No, I’m never going to the United States again:
There was one British tourist in the group. Paul (also not his real name) was traveling with three friends who had passed through customs soon after their plane landed and were waiting for him on the other side of the metal barrier; he suspected he had been detained because of his dark skin. When he asked if he could go to the bathroom, one of the guards said, “I wouldn’t.” “What if someone has to?” I asked. “They will just have to hold it,” the guard responded with a smile. Paul began to cry. I watched as he, over the course of four hours, went from feeling exuberant about his trip to New York to despising the entire country. “I speak the Queen’s English,” he said to me. “I’m third-generation British. I came to America because I’ve always wanted to come here, and now they’ve got me so scared that all I want to do is go home. We’re paying for your stupid war anyway.”
PS: The answer is – she was a US citizen who had visited Syria. In the United States today, a trip to Syria warrants hours of being harassed and crapped on at your arrival.
At JFK Airport, Denying Basic Rights Is Just Another Day at the Office, by Emily Feder, 18th August 2008.
Jesurgislac's Journal 
One of my acquaintances, a Canadian grandmotherly type who walks with a cane, was pulled out of line at LAX and searched both times she passed through on her way from Vancouver to Australia. She posits it’s her long, coiled up hair, in which, it is imagined, she can hide terrorists.
I think it’s just that DHS hires near minimum-wage, minimally educated, minimally trained personnel, hands them a gun, and tells them they’re god. Oh yeah. And that we have a DHS in the first place.
Comment by lowly_adjunct — August 21, 2008 @ 5:37 pm |
I’m never going to the United States again
Promise?
Comment by Sharon — August 22, 2008 @ 11:46 pm |
Of course profiling is the way to go because they have caught so many terrorist that way. in the news I have been following the story of a man who is about to loose his job because he is falsely listed on the watch list. No surprise that he just happens to be a Muslim.
Comment by Renee — August 23, 2008 @ 5:12 pm |