Border Patrol has become the KGB. Hopefully this will reach a boiling point soon and they'll harass someone important enough to get the gears actually moving toward ending this madness.
Yah, peeps r going to the gulag 4 sure...
No one should have to travel in fear
51–60 of 152 posts
Re: No one should have to travel in fear
#52Dunno what to do about this. I think TSA is a sham and a waste of my money. I think border control is taking my money and using it to abuse people. I don't think it's ok that I can pay to avoid the poor people line at the airport. I've written my reps and the president, I call about once a month, but it has no measurable effect. Smarter people than me have done audits on TSA and published them in famous newspapers to…
You don't have to pay to bypass the lines. The free "Mobile Passport" app allows you to go into a line is almost as quick as Global Entry.
Global Entry gets you two things: a faster line when you re-enter the US, and membership in TSA Pre-Check. For me, Pre-Check is far more useful, because most of my travel is domestic (and it also helps you on the outbound portion of international travel).
Re: No one should have to travel in fear
#53Dunno what to do about this. I think TSA is a sham and a waste of my money. I think border control is taking my money and using it to abuse people. I don't think it's ok that I can pay to avoid the poor people line at the airport. I've written my reps and the president, I call about once a month, but it has no measurable effect. Smarter people than me have done audits on TSA and published them in famous newspapers to…
> Partner and I are considering abandoning the USA.
Any thoughts about where you'd move? Some places in the world are better, but it feels like our whole civilization is trending in this bad direction.
Re: No one should have to travel in fear
#54> The agents proceeded to search my belongings and demanded that I unlock my smartphone and laptop. This was rather concerning for me. My phone and laptop are property of my employer and contain unreleased software and proprietary information. I’ve signed a non-disclosure agreement promising not to give anyone access. His employer is Apple. I was always worried about this same scenario when traveling with an Apple-ow…
Maybe keep the card of Apple's lawyers on your person. If you're in a situation like this, have them call the number. Or clarify Apple's policy on this before traveling.
Calling a lawyer was specifically denied in this case.
Re: No one should have to travel in fear
#55Fantastic that he posted his experience, but it sounded like a pretty standard experience with authorities for many Americans. Genuinely curious why this is news compared to what happens to many other people?
It has never happened to me, and I have crossed borders 100+ times, mostly Europe to UK and South Africa. Worst is Israel, and their checks were believably focused on finding explosives.
It’s important for people to know that such behavior is not the norm among civilized countries.
Re: No one should have to travel in fear
#56> The agents proceeded to search my belongings and demanded that I unlock my smartphone and laptop. This was rather concerning for me. My phone and laptop are property of my employer and contain unreleased software and proprietary information. I’ve signed a non-disclosure agreement promising not to give anyone access. His employer is Apple. I was always worried about this same scenario when traveling with an Apple-ow…
You should probably find out/ask whether Apple has guidance regarding how you should behave in such a situation (and if you are concerned that following that guidance could cause you problems personally, you may want to get an independent opinion regarding your rights).
Re: No one should have to travel in fear
#57> The agents proceeded to search my belongings and demanded that I unlock my smartphone and laptop. This was rather concerning for me. My phone and laptop are property of my employer and contain unreleased software and proprietary information. I’ve signed a non-disclosure agreement promising not to give anyone access. His employer is Apple. I was always worried about this same scenario when traveling with an Apple-ow…
>His employer is Apple. I was always worried about this same scenario when traveling with an Apple-owned laptop.. Does Apple not have a policy for this? I would suggest asking them. I asked my employer when I joined (even though my job had absolutely zero international travel). They had a simple policy: Always comply with law enforcement in whatever country you're in: If they want me to enter my laptop password, my c…
I just looked up my own employer's policies/guidance, and they say:
1. Comply with legal government requests (in any country; there's also a pre-approval form for international travel with a corporate laptop, and a list of countries that they will not let you take your corporate laptop to at all).
2. If you are a US citizen, the US must let you back in even if you don't consent to a search, though they can seize your devices in the process.
The "legal" qualifier on #1 means I'd want access to a lawyer, which they denied....
Re: No one should have to travel in fear
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm an American and I have been detained and searched by CBP without actually ever leaving the country. They didn't ask my name, just that we needed to get out of the car while they let their dog search the car.
Can you say where that happened?
Just south of Marfa, TX on the way back from a camping trip in Big Bend. CBP closes the northbound lanes of the highway and has a checkpoint that everyone has to pass through.
Re: No one should have to travel in fear
#59Every time an article like this pops up (seems like a couple times a month now), I'm validated in my decision to donate monthly to the ACLU. They're always mentioned as fighting this stuff on the front lines.
Every time an article like this pops up I am validated in my decision to no longer travel to the United States.
This is the part I don't get. Surely they realize there are a large portion of people that will avoid that county just on principle that they may be hassled at the border. I can imagine that these policies have cost them millions of dollars. Imagine going to a county and being turned around all because you had an employers laptop you promised not to unlock for anyone. Or how about a personal laptop with naked pictures of your wife and kids bathing. Especially when we know it is all security theater. So I am with you. I will avoid the USA for now until the climate changes.
Re: No one should have to travel in fear
#60> The customs agents did however keep my Global Entry card as a punishment ????? You never need your global entry card at airport customs because your flight information is encoded to your passport, which the machine scans. Was that supposed to be punishment? Why did he even have it? Does the Global Entry number still work and automatically give you TSA Pre on the new tickets you purchase?
I'd assume that they also revoked Global Entry, which they can do arbitrarily and I'd be surprised if "you didn't comply with our arbitrary demands" wasn't explicitly listed as one of the specific examples of reasons for revoking it.