SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - over-reaction?

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/m...er/5259264.stm

not really sure what to make of this one...

Quote:

Asian people needed a special visa.

sounds dodgey to me; pop quiz, who were the last historically ethinic group to be forced to have special 'papers' badges etc?
No particular offense to you guys over the water, but sometimes your officialdom seem like real arseholes of the first degree - mayhap these qualities are a prerequisite for customs and immigration officials.

Quote:

Mr Iqbal was travelling with his wife Rizwana and their three children Ibrahim, 5, Murvah, 10, and Mohin, 14.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image..._iqkids203.jpg Mr Iqbal's family were allowed to enter the country

He said: "It all started with the immigration man saying he wanted to ask me a couple of questions and they took me and my family to a secure area, where they quizzed me for four hours.
"They asked if I had heard about the arrests in Britain that had happened earlier that day. They said did I know any of the people involved?
"I was really upset and said that there was no way I would know or associate with these people.
"The whole experience was completely demeaning. One of them even said sarcastically 'we didn't tell you to come to America on holiday' after we complained about our treatment.

sounds a bit xenophobic to me.

Quote:

"He appears to have been turned back at Atlanta airport with no clear explanation, and he has been handed no documentation," he said.
"All he has is a hand written note that has been entered into his passport by an official in Atlanta.
"I don't see why our citizens should have to put up with it."

"yer name's not down, yer not comin' in..." (cheesy 80's-90's pot tune)

See the 'special relationship' in action? :lol:
Way to go with treating the citizens of your closest allies :down:

Perhaps there's a reasonable explanation for this kind of pressurising treatment of british citizens, though surely not one based on 'you look like a raghead, get out'.

I am not to sure about this story. :hmm:

Likewise, despite my earlier comments :roll: something sounds a bit odd one way or another. Perhaps there'll be more information forthcoming?

Not to trivialize this in anyway, but this guy was lucky compared to what was done to Maher Arar.

On Sept. 26, 2002, Arar, while traveling on a Canadian passport, was detained in NYC's JFK International Airport while returning to Canada from Tunisia on family vacation. After being detained by US Immigration for almost two weeks without charge, he was deported to Syria. Canadian officials were not informed of the deportation until 2-3 days later. In Syria he was imprisoned for a year and tortured.

Arar was born in Syria in 1970, but emigrated to Canada in 1987 where he became a naturalized citizen, earned a Bachelor's and then a Master's in Engineering and had been employed in Ottawa as a Telecommunications engineer. Then he made the mistake of returning to Canada from vacation through the U.S.

More here:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/arar/

I dunno, I have dealt with US immigration a few times and I found them to be at the top end of arseholedom. Even Russian immigration are nicer..not kidding and that's saying something.

It does seem a bit odd. Mind you immigration in the US have sent non-asian Brits back home cos they discovered there is an unpaid parking ticket or similar trivial offense. I remember that one and they way the guy was treated was a disgrace.

For now I am giving the guy the benefit of the doubt until more info comes out later.