Too much questioning at POE

L

LPR_04

New Member
Recently I was coming to Seattle from Vancouver in a AMTRAK bus. There were only about 16-18 passengers in the bus , but it took a good 90 mins at the US border. One of the inspectors was of Chinese descent and she was grilling EVERYONE for a good 15 mins or so.
When my turn came she asked all kinds of questions - first she wanted my drivers license alongwith GC. Ok... Then she wanted my passport. I had not brought it with me as its not required at border crossing ( told her that). She got annoyed and kept asking why I was not carrying passport.. and that I should have it all the time - (Not true).
She asked my parents names ( I am 30+).. my social security # ...and a whole bunch of questions. She asked me to show her my ticket stub on AMTRAK TO Vancouver that weekend before - which fortunately I had and had to open bags to get it. Who would carry ticket stubs for their previous journeys when they are returning?
They she asks me when was the last time I had visited India ( my citizenship) and keeps asking details on that trip.
THIS IS HARRASSMENT.
I had told her I had been to Whistler for a weekend of skiing and even had those skis with me. Still she decided to grill me.

Same with others too.
There were a bunch of Canadian citizens and she ws asking them to show her proof of reservations at Seattle and elsewhere if they said they were just visitng US. If they said they were taking a flight in US , she asked them to show reservations slip and still asked why fly from A to B to C when there is a shorter way etc. Everyone had to open thier bags and show papers etc to prove their creidibility and that in effect raised more questions from her.
Also she was telling many people to pay immigration inspection fees since they decided to come by land than by air . Never heard that before.
There were some follks who said they were coffee distributers and she asked them to show all the papers related to the buisness they have. When they did, she asked how much does coffee sell in US for a lb bag ..etc and whole bunch of stupid questions as if she knew everything about the buisness. She grilled them for a good 30 mins andI was just behind them thats how I know.
She had a thick Chinese accent.
One lady cried when she got into bus.

15 people and 3 officers. 90 mins.

Driver of the bus said this happpens sometimes.
 
AS JoeF says, there is a form somewhere at uscis.gov that you can use to file an official complaint. The last time I saw it though, it still had the INS division name on it, and obviously hadn't been updated for years. I don't know how seriously they treat complaints from individuals.

It's not only on this side of the border that people get hassled either. My wife traveled alone once to Vancouver from L.A. to meet her parents who were vacationing there from the UK, and she was hassled for 30 minutes by Canadian immigration officials. She is Eurasian, and for a period of time she would get hassled when traveling to or from the USA. I think there must have been some 'profiling' being passed around between the agencies about money laundering, because all the officials kept asking her whether she was carrying more than $10k on her, which of course she wasn't.

Since we got our GC, neither of us have been hassled. Just the usual 'how long have you been away' stuff.
 
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Unfortunately, I don't think there is a whole lot you can do about it, especially in today's environment.

from your write-up, it sounds like she is just an unreasonable or incompetent on her job - she should have figured out much faster with fewer questions that you are a good guy.

But there is no laws against being unreasonable or being incompetent. You can always file a complain, even if she has done everything right. But I am not sure if it will get you where you want.

I would say, chill out and move on.
 
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