badlydrawnmegan

My husband finally got here to Houston with me yesterday (immigrant visa), but passed through immigration at ORD first. He said the experience was horrible. Rude officers, very unhelpful. My husband was nice and never copped an attitude with anyone, but he was shouted at a lot and just talked down to. He had a few questions about some things, but that's normal, and it's their JOB to help people in these situations. They did nothing, just shouted at him to hand them his envelope and shooed him onto the next person. Then the guy who took his fingerprints was Asian and had a heavy accent, so my husband had to ask him a few times, nicely, to repeat himself. Then the guy responds with "YOU SHOULD USE YOUR EARS FOR LISTENING!!" My husband was already angry at this point, obviously. The guy handed back the stamped passport and told him NOTHING but "good luck." The stamp in the passport reads that he was informed of the process of removing the conditions on the green card, but he was NOT at all. The entire time he was shouted at and herded around like some kind of ingrate. All because he just had a couple of questions because, surprise!, he's never done this before! He was so angry at the whole experience he just didn't think about asking his questions only to get ignored again, so he went on to his next gate.

This is absolutely ridiculous. These people are the first damn people you interact with when you reach America, they are the first impression, the face of it. How the hell they get away with this is insane. That we have to go through the better part of a year in this process, separation from each other, moving, and the expenses, I don't think it's too much to ask for a little friendly "welcome to America!" kind of greeting once you finally arrive. Furthermore, not telling someone how to remove conditions? Luckily I know that that is going to have to be done within 2 years, but some people might not know it, and so to not inform them of this fact is completely irresponsible.

Long story short, who the hell can he can write to about this (more than one person/organization would be excellent). I'm not even sure where to start. Thanks in advance.

Sally Redux

It's good practice for life here.

fatbrit

http://www.contactingthecongress.org/

meauxna

CBP.gov

They're not supposed to be like that, they are supposed to be just as you expected. Be specific in your feedback, especially about the I-751 portion, and save the emotional impact statement for the end.

A belated WELCOME TO AMERICA Mr. badlydrawnmegan!

meauxna

Complaints/Comments
CBP pledges to treat the public with dignity and respect and to perform our duties in a professional manner. If you have had an experience with CBP in which you do not believe that pledge was honored, we invite you to submit a complaint to us for review. We will carefully research your complaint, and while due to privacy laws we cannot always tell you the outcome of our findings, we will respond to let you know that your complaint has been given serious consideration. You may also use this link to submit a comment about CBP, or even to give us a compliment.

I've just gathered a few links they have on the FAQ page when something occurred to me.

How to give a compliment to CBP
You may find you will get a better result if you vent your spleen here where everyone will agree with you, but send a COMPLIMENT to CBP, and add your complaint at the end.
I have a feeling this will be more effective in getting behavior changed than if you unload a can o' whoop on them.

Complaint of rude and unprofessional treatment

I was examined by an Officer and the inspection was not conducted in a professional manner

How to file a complaint or comment with CBP

RalphJolly

Here's my opinion for what it's worth and please bear in mind that I am speaking from experience and not trying to wind you up.
Take a deep breath, put things in perspective and get over it.
It's not that important in the scheme of things.
Do not complain. Things can get a lot worse.
If you complain there is a danger that you will be flagged which means that you will never again enter the US hassle free.
The Green Card is a privilege and not a right - don't let some idiot in O'Hare airport jeopardize it for you.

meauxna

lol, poor Sally, have you been that hard done by?

Sally Redux

Not especially, but getting barked at seems par for the course here, and you're expected to know procedures by magic. I don't take it personally, and just this week I talked an aggrieved American down after she has been treated curtly at a charity event we were helping with.

meauxna

But, but.. foreign people are always saying how friendly it is here.
Trust me, you haven't been barked at until you've been barked at by a Greek policeman. Who's holding your immigration paperwork.

I dunno. Maybe people are just stressed these days.

Sally Redux

I think that's probably it.

ian-mstm

With respect, I disagree. Not only should he complain, he has a duty to complain and a right to complain. He shouldn't "keep a stiff upper lip"... he should vent to the proper authorities.


Yes - as they did when no one stood up to Hitler in the 1930's. Okay, an extreme example, but you get the gist.


The moment his passport was validated, he became a US permanent resident - and that brings with it certain rights... including the 1st Amendment right to "petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Ian

RalphJolly

Ok Ian, I think you make valid points and I agree with you in theory but not in practice.
First of all, rights are only enforcible in the US if you have the finances to employ a good lawyer.
Secondly, I probably should have said -things could have been worse, and can get worse. I think that some other regular law abiding people have experienced a lot worse at O'Hare.
If the OP wants to go ahead and make a complaint, he/she has to consider that it is possible that if they are not already flagged, they will be, and what this means is that every entry into the US in the future will be followed by a couple of hours of detention. My understanding is that this is a condition that cannot be altered in the foreseeable future.
You may or may not agree with me -I just wanted to give the OP some food for thought before she made a complaint.

badlydrawnmegan

What do you mean "every entry into the US after this"? He's a permanent resident now, there's not going to be much going back and forth.

This isn't something to get flagged over. I wouldn't be filing a complaint about anything if it was just "rude behavior." The thing that is just wrong and extremely negligent on their part is not explaining ANYTHING about the I-751, yet they placed a stamp in his passport saying they did.

Already that won't help with the complaint, because it's their "proof" over our word.

badlydrawnmegan

Thank you to everyone who had some input! I will definitely check out those links.


Thanks, I'm glad you agree. But most people here do. As I said to Ralph, it's the fact that they didn't even explain an extremely important detail in this lengthy process. Yes, we have the internet and this site and others like it to figure things out, but had I not ever seen threads on the I-751 before and the whole removing conditions stuff, I never would have known about it all thanks to the unhelpful asses at ORD.

scrubbedexpat099

I have had one bad experience.

I now treat it as challenge to get a laugh or some sort of response.

I have had a pretty good success rate.

How he wants to deal with it is HIS choice.