(no subject)

[arethinn]

(from http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/2700.html)

A few weeks ago a read an article in a newspaper travel section about the "10 Scariest Travel Experiences in the World". The list included such fun things as:

* Finding yourself in a bad neighbourhood of Bogota, Colombia.
* Travelling through war zones in various parts of central Africa.
* Taking a bus down the "Death Road" in the Bolivian Andes - a road so insanely narrow, precipitous, and dangerous that hundreds of travellers along it plummet to their deaths every year.

Number 3 on the list, the third scariest experience you can have when travelling anywhere in the world, was going through US Customs.

I don't know what it's like for US citizens returning home, but I can tell you from personal experience that for visiting foreigners, getting off a plane in Los Angeles and being confronted with those Customs officers is truly, deeply scary. Even if you're not doing anything wrong at all, it's still enough to scare the socks off most people.

O.o

As a US citizen returning home, it's no big deal. Not only do you get the short line they have for citizens and permanent residents, but I've never gotten more than "*looks at passport* Where were you? For how long? Anything to declare? OK, welcome home *stamps customs form*". (The fact that I am a white female who speaks perfect English with an obvious born-American accent may, sadly, have something to do with this.) But then there's also the grilling the guys at Port Huron gave poor enotsola back in 2006 when we were driving me back to California. They seemed to think I was illegally importing him (despite that he had a return plane ticket to Canada) and really gave him a hard time - or so he tells me, since I wasn't allowed to be in the room. FWIW I've never been terribly scared by the Canadian customs officials, just the usual level of nervousness you get from "this person has the power to totally ruin my day with a few words". Even the one time someone decided they didn't like my face and they wanted to send me off to the other room for further questions, I was more worried about missing my connecting flight than anything else.

Comments

[feyandstrange]

What's sort of hilarious is that I know someone who's done the other three. Being Canadian, he may be less terrified of Customs. Nor does this make any sense, frankly - customs/passport control in countries where the cops openly carry submachine guns and are known to hate Americans is way scarier, IMO. Hell, I vote UK customs to be at least as hellacious as East Coast US immigration, at least (never come in overseas on the West Coast). The Brits gave me grief every time I entered, and may be the only country where I got *more* grief on a diplomatic passport than a tourist visa. Plus, tanks surrounding the airport FTW not.

[michiexile]

I'm white. Male. Obviously middle class. Friendly. With a good passport from a country that the US has (almost) no beef with whatsoever. Have my papers in order. Have Stanford University backing up my presence in the US.

And still, I'm ***ALWAYS*** aware when I interact with customs and border control of all the news stories I've read about people getting into a LOT of trouble in that situation.
There is Peter Watts, the SF writer, who was insufficiently abased and thus got beaten, incarcerated, cut off from communicating with friends and family, and then released into the Canadian winter without adequate clothing.
There is the icelandic woman who had overstaid as an au pair 10 years earlier, and who was incarcerated upon appearing at the border, and held without the ability to communicate with her friends, who had just gone to NYC with her for a shopping trip, or with the Icelandic embassy.

The stories go on, and I am ALWAYS aware of them when I cross the border.

And when I _do_ cross the border, it tends to go something like this:

"Good morning"
"Where do you fly from"
"You're at Stanford, eh? What do you do there?"
"Algebraic topology? What's that?"
"Could you explain what your own research is about?"
and a few more rounds of that before they stamp everything and send me on through.

I am eternally glad I don't have suspicious skin color, hair color, passport details, et.c. An old classmate of mine was born outside of Tehran, but lived in Sweden from an age of about 4 weeks and onwards. She has a Swedish passport, and has been wielding a UN visa for the last several years. EVERY SINGLE TIME she crosses the border, she gets pulled into a secluded room for secondary screening.

[dancinglights.livejournal.com]

The most crap I have ever gotten from any customs anywhere in the world has been on my return to the US. As a born citizen, white, middle-class, usually traveling on business in a goddamned suit.

A couple times a year for business I travel with a JHU colleague with a very similar background to michiexile's but suspicious skin colour, and he *always* goes through the whole mess even from the short 'US Persons' line. While he's not family or even a very close friend, I wait for him as nearby as allowed just in case some sort of horror story happens, though I don't know how I'd manage to do anything in that case other than call his boss. I always hate coming home.

[silverback2001.livejournal.com]

I recently heard a story from a friend, about how his German cousin came to the US once. He landed in LA, and was shit terrified when he got off of the plane and saw all of the security wearing guns. - Apparently he didn't even see as many guns in the German military, as he did in that airport. I can easily see how it could be very intimidating to have someone wearing a gun start questioning you, if you're from somewhere where carrying a gun is rare. It really puts things into perspective on how different we are from other countries.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I was last in the US just after 9/11 and EVERYONE seemed to be trotting about with a massive semi-automatic. The last place I had been that looked like that was Syria, and even they were significantly more subtle.

[arethinn]

enotsola's been pretty freaked out by the DHS guys with guns, yeah.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if it's scary as much as demoralising, you're treated like a criminal the whole way, and there's a mad conviction you will never leave once you're in. I had one customs chap say 'Be careful not to overstay' and I replied 'It really won't be a problem, I can't eat most of the food' in a cheery voice (it's true! Everything tastes weird! Without organic produce I would starve in the US.) and his rare smiley face turned into a death glare so I quickly lied that I was still a vegan and he went back to smiling indulgently.

[arethinn]

We have plenty of organics in the SF bay, anyway.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

The only place in the US in which I feel normal!

[rebel-poet-1030.livejournal.com]

UK customs officials don't play. At London Heathrow International Airport, you've got three separate security checks and a pretty good chance of detainment for interrogation and going through your luggage.