation that naturalized citizens who are immigration officers tend to be smart asses". we all make assumptions about the world, but in this string of posts, we went from, the IO looking chinese to him being from china and a naturalized citizen. i know you are all good hearted people, and i have been at awe at the level of support and care that i have seen you provide in other posts. however, i hope we are more careful with the big leaps and assumptions we make and propogate. it is the same type of stuff going on here in this post that results in asylees feeling interrogated and violated whenever they encounter immigration and customs!

cheers! ;)
froff
Click to expand...

Fact is fact. ALL and I say ALL with conviction. ALL naturalized U.S Citizens who are in Immigration ALWAYS give trouble to another foreigner. This is true not in immigration but other facets of life. Like the stupid low-level airline clerk who is a foreigner.. in a German Airport who can barely speak english but tries to be a smartass by asking stupid questions about your G.C!!

I would suggest if you see a foreigner IO, run away from the line if you can or just smile and answer his stupid questions.
 
froff22 said:
pqq...i sympathize with your experience. it's never easy going through immigration or customs and feeling like you're being violated. it sounds like you handled it very well and i'm glad you got through ok! :) if i had taken down the identifying information of the IO, i might contact USCIS to make a customer service complaint. i don't see anything wrong with that.

while i understand the responses in support of pqq, i feel i have to point out the irony of the assumptions some of the responses are making of the IO and of the situation in general. pqq mentioned that the IO was "chinese looking", to which a response of maybe he "thought he is back in china" followed. then the following response followed, "It is my observation that naturalized citizens who are immigration officers tend to be smart asses". we all make assumptions about the world, but in this string of posts, we went from, the IO looking chinese to him being from china and a naturalized citizen. i know you are all good hearted people, and i have been at awe at the level of support and care that i have seen you provide in other posts. however, i hope we are more careful with the big leaps and assumptions we make and propogate. it is the same type of stuff going on here in this post that results in asylees feeling interrogated and violated whenever they encounter immigration and customs!

cheers! ;)
froff
Click to expand...


I appreciate your positive comments and I agree we must not think this way but this has been my observation. Since being naturalized they probably know and have been through all the crap and know how some immigrants committ fraud in regards to immigration matters.
Oh let me also tell you one more thing. I have also ran into ths other IO at the same border who sees to be from Africa, he is very sweet and respectable.
 
hmm

I wonder if they treat GC holders through Asylum the same way at the Port of Entry. Anyone here with the GC ran into trouble with the officer? Please share your experience. I think theses little stories help us a lot and make alot of things clear. Thanks People.
 
copper1 said:
I have also ran into ths other IO at the same border who sees to be from Africa, he is very sweet and respectable.
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Copper: I hope you are a girl. :D

Seriously, some (not all) naturalized people in this country attack other foreigners. Not only in airports, but also in universities, offices, parks, etc. I reapeat some, not all.
 
From my experience the worst airport ever is Washington Dullas. I had a pleasure to talk to an asshole once on my way back from Mexico. That was enough. He asked lot of unpleasant questions one of which made me really frustrated. He asked which country I flew thru when first coming to U.S. I said that my flight was a transfer flight thru Hithrow airport in London. Then he asked why hadn't I applied for asylum in London? What if my plane wouldn't get in the U.S. for any reason? I didn't know what to say. My response was that I didn't think about it, I spent only half an hour in Hithrow Airport. He said " USA is not a home for asylees. I wouldn't wait until I get here if I were seriously presecuted in my country".
The best airport is Logan in Boston. I entered thru this airport twice coming back both times from Europe. The first time the officer threw away my I-94 which I'd just filled out and stamped my RTD with the stamp "Admitted. Code 1711". All he asked me to show was just my NP. The whole procedure took 3 minutes. The next time the officer was a young guy whose name was Orlando. It looked like he just started his work day. He looked a little lazy. He took my RTD, looked thru it and then said: "We gonna take a walk". We went to the room where my RTD was stamped with the new I-94. While walking he asked me friendly what was the reason for me filing I-589. I answered and he was ok with my response. The funny thing is that when the officer was stamping my RTD with I-94 he saw my another "Admitted" stamp, then smiled and said: "When an officer is letting you in without coming here and without stamping I-94, tell him he is wrong".
I also had an interesting experience in Amsterdam Airport last year. I was flying thru Amsterdam to another European country and got stucked because of the snow storm. All flights were cancelled for the whole day. KLM Airlines announced that they will accomodate everyone in Shiphole area which is close to the airport, but you have to leave the airport for that. All americans went thru the passpot control easily and I didn't know what to do. I came to the immigration officer and showed him my RTD. He said thaht unfortunately he couldn't give me a visa because I didn't have Green Card yet. I went to the coffee shop being very upset that I would have to spend the whole day and night in the airport. Suddenly I remebered that I had my I-485 receipt number in my wallet. I went to the Internet Cafe and printed out from USCIS web site the whole page saying that they received my application and it takes 850-900 days to process. Then I returned to the officer and showed it to him. He contacted the Chief of Immigration and they gave me a day pass to leave to Amsterdam. The funny thing is that this printed copy from USCIS website didn't have even my name on it. But even more funny that on my way back in about 2 weeks my flight was delayed and I missed my plane to Boston. I came to immigration officer and he said " Don't tell me that you got stucked again! You are the luckiest person I've ever seen!" So I went thru the whole procedure again and unintentionally visited Amsterdam twice during the same trip.
 
Minsk said:
...
The best airport is Logan in Boston. ...
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Agreed. One IO at Logan actually apologized to me at the secondary examination room; said something like "sorry, but because you dont have a green card you have to go through this.."

Another time I waited 20 minutes and then 30 seconds for the stamping.

This was in 2000, though..
 
floyd said:
Agreed. One IO at Logan actually apologized to me at the secondary examination room; said something like "sorry, but because you dont have a green card you have to go through this.."

Another time I waited 20 minutes and then 30 seconds for the stamping.

This was in 2000, though..
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previously i travelled twice through Los Angeles airport, and both times i had my RTD stamped with NO questions asked, i didn't have to go to the room, and they didn't ask for I-94. First time i heard that asylees need to fill out I-94 was on this forum, and they asked for it in Houston. Maybe I was just very lucky both of the times, but LA airport is certainly #1 in my top list.
 
Cl_Asylee said:
Copper: I hope you are a girl. :D

Seriously, some (not all) naturalized people in this country attack other foreigners. Not only in airports, but also in universities, offices, parks, etc. I reapeat some, not all.
Click to expand...

hhaahah, lets just not even go there. I am a married guy with a baby on the way.
 
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Cl_Asylee said:
Copper: I hope you are a girl. :D

Seriously, some (not all) naturalized people in this country attack other foreigners. Not only in airports, but also in universities, offices, parks, etc. I reapeat some, not all.
Click to expand...


hahaah ......dont even go there I have a wife and a baby on the way.lol
 
Well I had a bad experience with this Oriental guy too many years back. After applying for I 485 and before getting GC, I applied for advance parole, for advance parole I have to go to local office to pick it up, I took my employment Authorization card and RTD. when they call my number, I went to the window and gave him my documents, he looks at my EA card and says it is expire, and for a second I thought fu*k. But when I look at my card I still have few months to go. Some of these IO from other countries are for sure worse than US born.
 
If you think you were not treated fairly, by all means submit a complaint.

I know what you mean by some foreign-born immigration officers. They want the country to close the very door that once let them in.
 
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