beyness

Just curious as to people’s POE experiences, particularly AFTER AOS attained and while traveling together. Ever have any bad ones? We had a VERY rude immigration officer in Houston almost refuse to let us through and told us we were "not a family and must go to the back of the line and fill out two customs declarations." All this because I did not take my husband’s last name and he didn’t believe we were married. We made a complaint to the “head officer� and they told us he was a trainee. Go figure! He was what my husband likes to refer to as a “potato head� – short, but big and bulky, shaved head, etc. Would love to hear other funny experiences.

Jonathan McNeil Wong

beyness wrote:
    > Just curious as to people’s POE experiences, particularly AFTER AOS
    > attained and while traveling together. Ever have any bad ones? We had
    > a VERY rude immigration officer in Houston almost refuse to let us
    > through and told us we were "not a family and must go to the back of the
    > line and fill out two customs declarations." All this because I did not
    > take my husband’s last name and he didn’t believe we were married.
    > We made a complaint to the “head officerâ€? and they told us he was a
    > trainee. Go figure! He was what my husband likes to refer to as a
    > “potato headâ€? – short, but big and bulky, shaved head, etc. Would
    > love to hear other funny experiences.
    >

He might not have been an immigration officer. When CBP was created,
inspectors from legacy INS, Customs, and Agriculture were all thrown
together. Cross-training was supposed to occur, but it has not really
worked all that well from many accounts.

--
Above intended as general commentary, not specific legal
advice. Your mileage may vary.

================================================== =============
Jonathan McNeil Wong Voice: 510-451-0544
Donahue Gallagher Woods LLP Facsimile: 510-832-1486
P.O. Box 12979 URL: http://www.donahue.com
Oakland, CA 94604-2979 E-mail: [email protected]
================================================== =============

beyness

Well, whatever he was, he was not very courteous. But it's all good. We just went to another officer and he was nice as can be. Welcome back to the States, all that ood stuff. The shallower ones always look at us suspiciously because our passports are nearly full and they seem to think that if you've spent time in Middle Eastern and Asian countries, you're "up to something". Silly people.

Jonathan McNeil Wong

beyness wrote:
    >>beyness wrote:
    >>>Just curious as to people’s POE experiences, particularly AFTER
    >>>AOS
    >>>attained and while traveling together. Ever have any bad ones? We
    >>>had
    >>>a VERY rude immigration officer in Houston almost refuse to let us
    >>>through and told us we were "not a family and must go to the back of
    >>>the
    >>>line and fill out two customs declarations." All this because I did
    >>>not
    >>>take my husband’s last name and he didn’t believe we were
    >>>married.
    >>>We made a complaint to the “head officerâ€? and they told us he
    >>>was a
    >>>trainee. Go figure! He was what my husband likes to refer to as a
    >>>“potato headâ€? – short, but big and bulky, shaved head, etc.
    >>>Would
    >>>love to hear other funny experiences.
    >>He might not have been an immigration officer. When CBP was created,
    >>inspectors from legacy INS, Customs, and Agriculture were all thrown
    >>together. Cross-training was supposed to occur, but it has not really
    >>worked all that well from many accounts.
    >>--
    >>Above intended as general commentary, not specific legal
    >>advice. Your mileage may vary.
    >>================================================ ===============
    >>Jonathan McNeil Wong Voice: 510-451-0544
    >>Donahue Gallagher Woods LLP Facsimile: 510-832-1486
    >>P.O. Box 12979 URL: http://www.donahue.com
    >> Oakland, CA 94604-2979 E-mail: [email protected]
    >>================================================ ===============
    >
    >
    > Well, whatever he was, he was not very courteous. But it's all good. We
    > just went to another officer and he was nice as can be. Welcome back to
    > the States, all that ood stuff. The shallower ones always look at us
    > suspiciously because our passports are nearly full and they seem to
    > think that if you've spent time in Middle Eastern and Asian countries,
    > you're "up to something". Silly people.
    >

Here's the other side of this.

The officers are human beings too. And being human beings, they don't
want ever want to be on CNN as the one who let the next 9-11 bomber in.
This is a natural response, and it infects situations in which
discretion is available.

It is of course not right to let this affect adjudication or judgment.
But I imagine it would be hard not at least to think about it.

--
Above intended as general commentary, not specific legal
advice. Your mileage may vary.

================================================== =============
Jonathan McNeil Wong Voice: 510-451-0544
Donahue Gallagher Woods LLP Facsimile: 510-832-1486
P.O. Box 12979 URL: http://www.donahue.com
Oakland, CA 94604-2979 E-mail: [email protected]
================================================== =============