19-year old german girl's entry into US refused

[Catfish]

.. a 19-year-old is sent back from the USA with a valid visum, without being given a reason. Fingerprints taken, treated like a criminal. She just wanted to visit relatives, and it is not the first time such things happen, probably because of a facebook entry .. in which she offers to look after her cousin's children.
Link in german
another Link in german
We all know that all in the Internet is being read and all talks eavesdropped by the "five eyes" and others, but this is getting ridiculous now. George Orwell was a hopeless optimist with his "1984", but then he could not foresee technology.. and how people underestimate surveillance.

And then I guess i will not be able to ever travel to the US, with what i write here

[Wolferz]

Just don't say anything about taking care of somebody's kids and you should be good.

Kind of odd that they would do that when we have a flood pouring across the southern border and they choose to plug the equivalent of a drip.
They shame us all on a daily basis.
The government is a monster and it will not obey.
~Steppenwolf~

[Catfish]

Originally Posted by Wolferz

Just don't say anything about taking care of somebody's kids and you should be good.

lol

The government is a monster and it will not obey.
~Steppenwolf~

Amen to that.
And Steppenwolf is

[Kip336]

Originally Posted by Catfish

And then I guess i will not be able to ever travel to the US, with what i write here

So, when can we expect the SWAT team on our doorstep to take me down? Most people post so much crap on the internet, they'd likely have higher profile files then Bin Laden himself had :P

[CCIP]

I have enough of a record of being in the US that they don't give me much trouble anymore (I probably cross the border 5-6 times and spend a month in the US every year on average), and overall I have to say that US customs have got a lot more reasonable over the last few years. But I remember a few years ago when me and my friend decided to take the Greyhound across the border for a wedding, and we were crossing the border in Detroit at 3am, and my friend (a white, middle-class schoolteacher who also has a long record of being in the US and one American parent) got yelled at for being a liar, because he mis-heard one of the questions he was asked (not hard when it's 3am and you've been on the bus all night) and then, like a true Canadian, tried to laugh it off in a self-deprecating way, and the customs lady was like "THAT'S NOT FUNNY SIR, NOW I CAN'T BELIEVE ANYTHING THAT YOU SAY TO ME".

They still let us through in the end, though. Lucky us for being white (and yes, another acquaintance of mine was once non-chalantly told by a customs agent that she's basically off the hook because she's a white woman and couldn't possibly be a security risk). I've never been stopped for a "random search" in my life (knock on wood), yet my dad - who's a big, bearded guy with a heavy Russian accent - probably gets "randomly" selected every 3rd time he crosses the border. But no-one quite gets the looks like some of my colleagues from Iran - eyebrows go WAY up the moment they take out an Iranian passport, and then promptly go back down if the Iranian in question happens to be Baha'i ("phew, at least you're not a Muslim, right?")

At the moment, I'd have to say US customs is ridiculously racist, but I guess white girls aren't safe from it either - it just seems like there's a lot of types working there who seem to have no idea how human people actually work

I've seen some improvements though, like I said, and conversely, I've seen pretty brash reactions from Canadian customs too (although lately, it seems the Canadian customs just don't want to talk to me - last two times I travelled, they didn't even say a word and just waved me right through, which I was okay with!)

[ikalugin]

I got a number of random searches in the UK, as I was a single young male with a big bag.

There is also a cool story regarding one of my friends. You see, when he was visiting US he was wearing a large beard, it was anniversary of 9/11 and his passport had Pakistanian stamps showing his presense there just before US invasion of Afghanistan.

So the border control officer began asking him questions, such as - did you visit Afghanistan? Did you see arms/drug related infrastructure there? Sensing a quick promotion/medal for aprehending dangerous terroritsts he has asked the final questions - why was my friend visiting the US.
The answer ruined the officer's expectations, as this evill bearded terrorist was there to have breakfast with secretary of state.

[Kazuaki Shimazaki II]

Originally Posted by Catfish

.. a 19-year-old is sent back from the USA with a valid visum, without being given a reason. Fingerprints taken, treated like a criminal. She just wanted to visit relatives, and it is not the first time such things happen, probably because of a facebook entry .. in which she offers to look after her cousin's children.
Link in german
another Link in german
We all know that all in the Internet is being read and all talks eavesdropped by the "five eyes" and others, but this is getting ridiculous now. George Orwell was a hopeless optimist with his "1984", but then he could not foresee technology.. and how people underestimate surveillance.

And then I guess i will not be able to ever travel to the US, with what i write here

Interestingly, here are some Germans that actually defend the American action (check the comment thread):
http://www.tagesspiegel.de/medien/de.../12146874.html

[August]

My Aunt and Cousin visited us from Germany just last November and they had no problems at all getting through customs.

Maybe it's just people who know Catfish?

[NeonSamurai]

It sounds like she may have been planning to work for her cousin by caring for the cousin's children. Working on a visitor permit is a huge no-no, and will swiftly have you sent back if they find any evidence.

Something to be aware of is that most customs agencies now search electronic devices in your possession. They will insist on inspecting them and can turn you away if you refuse. This includes cell phones, computers, cameras, mp3 players, anything that can hold data. As most people have Facebook set up on their smart phones, they will take a look at your Facebook page too to see what you have been posting to friends about your trip. The also check messaging software and texts, and sometimes look for pirated material or pornography (child porn in particular obviously), even internet browsing history.

Personally I always traveled with a clean laptop, and a heavily encrypted external drive that looked like it was unformatted. The encrypted drive contained HIPPA protected client data, so there wasn't a chance in heck I was going to let some customs guard go through it. A lot of corporations also do the same when traveling, and keep backups on a secure file server for management to restore their computers after crossing the boarder.

Me I've never had much problems with the US boarder guards, generally they have all been really nice and helpful to me, but then I was a older white male holding a student visa. Canadian border guards, on the other hand tended to be more of a pain in the butt, though after multiple trips they generally tended to wave me through fairly quickly. I've had American friends tell me the exact opposite where the Canadian guards were very friendly, and the US guards very rude and short tempered. Maybe we just like being jerks to our own.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by August

Maybe it's just people who know Catfish?

Nah, it's the Justice Secretaries attempt to distract the public from the current Netzpolitik scandal.

[Aktungbby]

I was in charge of the lobby at Immigration on Sansome Street in San Francisco in my time and saw it all! in addition to getting pulled aside at all British airports (in a coat and tie) on my last outing for a secondary inspection with thumbprint as my wife and daughter stood by looking puzzled. Having thus been on the giving and receiving end : business as usual. Of course no respectable Fraulein would be going to Cleveland! Any sharp eyed immigration official would pick up this: "The reproach of the gruff officer are absurd. "I have children her age who are already working," says the COP and a little later: "If you had wanted to do to New York City, it would have been so believable, but hell what do you want in Cleveland?" Assuming my translator is correct...even though my old German girlfriend lived just over the line in '70's Seymour, Indiana If he thought she was an undocumented Aupair, as with my neighbor across the street, originally from Hamburg, who (properly IMHO) does import young lasses to tend her two young daughters, it's unfortunately understandable.

[Betonov]

Originally Posted by NeonSamurai

It sounds like she may have been planning to work for her cousin by caring for the cousin's children. Working on a visitor permit is a huge no-no, and will swiftly have you sent back if they find any evidence.

That makes too much sense

[Platapus]

What are the chances we don't know all the facts about this case?

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Platapus

What are the chances we don't know all the facts about this case?

Now don't go bringing facts into this...

[Kazuaki Shimazaki II]

Originally Posted by NeonSamurai

It sounds like she may have been planning to work for her cousin by caring for the cousin's children. Working on a visitor permit is a huge no-no, and will swiftly have you sent back if they find any evidence.

From what Google Translate can make of the German, she did mention something about taking care of children on Facebook, but no mention of payment. And the issue is more like what's all the hostility even before the Facebook - did NSA or something else scan it beforehand and give a heads-up?

Even if that's the issue, that's merely a technicality. Merely ask to see the page, find the page, explain nicely that you can't, sorry, deny the Visa politely but firmly and send her back, without the crudity. Please.