TN negative experience at border: RFI lettfer

3firelegs

New Member
I hold Canadian passport and have valid TN visa.
Yesterday at a Canada airport port of Entry POE,
the US CBP officer was not friendly and sent to me Secondary. I was refused entry before,
for reasons that were only imagination, not proven .

I used to hold a passport from an Asian country/China, not a typical “rogue” country but had illegal immigrants rampant in the USA/Canada at one time.


And the second CBP officer, the same officer who issued me the TN in Jan of 2018, interviewed me at the Secondary room. In Jan 2018 he dated the TN to end of 2020
at the request of my employer.

I heard the first officer saying "19" to the second officer. I did not know what they were implying, until the Second CBP officer had the conversation with me. He asked what my profession was. I said "consultant". He said "consultant" is not what was stated on my TN "Engineer". He said those are two different categories/professions.
It never occurred to him that a consultant is consulting in the capacity of an "Engineer". He decided I was in violation of my TN.

The first officer I met was probably in a supervisory mode; I met him a few times before at the POE, one of the least friendly officers. Looked quite KKK.


I thought the second officer was refusing me entry until he stamped my passport with a "stay until" date of Dec 31, 2019. They used to stamp Dec 2020. I made about 30 to 50 entries into the the USA this year alone. I told him some people call me "consultant" and some people call me "engineer" . He said "you are saying that because I told you the profession name on your TN visa just now".

He also asked me to provide him with a letter from my boss in the USA telling him “What I am doing on a daily basis for my work”. Like he made a mistake before and his boss asked him to rectify his past errors. So absurd.

Clearly these guys are not very literate ,
and / or
trying to set up traps to give you difficulties.




I will need to fight this, with redress inquiries, and in a federal court of law if needed. I don’t like to be treated like a criminal and animal. These officers use arbitrary power in adjudicate, and are abusing their powers. I never had any violation of any immigration law or overstayed my visa in the USA at any time in my life . And that’s since 1995 when I was a student in the USA! All records of my US entry refusals were grounded on surmising rather than facts.

I will also need to look into the possibility of leeting my son, who will be an adult in a year, sponsor my USA citizenship. He was born in the USA when I was studying in a PhD program.


Have you had similar experiences? I’d like to hear and please share your ideas.
 
Looked quite KKK?
Not very literate?
Wow. I’m sorry you had difficulties, but I don’t think that kind of attitude is going to get you very far in trying to solve them.
FYI: No-one but a citizen has a “right” to enter the US.
 
Looked quite KKK?
Not very literate?
Wow. I’m sorry you had difficulties, but I don’t think that kind of attitude is going to get you very far in trying to solve them.
FYI: No-one but a citizen has a “right” to enter the US.

I am only saying my impression. Yes only US Citizens have the right of entry. But don’t we human beings all deserve respect and dignity ? The way these CBP officers address you is like addressing a convicted criminal: condescending , demanding , rude , shouting yelling , short of extorting. I have paid the IRS taxes for more than 20 years although I am Canadian. Part of these guys’ salaries come from my contributions. And they return the favor by doing this ? By overturning a visa stamp they gave me before and both actions from the same officer ? The CBP needs reformation ! And I have a clean slate of immigration history never in violation of any US law not to mention immigration law. All my past refusals of entry were based on conjecturing rather than facts. Nothing was proven.
I am only asking if there is any legal recourse so I don’t get referred to Secondary in the future.
 
Nothing can guarantee you won’t get referred to secondary. There is no “order” you can wave that overcomes a CBP officer’s discretion on how he or she does his job. If you feel strongly about the way you were treated, there are grievance procedures to follow. https://help.cbp.gov/s/complaints?language=en_US

As an aside, the above comments you made may well come out in your attitude dealing with CBP. People are human and react to things like that. Being nice often helps, even in secondary. Just saying.
 
I was on TN status for 2.5 years, (2015-2018), H1B status for 1 year (2018-2019) and recently obtained GC (2019).
I have found the CBP agents at the Canadian pre clearance (Toronto & Ottawa) the easiest. Basic questions like who is your employer, what type of engineer are you, after few simple answers, they stamp your passport and let you through. (sometimes they scanned my fingerprints).
I have entered by land from Mexico and again very simple questions. (with co-workers who are US citizens, maybe made a difference). Once we were pulled to secondary inspection, but not a big deal other the 30 min delay. They searched our rental car and then sent us on our way.
The CBP agents at Los Angeles and San Francisco were more picky when I returned from Asia. I had one CPB who grilled me, but I just smiled and answered his questions politely .
I did notice that after my GC, the process was smoother and faster as I could use the automated machines (scanned GC, face and fingerprints). Once I made it to the CBP agent, the only question he asked was "do you have any fresh fruits or veggies", I reply no and was on my way.

I agree with SusieQQQ, they are just trying to do their job, and your attitude can make a big difference. Just be polite and smile and nod.
 
I almost forgot, I did have one scary experience with a CBP agent. This was shortly after I first started on TN, in 2015 or 2016. I was in a rental car with my co-workers, two US citizens and an Indian national on H1b. The actual border crossing from Mexico to US was uneventful. But we were driving from Calexico to San Diego on Interstate 8 and we arrived at one of those "internal" CBP stops. (I still find it strange they have internal CBP stops within 100 miles of the actual border). Typically you just slow down and they look in the window and wave you through or you roll down your window and they will ask "all US citizens?", and when you respond yes, they wave you through without actually looking at your documents. Since this is internal to the US, US citizen don't need to carry a passport or any documentation, other than a drivers license for the driver.
So we approach and stop, roll down the window, and the CPB agent asks "all US citizens?", which our drive responds, two US citizens, one Indian and one Canadian. He asks for the passports of the Indian and Canadian. He looks at the passport, returns the one for my Indian coworker, and holds mine (he sees I am on TN status). He asks me when I am returning to Canada, I respond honestly, I don't know. He asks me again, when am I returning to Canada, I respond again I don't know. He asks me a third time, when are you returning to Canada, which I respond "in about two years" (knowing my TN is valid for three years and more than two year left before TN/I-94 expiry). He hands my passport back and waves us on our way without saying a word. I found it scary because he singled me out and challenged my intended length of stay in US. At that time I honestly did not know how long I planned to be on TN.
Looking back I understand standing out in the hot dessert in the middle of the Interstate 8 randomly stopping cars for immigration violations for 8 hours a day is a difficult job. Most US citizens hate these internal Border Checks as it slows down traffic. (check out u-tube, lots of "am I free to go" videos). He was just doing his job.
 
One lesson I learned is to answer questions literally , never deviating from their field book. For example when the CBP officer asked : what do you do? Do not answer “consulting “ or “consulting as engineer”. Just say engineer. Because I did not use the actual literal “profession” name from the list of Treaty NAFTA professions — it either annoyed the officer thinking I was fooling him or he was just picking on me because his boss asked him to reduce my TN duration. So he was trying to show his boss he can do his job by asking me to bring another employment letter next time showing “daily operations”. Very strange. I walked out of Secondary and his boss was chatting with some CANADa officers. Looking at me I can see the smirk on his face. He avoided by eyes by looking away but I was sure 100% he was thinking “what a defeat today we let this guy in “. Maybe he is a coward and more afraid than I was. The second officer who actually shortened my TN stay Stamp and had the actual conversation with me was merely carrying out some sort of order , because he has been nice to me every time I crossed before.
 
... I was sure 100% he was thinking “what a defeat today we let this guy in “. Maybe he is a coward and more afraid than I was. ...
You've got a real chip on your shoulder. You believe you're a mind-reader when you actually have no idea what's going on.

- maybe you were secondary inspected randomly.... bound to happen if you cross 50 times a year
- maybe the officer had illness in the family and you were the unlucky person who suffered his bad mood
- maybe the port director chewed on everyone's asses for some other "consultant engineer" who tricked them
- maybe YOU had a smirk on YOUR face and they were "100% sure" it meant you were doing something devious

People can get away with an entitled attitude when they're citizens returning to their own country. But if you keep that up when you're asking to be admitted into a foreign country, you're begging for difficulty.

You seem to think that because the USA has allowed you to be a guest in their country for 20 years, you somehow "deserve" easy entry from border officers every time. But they see it the opposite way: they believe YOU should be thanking THEM for allowing you to enjoy the opportunities to earn a lot of money and pay a bunch of taxes for 2 decades.

Most people would disagree you were "treated like a criminal." Criminals are arrested, put on trial, and barred entry. Whereas you were merely asked some tough questions. However, if you really feel that you need to petition the federal courts for an order saying border officers must treat you more gently, that's a discussion you should take straight to a lawyer.

Fortunately these forums are hosted by Rajiv S. Khanna, and if you book a consultation with him I expect he could explain your options for legal relief.
 
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