harrasing some GC holders at POE

N

new_LPR

Registered Users (C)
This happened to me back in March.
Sometimes I feel officers at POE just harass people who dont look like Americans.

So.. I was walking back using the pedestrian entry. There was a female hispanic officer . When my turn came, I gave her my GC. She didn't even look at me as it was a busy day. She asked something to me in Spanish.
I said "Excuse me? I am sorry but I don't speak Spanish".
At that time she - kind of woke up and said "Oh" ..and looked at my GC.. It said I was born in India.

Obviously she had originally assumed I was a Mexican and was probably a daily commuter like ~80% of others.
She then looked around and asked another officer - " This guy is from a country of special interest, correct?"
The other officer said ... "dont know"
She asked me " You are from India, correct".
I said " I was born there".


At that time she doesn't know what to do - she was looking for a way to send me for secondary screening. She then located a circular pasted on the wall just behind her that had a list of "special countries" and India was there.


She immediately gave me a note and tell me to go for secondary screening.

I was shocked . WHY ME?????

Before I left her, I asked her what she told me originally in Spanish. She said - "Oh I was asking you do you have anything to declare!"

OK, then I go to secondary screening checkpoint. I had to give my state drivers licence, my SSN, and whole bunch of details - like how frequently I go to Mexico(ans - maybe 1 or 2 times a yr), how I got my GC, when I first entered US, my previous visas to US etc etc, and the officer entered all my answers into DB.

I was shaken up by this whole affair. Now in future at other times I am travelling, officer at POE will see that I was pulled and asked all those qsns- I will have to answer what had happened etc and will go through even more questioning.

- Can someone verify if there is some issue with India ? Why is it in a list of special countries? Looked like there was a list of blacklisted countries right by the counter...

- Even though I am a PR, the officers still think "I am from India" and not a person who has GC. So they would still treat me as if I am a foreigner trying to immigrate - so they will qsn me in and out.

Sick people!
 
new_LPR said:
This happened to me back in March.
Sometimes I feel officers at POE just harass people who dont look like Americans.

So.. I was walking back using the pedestrian entry. There was a female hispanic officer . When my turn came, I gave her my GC. She didn't even look at me as it was a busy day. She asked something to me in Spanish.
I said "Excuse me? I am sorry but I don't speak Spanish".
At that time she - kind of woke up and said "Oh" ..and looked at my GC.. It said I was born in India.

Obviously she had originally assumed I was a Mexican and was probably a daily commuter like ~80% of others.
She then looked around and asked another officer - " This guy is from a country of special interest, correct?"
The other officer said ... "dont know"
She asked me " You are from India, correct".
I said " I was born there".


At that time she doesn't know what to do - she was looking for a way to send me for secondary screening. She then located a circular pasted on the wall just behind her that had a list of "special countries" and India was there.


She immediately gave me a note and tell me to go for secondary screening.

I was shocked . WHY ME?????

Before I left her, I asked her what she told me originally in Spanish. She said - "Oh I was asking you do you have anything to declare!"

OK, then I go to secondary screening checkpoint. I had to give my state drivers licence, my SSN, and whole bunch of details - like how frequently I go to Mexico(ans - maybe 1 or 2 times a yr), how I got my GC, when I first entered US, my previous visas to US etc etc, and the officer entered all my answers into DB.

I was shaken up by this whole affair. Now in future at other times I am travelling, officer at POE will see that I was pulled and asked all those qsns- I will have to answer what had happened etc and will go through even more questioning.

- Can someone verify if there is some issue with India ? Why is it in a list of special countries? Looked like there was a list of blacklisted countries right by the counter...

- Even though I am a PR, the officers still think "I am from India" and not a person who has GC. So they would still treat me as if I am a foreigner trying to immigrate - so they will qsn me in and out.

Sick people!
Click to expand...


Take it easy - brush it off. The only reason I can think is that you're a new LPR (I assume you were traveling using your PR card for the 1st time?). Still, there is no doubt that the person was prejudiced and/or unprofessional. My experience tells me that such people are in a minority - 10 ~ 25% at most. All I can advise is try not to aggravate the situation, and you'll be on your way out, sooner than later.
 
Well, I have had the GC for 4+ yrs now ( kinda close to applying for N400). Maybe I should change my id from new_LPR to something else ( I had created it 4 yrs back...).

But seriously have any of you known of a case wherein officers at POE pull people just because they were born in a particular country?

Many of the officers don't know anything about India - they assume that it must be a bad country.
And they think if you are crossing the border from Canada or Mexico; and you are not a citizen of one of those 2 ( or US), you must be trying to sneak into the country.

Point is, my GC did not seem to have any value - they gave me no respect.

This has happened twice before in the last 4+ yrs.


I do not travel much.

So... I still have the 2 qsns

- do you get pulled over based on where you were born.. even if you have GC?
- Do you know what is the deal with this list of countries of special interest? Why is India there???
 
Jackolantern said:
Maybe you didn't "sound American" when you talked?
Click to expand...

I do, actually, but my name definitely isn't American or Anglo-Saxon. I'm from a European nation too, so it's not like I was a citizen of some "special country." Still, they stopped me almost every other time. Never had a problem, and I was never held for more than 5-10 minutes, but still...
 
I have never been sent to secondary except when I had an AP document. I was born in Pakistan, a country of special interest and also on the list of countries whose citizens need special registration. I look south asian, have a British accent and traveled very frequently to the US from Canada right after 9/11 on business. This was before I moved to the US on a K-1. Only once I got asked how many years since I "lived" in Pakistan. When I answered "1989", that was the ed of the officer's interest. Luck of the Irish I guess.

new_LPR said:
- do you get pulled over based on where you were born.. even if you have GC?
- Do you know what is the deal with this list of countries of special interest? Why is India there???
Click to expand...
 
Triple Citizen said:
I have never been sent to secondary except when I had an AP document. I was born in Pakistan, a country of special interest and also on the list of countries whose citizens need special registration. I look south asian, have a British accent and traveled very frequently to the US from Canada right after 9/11 on business. This was before I moved to the US on a K-1. Only once I got asked how many years since I "lived" in Pakistan. When I answered "1989", that was the ed of the officer's interest. Luck of the Irish I guess.
Click to expand...

I did not have any out of the ordinary problems and I do not look like an "American."
 
Triple Citizen said:
I have never been sent to secondary except when I had an AP document. I was born in Pakistan, a country of special interest and also on the list of countries whose citizens need special registration. I look south asian, have a British accent and traveled very frequently to the US from Canada right after 9/11 on business.
Click to expand...
It probably helped that you were using a Canadian passport to travel between US and Canada. The OP didn't have that luxury.
 
I had one more experience with a wacko officer 2 yrs back when I was coming back from Vancouver. I was in an Amtrak bus.
The officer was a thickly accented Chinese lady who was grilling EVERYONE.

When my turn came, first thing she asked me when I gave my GC is to hand her my drivers license.
BTW I was in a bus, not driving, had not heard of a request like that. She wanted to verify my address was correct, and I was not telling her a random address.

I do not have WA license. She asked me why did I go to Canada although I do not live in WA and not close to the border. And she kept going on and on and on.

She asked me how long I stayed in Canada - I said 3 days. She asked me to give her my Amtrak stub on my journey to Canada to prove I DID in fact go there for only 3 days.

This was a first to me - nowhere I have heard people have been asked to show ticket stubs of their journey OUT of US when they are returning.

I looked into my backpack and had it...

I was asked how I got my GC, where did I study in US ( I have a masters degree etc), and several more qsns.

After all the questioning, I asked her " why am I subject to all this questioning - I am a permanent resident"

to which she said " Sir, we dont HAVE to admit you.." - was kind of like a stern warning.


She claimed she didnt know anything about people, and she has to question people heavily to identify problem cases.


Or maybe she was earning extra bonus points from her supervisors for being extra vigilanteeeee...
 
Coming back from Montreal by car, I was grilled about the details of my trip, including the name of the person I met with. Oh well.
 
Can a legal permanent resident be refused entry into the US? What are our rights in this respect? What is the meaning of permanent residency in this case?

new_LPR said:
" Sir, we dont HAVE to admit you.." - was kind of like a stern warning.
Click to expand...
 
ptys said:
Can a legal permanent resident be refused entry into the US?
Click to expand...

If you are seeking admission by the legal definition (gone for >180 days) and are inadmissible on the grounds of health or public charge.

If you have abandoned your residence in the US.
 
Permanent residents can be refused entry into US for ANY reason or for no reason at all.
At borders you have NO rights.
You don't have a RIGHT to live in US - its an offer extended to you that can be taken back at any time.
Only US citizens have the right to be in US

One example is if you are returning by air, and they find out your passport has just expired or is very close to expiring, you will be sent back to your home country - even if you have a green card.

Once someone told me his friend got held up at Toronto airport while returning back as they saw in his record that there was a restraining order against him by his wife who claimed he hit her.
He was locked up that weekend until the following Monday when his lawyer faxed him court documents that the issue was successfully resolved recently...

If they stop you and find a banana in your trunk, they will threaten to take away your GC since you are importing fruits into the country ( happened to a friend of mine who forgot there were some fruits somewhere in the luggage...
 
This is a tall tale. US pre-clearance facilities do not have the right to detain anyone on Canadian soil. That was one of the conditions the Canadians had before allowing the US to have pre-clearance facilities at Canadian airports. The worst such facilities can do is refuse entry, but not detain.

new_LPR said:
Once someone told me his friend got held up at Toronto airport while returning back as they saw in his record that there was a restraining order against him by his wife who claimed he hit her. He was locked up that weekend until the following Monday when his lawyer faxed him court documents that the issue was successfully resolved recently...
Click to expand...
 
TheRealCanadian said:
If you are seeking admission by the legal definition (gone for >180 days) and are inadmissible on the grounds of health or public charge.

If you have abandoned your residence in the US.
Click to expand...

Where can I read up on this? A friend of mine (legal resident) was questioned at a port of entry and the officers were "considering whether to admit him in or not", as he said. He's of Pakistani descent, and he always gets harassed coming into the US. Now that I read a similar story here, I would like to know if it's really up to the passport control officers whether to admit legal residents or not. If this is left to their discretion, there is no difference between a tourist visa and permanent residency.
 
new_LPR: You are right that only citizens have a right of abode and travel to the United States and that a green card conveys no such right, and certainly no right to special treatment at the border. What exactly do you think was abusive or harassing about the officer's actions? You were admitted, right?

MAYBE the officer was a little unprofessional, but what is your point? Do you think that a border control officer has to treat everyone the same regardless of their citizenship and language? That certainly may be true of domestic agencies, but surely not BORDER control? You don't think it was within her discretion to ask you some questions and subject you to secondary screening?

You seem to have a major hang-up with the fact that she said you are "from India" and accuse her of treating you as if you are not a PR. Guess what, if your passport says India on it, you were born in India, you are "from India" whether you've been a PR for two days or 50 years. And permanent residency is only permanent as long as you maintain your status. Do you have a problem with being "from India?"

In another year, if you choose, you should be able to apply for naturalization. When you are a US citizen, come back and complain if you are treated differently at the border.
 
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