Getting through US Customs - Very difficult if you have a wrong name
Legal Corner Icon — the image was hosted by the publisher and was not captured."I'm not easily offended, but being treated like a dangerous criminal every time I enter the country is getting a little old." is what a US Citizen has written to the Washington Post. He laments, "The crazy thing is that I have done nothing wrong. I am a U.S. citizen and have no criminal record. I pay my taxes, I don't litter. The problem is that I happen to share a name with at least one shady character on the Terrorist Screening Center's watch list. At least, that's the list that I believe I am on, although no official will tell me for sure."
He adds, "The airport routine is always the same, whether I'm in Miami, Washington, Atlanta or any other city. I step off the plane after sitting in coach for hours, my knees bruised from hitting the seat in front of me, and watching films that I swore I'd never pay to see. I'm always cautious as I wait in the immigration and customs line. The real terror begins when my toes touch the yellow line, where I wait to be called forward. Approaching the immigration officer before being summoned could make me appear too eager (and often earns me a stern reprimand). On the other hand, any hesitation could be interpreted as a sign that I'm afraid of facing the law. So I walk up to the officer and nonchalantly hand over my bright blue passport. Seconds feel like hours as he starts hitting the "page down" key on his computer, scanning screen after screen, periodically glancing at me and my passport. This is when I break out in a cold sweat, which makes the officer even more dubious. When he reaches for a yellow highlighter and marks my customs slip, I know I'm headed to the little room."
His misery continues, "Time and time again, I've been cleared for entry into the United States. So why does my name remain on the list? Will I have to go through this for the rest of my life? In desperation, I always ask airport-security officers how my name can be removed. I've heard it all, from writing to my congressman (as if that would do any good) to filling out a form (never mind that no one has been able to produce the document or tell me where I can find it). The most honest answer came from a young, Afghan American officer at Dulles a couple of weeks ago: "There's absolutely nothing you can do."
It's not the countless missed connections that bother me or the fact that I have to politely decline offers from well-meaning travel companions to wait for me, because they don't know that they might be waiting for hours. It's the powerlessness of being unable to clear my name and of having to go through this humiliation over and over."
This is the check that a US citizen is put through to enter the US of A. Just a day after the Mumbai attack, I boarded a flight at Hyderabad along with a uniformed Government officer. The security officer looked at the photo identity card of the uniformed officer and cleared me without a check, just because I was with a uniformed officer! No wonder terrorists can just sail through.