A friend of mine just came back to Charlotte today, he was back home visiting his family. During the usual chit-chat of the whole trip and other things, he started talking about what happened when he arrived in JFK (New York) today. There is some paper work that has to be done by all non-immigrants that live in the US on a visa, this applies to students too. Its just a way to know who is in and who is out of the country, something like that.
Anyways what grabbed my attention is that he said that there was guy sitting next to him in the waiting room. He chatted with the guy, surprised that this guy was an American. This room is only for non-immigrants so my friend asked him if his wife was not an American, she was also and American. They had no reason to be there, they are both Americans, and this room wasn’t for Americans. Not to mention that the guy had a beard, a big one, according to my friend. This guy was in the same Saudi flight, he went to Saudi to visit Mecca and complete an Umrah.
They guy was called up to the front with his wife. The immigration officer asked for his luggage to be brought to the room, then he started opening their handbags. He was going through everything, thoroughly. He went through some books, opening them up, writing the down the titles of the books or if they were Arabic books he would write down the ISBN number of each. He also closely examined some watches which were in the bags. He took all the papers and business cards that he found, asked another officer to make copies of them. When luggage came, he also did the same with them.
WTF?
If you cant trust an American, a Muslim, who went to Saudi, how can you trust non Americans?
The funny thing is that there was another bearded Saudi waiting for his turn to finish his paperwork but they didn’t do anything to him, he finished his paperwork quickly and left.
I am a Saudi, and I will not be biased, but WTF? Two people, who look the same, came from the same place, the only difference is the color of their passports. One a citizen of the country he was entering, who had to wait with non-citizens, and gets harassed like that. Another, a student, who is entering the country for the first time (he was married too, so they are basically in the same shoes), and nothing happens to him.
There is something seriously wrong here. Or maybe the American had some Sawabiq.
Well to tell you the truth, I am enjoying this :P. When a Saudi couldn’t even think of applying for a visa a year ago, can enter the states looking like that, while an American cant. This just shows you the POWA of tha DOLLA ($$)
God Bless America!!
i think u mean : ” the POWA of the OIL!!
im just sorry! i feel sorry! things are getting to this extent.
OIL is DOLLA, infact its TOP DOLLA these days
It’s random sampling and it’s done across the board; plain old white-bread americans get the same treatment. I worked for an airline for seven years… I can’t COUNT the number of times that that has happend to me. I don’t think they bothered with my book titles though. Too boring I guess. :p
random? if its random why would they send him to sit with visa holders?
theres nothing random here.
one time i was on British airways
and i was stoped for questioning
and i found two others there
a guy from saudi arabia who said he went to his family in Quisim
a guy from pakistan who said he attended a wedding in bishaour
and they let them in 10 min , i was kept for 2 hours …
talk about random
Considering that police in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. have busted up rings of homegrown terrorists, willing to blow up places and people - well, can you really blame them?
As an aside, my husband (Kuwaiti, Muslim) has NEVER been harrassed during trips to the States and Europe.
And my mother (American) was pulled aside during a random check by British Airways in London on her way back to the States from Kuwait.
Stinni, do you actually believe that your mother’s search was a random one?
They aren’t. I had an insider at the boarding pass check in show me on the boarding pass a marking that symbolizes “the holder of this boarding pass needs to be searched”.
American Muslims being harassed is nothing new. Ever since 9-11, anti-Islamic attacks have been on the up and up; including Sikhs and others who resemble Arabs and/or Muslims.
When I lived in LA, I knew a few who got attacked. Including 2; a Muslim revert who got stabbed in her back as she got into her car, because she was wearing a hijab. She is now addicted to the painkillers that were prescribed to her for her wound and has a hard time shaking off the addiction.
The second was a young American-Pakistani who, on his way to an interview at UCLA, got on a bus, and was never heard of again. The whole of LA’s Muslim community went to the masjid and made lots of du’a for his recovery and family.
Shit Happens. This specific case doesn’t have anything to do with the power of the dollar or oil or the color of the passport.
The guys name (or family name) was probably on some fucked up government watch list. For a time, even US soldiers were on the “random” search list.
Most Americans, sadly, to include custom officials, have no idea what a beard may represent in Saudi culture. You are applying Saudi reasoning to an American situation. Apples and Oranges, friend.
I was stopped and given this same treatment once in Miami due to numerous GCC and other middle eastern stamps in my passport. The stamps were there due to travel while working for an American government agency. I am what would be considered a typical white american in appearance.
Of course I cursed the civil servant out about ten seperate times and defied him to do something about it. He of course couldn’t. Though they do have the right to question and search baggage, a citizen also has the right to make his/her voice heard (I chose to curse at the guy) and to seek redress if maltreated. on top of that he kept reverting to Spanish when speaking and I kept reminding him (en espanol) to speak english!
Bottom line, if the guy was a citizen, he should have stood up and demanded rightful treatment. However, deserves some crdit for keeping his cool.
abc,
I agree with you, but the waiting room, with non americans, is harassment enough. When you do that with your citizen, infront of non citizens, what would that say?