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Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

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221–230 of 375 posts

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rather than directing your "advice" to the victims, direct it to the US immigration officers.

There is no doubt that the U.S. immigration system is broken and needs fixing, this is a complicated political issue that is currently being debated in Congress. Conditional on this unfortunate reality, which we can't immediately change, my advice is not to over-react.

The only immigration debate going on in Congress is undocumented workers and increasing visas for a select class of people.

As far as tourists and non-immigrant visas are concerned there is no debate and it's business as usual.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#222

Yeah this looks like the typical American knee-jerk overreaction to everything these days. It reminded me of the story posted on HN a while back about the guy who got 3 enemas and more asshole searches after getting pulled over for skipping a stop sign and clinching his ass cheeks a bit funny on the car seat while the officer was speaking to him. What the fuck guys, have the terrorists won? Are you really so shit sca…

> What the fuck guys, have the terrorists won? Are you really so shit scared to live normal lives with a slight risk that bad things might go wrong now and then, that you might miss a few bombs, that a few people might die?

Most US citizens (in the north-east, at least) don't even think about terrorism post-9/11.

Our representatives are making these kinds of decisions for (most of) us and we're just along for the ride.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've done a fair amount of back-and-forth between the US and China. On my most recent entry (to the US), the phase 1 guy flagged me to have my carryon manually inspected because I took the trouble to answer his questions honestly (bizarrely, the search did not involve a search of my person, or my checked luggage, so I can't imagine what it was supposed to accomplish). That forced my mother to wait an extra hour to pi…

To me as an European it already crazy enough, that the US even interviews it's own citizens. In the EU if you are an EU citizen you just get waived though at immigration. (At might still get checked later at customs but that is a 1 in 100 chance).

And woe be unto you if you refuse: http://knifetricks.blogspot.com/2010/04/i-am-detained-by-fed...

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#224

When I clicked through the link to this article, a window popped up asking me to sign a petition to reinstate Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House. Given her recent vote in favor of the Patriot Act, that was an interesting warm-up act for the main article.

But it's OK if a Democrat does it.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#225
post #220
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US immigration is broken on so many levels. A lot of our immigration problems stem from a political desire to increase voter rolls for one particular party. The Democrat party benefits greatly from illegal immigration from Mexico, so they refuse to do anything whatsoever to control that flow. That's great for Democrats to win elections and all, but it creates a backlash against immigration in general. Ironically, the…

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It's similar to the debt issue. Sure, Republicans are walking toward the cliff... but Democrats are running full speed with a pair of scissors in each hand.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#226

The other reason he will never, ever go back to the US is because he's likely on a watch list now and will be denied any attempt to enter. It's a shame that happened. The traveler has had an unfortunate interest in traveling to multiple countries with which the US has hostile relationships. And then entered the US in a slightly unconventional way by train via Canada. I think that's a stupid reason to deny entry becau…

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Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#227
post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and nearly as varied in customs, socioeconomics, and population as Europe. You can even stretch that to language in some parts of the USA. Try and get around South Miami without at least a smattering of Spanish language ability. 40 European languages: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/european_languages/languages/... (That's just for starters.) In my rural county in England we have something like 120 different languag…

I think you're deliberately misunderstanding me. And that's fine. I'm definitely detecting a bunch of do-as-I-say type of sentiment. But my mother fled a country (her European home country and the country of her birth) that tried to kill her and every one like her. SO...please pardon me if I don't agree to entertain your Europe is oh-so-much-better than the US diatribe. If one persons difficult experience can indict…

"pardon me if I don't agree to entertain your Europe is oh-so-much-better than the US diatribe"

Read the words again. None of DanBC's comments can be construed as a belief that Europe (or anywhere else) is better than the USA. If Europe has more languages than the US, for example, then that doesn't make Europe better in any meaningful sense. What (it seems to me) he's saying is that the US is less special and unique than you might think. Not less special to you, but less special on an objective, global scale.

From my point of view (British, European), belief in American Exceptionalism has always seemed a little deluded. Many countries around the world have democracy, wealth creation, etc. Many of them are trying to improve (though maybe not "perfect") their society. On the whole, though, they just don't make so much noise about it.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#228
post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I was born in Canada as it clearly states on my US passport Just wondering why you didn't enter Canada with your Canadian passport then?

A Canadian passport (until very recently) lasts 5 years and costs $120. (a 10 year one is available for $160). Getting a Canadian passport outside of Canada is a nightmare (unless you happen to have a Canadian embassy nearby) and costs even more - $260 for a 10 year passport. Unless you really need 2 passports, there's not much reason to get one.

Hummm I'm not sure, but if you're a citizen of a country, you should enter with the documentation of that country, and entering with another passport is usually a BIG NO-NO

Yeah, lasts for a limited time and it costs money, so does the passport of most countries. But it gets you a hassle free entry to YOUR country.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#229
post #128
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the overview, but... I am a hard line atheist anti-idealist that don't make that much difference between islamists, socialists and astrology readers. Idealists lie to themselves and others, because they mix up their self image with their opinions -- or they are just propagandists (since they know they are correct, the target is "winning" as in convincing, not learning.) Politically, I think the US left is…

> From what I've read, the Israelis make border checks less problematic. It is hard to scale their solutions to US? The Israelis are clear that what they do is racial profiling. Kind of hard to pay lip service to equality and all that bull shit and still just harass only brown people, isn't it?

This is misinformation in the extreme.

60% of Israeli Jews are from Arab countries, or their parents and grandparents were, and they are very similar in appearance to Arabs. There are also thousands of Ethiopian Jews with even darker skin. The European Jews with fair skin constitute only a part of the population, maybe half or less than half (there is a lot of intermarriage).

Israeli border agents can't do racial profiling; that would be pointless if not counter-productive.

What they do is to very carefully, intelligently interrogate each person entering the country, and they meticulously go through each person's luggage (particularly when boarding a plane). Often, one person will sit there, asking you the usual questions - where are you from, what do you plan to do here, etc., while another person sits off to the side, staring at you intensely and studying your every reaction. They are trained to spot telltale signs of lying, nervousness, inconsistency, and they're very good at it. They have to be. To them, it's a matter of life or death. The U.S. might get one or two terrorists in a million trying to enter the country; the Israelis are literally surrounded by a sea of people wishing them ill will.

The U.S. could learn something from Israeli security, naturally. I understand the Germans are also very good at it. The problems run pretty deep; U.S. agencies (or their overseers in the Cabinet or the Congress) are headed by political appointees who don't always have sufficient experience or aptitude to handle the job.

Our whole INS and border control systems need an overhaul, that's for sure. The world has shrunk and if someone considers it too difficult to visit here, they'll just teleconference, go tour a different country, start their business elsewhere. We are shooting ourselves in the foot.

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