Mani
06-06-2012, 09:37 PM
OMG shit just got real. :eek:
I didn't want to talk about it, but I have to, I can't keep it in, I have to let this out so I can not fester about it.
Here's the background:
My friend is born and raised in Toronto, Canada. We've been good friends for 10-15 years. He's ambitious, driven, great salesperson, entrepreneurial. He's great in sales not because he's slick, but because he's kind, honest, wants to build a relationship with you and you want to do business with him. He's moderately success, has a nice home, nice family, nice car in a nice neighborhood. He's an upstanding guy, doesn't drink or smoke, doesn't even swear. He's about as clean as it gets. No arrests, nothing.
He has family in USA and he's been going to USA so many times for so many years. Normally 2-5 times a year at least as long as I've know him. He attends a lot of business trade shows and conferences and such.
About 2 years ago he started a new line of business and I coincidentally started something on my own and left for Asia 2 years ago as well. So while focused on his new business and without a close friend to visit South Florida there was a lot less incentive to come to the USA.
In the meantime over the last year or so he somehow got hooked on Alex Jones and started reading and following a lot of that stuff (many of the topics we discuss in the general politics forum). Since he's an independent salesperson and his reputation is a part of his business, he doesn't talk about these topics in public. He's not a conspiracy theorist running around in a mall with a tinfoil hat or hiding in a basement. He has a few close friends he will talk to about it and we may trade email stories but he does surf about it a lot.
That's the only new thing in his life over the past year.
Earlier this week he decided to attend a trade show in Chicago. In the Toronto airport he passed through the US customs section and oddly was pulled aside. He was alone.
He gets placed in a room with about 20-25 people. All different ages and ethnic backgrounds. People dressed normal, for holiday, for business, all different.
He's listening to some of the conversations. Apparently there was a pleasant Dept of Homeland security person, and rude intimidating one.
There was a lady getting completely berated because she had an apple in her purse. He said the conversation was something like (obviously I wasn't there so this isn't a word for word conversation):
Lady: "But I don't understand what this is about?"
DHS: "THIS IS ABOUT WHAT'S IN YOUR PURSE!"
Lady: "I don't have ANYTHING in my purse."
DHS: "OH REALLY! WHAT'S THIS!?!?!??!!" (pulls out an apple)
Lady: "...I wanted a snack for the plane"
DHS: "LOOK AT THIS CUSTOMS FORM! YOU SIGNED IT and DECLARED YOU HAVE NO AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS ON YOU! YOU ARE GONNA BE REAL SORRY WITH A $300 FOR TRYING TO BRING THIS ON BOARD! THIS IS A PENALTY!!!"
Lady "I'm sorry, sir...I didn't reali..."
DHS: "NOW YOUR SORRY! YOU SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THAT BEFORE YOU BROUGHT THIS WITH YOU! YOU SIGNED THE FORM!!!!"
Then it was my friends turn lucky with the pleasant agent.
He was asked the purpose of his visit. He responded he's attending a trade show in Chicago for business purposes.
The agent said, "sorry that's not gonna happen. You've been denied entry."
My friend asked, "Why? What's the reason."
The agent said, "I'm sorry I can't give out that information."
my friend calmly said, "OK, Thank you, I guess I'll be going."
The Agent said, "No. You're in United states territory now. You're not leaving without a retina scan and finger prints."
My friend gets scanned and finger printed and sees documents being placed in a file regarding him with the "Department of Homeland Security" labeled on the front of the folder.
While waiting he sees the intimidating agent now berate some NEW mundanes:
In front of him are a family of 3, an older indian couple with thick accents and their daughter.
DHS: SO, it shows you go to USA 2-4 times a year and India twice a year! WHY ARE YOU TRAVELING SO MUCH!?!??!
Indian Lady: Our children now have families in USA, in fact that's where we are taking our youngest now.
DHS: BUT HOW DO YOU HAVE THE TIME? AND WHY INDIA SO OFTEN!?!?
Indian Lady: We still have relatives back home, we are retired. We go back to India to see family.
DHS: WHERE DO YOU GET ALL THIS MONEY!!??!!? HOW CAN YOU FLY SO MUCH!?!?!? I CAN'T FLY SO OFTEN, I CAN'T AFFORD IT! HOW ARE YOU AFFORDING IT!!! WHERE IS THE MONEY COMING FROM!?!?!!
He also witnessed a 70-80 year old lady alone by herself, apparently she had something in a long long ago passed that popped up while looking into her criminal record. He didn't give me the details of that one.
My friend meanwhile was told to go to a room. He got freaked out in an isolated room at that point...No cell phones, no communication with the outside, at this point the burning anger was gone and now he was beginning to panic. He washed his hands and was then let away outside.
He had to wait for a friend/family member to pick him up (because obviously he couldn't call anyone to say, "hey pick me up") so after 1.5-2hrs with DHS he was then finally able to use his cell phone, then had to wait 30min-1hr for someone to get free to pick him up from the airport.
While waiting he saw one of the guys in a suit finally leave DHS and the guy was steaming. My friend asked and the business man in a suit was denied as well and missed a meeting...He was fuming.
My friend is just in shock how regular people are being treated like criminals. Just being berated and intimidated for doing absolutely nothing. Of course he's in shock watching a room full of normal people (himself included) being denied access into the US and being forced to do retina scans and finger prints.
He thinks his surfing and being on the "wrong" websites is the culprit. All that talk about traffic being monitored etc.
It's all too real now. It's not just stories on the internet.
I remember my trips to Canada as a kid, my dad would drive us to Niagra Falls, we never needed passports or anything.
I used to always forget when I would be in Canada it was a different country and always surprised, "oh yeah customs" when we'd cross back over to USA. But it was just so seemless.
In fact I remember I was at a conference back in 2000 in Toronto and on the way to the airport I misplaced my passport. I didn't realize it until immigration. The agent asked me a few questions and they were silly stuff and we both laughed and he said, "Next time don't forget your passport and I won't have to ask you these stupid questions!" We both laughed again and I walked through onto the plane.
Now I'm USA born and raised in the Midwest. I have a midwest American accent, and we joke calling ourselves coconuts. (Brown on the outside, but white inside). I'm brown and have a beard. I can't even imagine that scenario 12 years later about me misplacing my passport, who knows where I would be held and for how long.
Those days are over. It's gone. I want to shed a tear after this whole scenario occurred. It hit me in the gut. Those days hopping in a car and going to Canada seem like a dream. That innocent age of a FREE America is really gone. It's really gone.
It's not just stories on the internet. It's not just some conspiracy theorists overblowing things out of proportion.
It's real and it's so sad.
I didn't want to talk about it, but I have to, I can't keep it in, I have to let this out so I can not fester about it.
Here's the background:
My friend is born and raised in Toronto, Canada. We've been good friends for 10-15 years. He's ambitious, driven, great salesperson, entrepreneurial. He's great in sales not because he's slick, but because he's kind, honest, wants to build a relationship with you and you want to do business with him. He's moderately success, has a nice home, nice family, nice car in a nice neighborhood. He's an upstanding guy, doesn't drink or smoke, doesn't even swear. He's about as clean as it gets. No arrests, nothing.
He has family in USA and he's been going to USA so many times for so many years. Normally 2-5 times a year at least as long as I've know him. He attends a lot of business trade shows and conferences and such.
About 2 years ago he started a new line of business and I coincidentally started something on my own and left for Asia 2 years ago as well. So while focused on his new business and without a close friend to visit South Florida there was a lot less incentive to come to the USA.
In the meantime over the last year or so he somehow got hooked on Alex Jones and started reading and following a lot of that stuff (many of the topics we discuss in the general politics forum). Since he's an independent salesperson and his reputation is a part of his business, he doesn't talk about these topics in public. He's not a conspiracy theorist running around in a mall with a tinfoil hat or hiding in a basement. He has a few close friends he will talk to about it and we may trade email stories but he does surf about it a lot.
That's the only new thing in his life over the past year.
Earlier this week he decided to attend a trade show in Chicago. In the Toronto airport he passed through the US customs section and oddly was pulled aside. He was alone.
He gets placed in a room with about 20-25 people. All different ages and ethnic backgrounds. People dressed normal, for holiday, for business, all different.
He's listening to some of the conversations. Apparently there was a pleasant Dept of Homeland security person, and rude intimidating one.
There was a lady getting completely berated because she had an apple in her purse. He said the conversation was something like (obviously I wasn't there so this isn't a word for word conversation):
Lady: "But I don't understand what this is about?"
DHS: "THIS IS ABOUT WHAT'S IN YOUR PURSE!"
Lady: "I don't have ANYTHING in my purse."
DHS: "OH REALLY! WHAT'S THIS!?!?!??!!" (pulls out an apple)
Lady: "...I wanted a snack for the plane"
DHS: "LOOK AT THIS CUSTOMS FORM! YOU SIGNED IT and DECLARED YOU HAVE NO AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS ON YOU! YOU ARE GONNA BE REAL SORRY WITH A $300 FOR TRYING TO BRING THIS ON BOARD! THIS IS A PENALTY!!!"
Lady "I'm sorry, sir...I didn't reali..."
DHS: "NOW YOUR SORRY! YOU SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THAT BEFORE YOU BROUGHT THIS WITH YOU! YOU SIGNED THE FORM!!!!"
Then it was my friends turn lucky with the pleasant agent.
He was asked the purpose of his visit. He responded he's attending a trade show in Chicago for business purposes.
The agent said, "sorry that's not gonna happen. You've been denied entry."
My friend asked, "Why? What's the reason."
The agent said, "I'm sorry I can't give out that information."
my friend calmly said, "OK, Thank you, I guess I'll be going."
The Agent said, "No. You're in United states territory now. You're not leaving without a retina scan and finger prints."
My friend gets scanned and finger printed and sees documents being placed in a file regarding him with the "Department of Homeland Security" labeled on the front of the folder.
While waiting he sees the intimidating agent now berate some NEW mundanes:
In front of him are a family of 3, an older indian couple with thick accents and their daughter.
DHS: SO, it shows you go to USA 2-4 times a year and India twice a year! WHY ARE YOU TRAVELING SO MUCH!?!??!
Indian Lady: Our children now have families in USA, in fact that's where we are taking our youngest now.
DHS: BUT HOW DO YOU HAVE THE TIME? AND WHY INDIA SO OFTEN!?!?
Indian Lady: We still have relatives back home, we are retired. We go back to India to see family.
DHS: WHERE DO YOU GET ALL THIS MONEY!!??!!? HOW CAN YOU FLY SO MUCH!?!?!? I CAN'T FLY SO OFTEN, I CAN'T AFFORD IT! HOW ARE YOU AFFORDING IT!!! WHERE IS THE MONEY COMING FROM!?!?!!
He also witnessed a 70-80 year old lady alone by herself, apparently she had something in a long long ago passed that popped up while looking into her criminal record. He didn't give me the details of that one.
My friend meanwhile was told to go to a room. He got freaked out in an isolated room at that point...No cell phones, no communication with the outside, at this point the burning anger was gone and now he was beginning to panic. He washed his hands and was then let away outside.
He had to wait for a friend/family member to pick him up (because obviously he couldn't call anyone to say, "hey pick me up") so after 1.5-2hrs with DHS he was then finally able to use his cell phone, then had to wait 30min-1hr for someone to get free to pick him up from the airport.
While waiting he saw one of the guys in a suit finally leave DHS and the guy was steaming. My friend asked and the business man in a suit was denied as well and missed a meeting...He was fuming.
My friend is just in shock how regular people are being treated like criminals. Just being berated and intimidated for doing absolutely nothing. Of course he's in shock watching a room full of normal people (himself included) being denied access into the US and being forced to do retina scans and finger prints.
He thinks his surfing and being on the "wrong" websites is the culprit. All that talk about traffic being monitored etc.
It's all too real now. It's not just stories on the internet.
I remember my trips to Canada as a kid, my dad would drive us to Niagra Falls, we never needed passports or anything.
I used to always forget when I would be in Canada it was a different country and always surprised, "oh yeah customs" when we'd cross back over to USA. But it was just so seemless.
In fact I remember I was at a conference back in 2000 in Toronto and on the way to the airport I misplaced my passport. I didn't realize it until immigration. The agent asked me a few questions and they were silly stuff and we both laughed and he said, "Next time don't forget your passport and I won't have to ask you these stupid questions!" We both laughed again and I walked through onto the plane.
Now I'm USA born and raised in the Midwest. I have a midwest American accent, and we joke calling ourselves coconuts. (Brown on the outside, but white inside). I'm brown and have a beard. I can't even imagine that scenario 12 years later about me misplacing my passport, who knows where I would be held and for how long.
Those days are over. It's gone. I want to shed a tear after this whole scenario occurred. It hit me in the gut. Those days hopping in a car and going to Canada seem like a dream. That innocent age of a FREE America is really gone. It's really gone.
It's not just stories on the internet. It's not just some conspiracy theorists overblowing things out of proportion.
It's real and it's so sad.