US Passport Control Customs Entry

I will be entering the US tomorrow but not through Chicago. I have Global Entry.

I'll report back unless of course they confiscate my phone and send me to a prison in El Salvador.

My sister and I just went through passport control at O’Hare on Thursday. We don’t have Global Entry. I was going to use Mobile Passport Control, but there was no line, so we just walked right up to the counter. The usual questions—where are you coming from and are you brining anything back? Customs was the same as always. Smile, hand in my little card, and be on my way.

Enjoy your trip!

Very quick this past January. Our delay was we had a discussion about the advantages of skiing in Europe with the ICE agent. We finally had to break it off for the benefit of the people behind us in line.

I just came back through Newark earlier this week. The only problem was that their one (!) Global Entry kiosk was down (!!) so that we had to be processed manually. The border control agents were friendly and apologetic. We were still in the GE line so once they gave up on the kiosk it moved quickly, but that was a big drag. I'm used to just whisking through in a under a minute with GE.

I'm not sure why they were down to one GE kiosk. I've entered the country through Newark several times and remember multiple kiosks. The agent said it was new and that they had been having trouble with it.

Entered through Philadelphia in early March, returning from Portugal. Used Mobile Passport app, no problems, very quick.

This happened to me a few days ago.

Family members (non-US residents) entered last week, on valid, multiple-entry visas (as they had many times previously) to visit and stay with us. ICE held them (mom and three young kids) for over 3 hours in SeaTac, where they were "interviewed" (detained) and after much grilling and many questions (let me see your phone, your social media accounts and your messaging apps...hmm, what is this about?), including phone calls to my wife and me (we were waiting at the international arrivals area in SeaTac - they questioned us, too). The guy who called me was probing for all kinds of info; once he realized I was not going to be intimidated or bullied into over-sharing or volunteering personal info or social media accounts, he immediately lost interest in talking to me, and went back to "interviewing" mom and the young kids (who were much easier for them to scare, and pretty freaked out). No explanations, no sharing of what was happening, when or if they would be released or what would happen to them.

Having read credible stories in the local news about non-citizens being detained for days, handcuffed naked and forced to endure cold showers while they were questioned at airports in recent weeks, and since we had been waiting almost 4 hours with no indication that they would be released, I had had enough, I was heading off through the airport looking for resources to try and find an immigration lawyer and call the local TV news - these crying kids would have made headlines. When ICE finally let them go, unharmed but badly shaken, the kids were all sobbing, the mom was in shock and disbelief. Now days later, the kids are still pretty scared, the mom is just sad. I've had to do a lot of explaining to them about what has happened to America.

Be careful out there.

It took me under 2 minutes with Global Entry at JFK last September.

If one has a US passport, processing looks to go smoothly; if one does not have a US passport the process can be more involved.

Pardon my ignorance, but what is “Global entry”? I have just used a passport in the past.

Global Entry is an expedited entry with your passport. You have to schedule an interview to get it and that can be a big problem, in addition to the fee. I don't have it, and never had a problem, but then I don't travel to/from Europe in prime season.

Global Entry is basically a program you apply for. You pay a fee, have a background check done, and have an interview where you are photographed and fingerprinted.

If approved, you can use special lanes at US immigration because in a sense you've been prescreened.

With Global Entry, my record for walking off the plane, walking through immigration and customs, and walking out of the terminal is 5 minutes. At JFK during crowded times.

The last time, in January, after using the Global Entry machine, I went up to the CBP officer who greeted me by name. He said," Good Evening, Frank, you're good to go." No questions and my passport didn't have to leave my hands.

But if you don't want to go through all that, and your arrival airport supports it, you could look into Mobile Passport Control.

David, thank you for sharing that. That experience sounds terrifying and I'm so sorry it happened to your family. I think there must be many, many stories like yours that don't make the news as they're not as extreme as some of the other things we have heard. I don't blame non US citizens for wanting to stay away for the foreseeable future.

I just breezed through in March coming into DFW from LHR with my US passport and Global Entry. I expect to again later this month coming back from Italy.

But I’m deeply, deeply ashamed and disappointed as a citizen to read about David’s family’s experience.

What Lyndash said. I am sorry David.

I hope they will find some way to re-set their experience on this trip and have a nice time with you all for the rest of it. Awful.

so sorry, David, that perfectly innocent and hard working people have to go through this **** deleted rubbish

Simply no excuse other than trying to build a nation of fear

We have seen it all before...

All this is of course not totally new. Wife and I flew into Vancouver (US Citizens - been to Canada multiple times over the years) to go skiing at Whistler about 5 years ago. Dragging our ski gear through the airport we were diverted by the Canadian Immigration officers to a small room with tables and instructed to sit down. The officers were giving an oriential fellow the full 5th degree as they inspected EVERYTHING he was carrying. After about 20 minutes with no contact with anyone my wife went to ask why we were there and detained - which of course was NOT helpful. Another 20 minutes passed and an agent came and took our passports with no comment. Waited roughly another 20 minutes, agent brought our passports back, then asked why we were in Canada and did we have a place to stay at Whistler. I wanted to say no, we just woke up this morning, packed all our ski stuff and caught a plane from ATL to Vancouver - but thought better of it.

OF course the other couple with us had been standing outside immigration/customs for an hour with absolutely no idea what had happened to us. Again we had been to Whistler, Banff, Vancouver multiple times over the years, no outstanding parking tickets that I am aware of :). At least we missed the cold showers and rubber billy clubs! It happens to very ordinary people on occasion.

David, Perhaps it's not to late to inform the media. The more everyone is made aware of such abuses, perhaps the less it will happen. At least we can hope.

What's so shocking is how quickly the nice, smiling person welcoming you back can turn into a cruel person who terrifies a family with children.

David, that’s awful…your poor family.
I’m horrified and angry on their behalf.
Please inform your local media…as someone said, the world needs to know that these border-bullies are at work.

Thank you to those sharing kind words.

I'm pretty pissed off about what happened, but waving my pocket Constitution and giving speeches about the Bill of Rights (and how it applies to ALL here, not just round-eye white guys born here like me)...while they were still detained I was considering trying to gin up some press attention but 1) family wants no part of that (understandably) and 2) as pointed out above, there are undoubtedly countless other similar experiences happening at every major airport every day, many of them far worse. As I now tell the kids repeatedly, the mean man in the little room at the airport was a kind of policeman, he was doing his job, and he just has a very bad boss right now, so don't worry, outside of that room, you are safe and people here are still good. I tell THEM about the meaning of the Statue of Liberty and the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and on and on. They (mostly) believe me. But they'll never feel the same about this country. How many enemies do we want to make?

These people would not hurt a fly (literally - they're Buddhists, they give me side-eyes if I kill a spider or swat a mosquito). They're exactly the kind of tourists anyone would want (they want to go to Costco every day and fill up the car). It's Just Plain Stupid to detain these visitors and put them through interrogation as they were (all ICE saw on their phones were K-Pop videos and photos of food). ICE spent almost 4 hours of staff time on this family - that's absolutely insane. A complete waste of your taxpayer dollars to hassle folks like these who are so transparently harmless. If ICE agents couldn't tell that this family were just innocent tourists in less than 5 minutes, they have no business being in any official role in any organization. But no, they spent hours of staff time and went through their phones. Including the young girl's. Hope they enjoyed watching the K-Pop videos. "Efficiency".

Tonight I'm gonna try and get them to watch the Rick Steves TV special on Fascism, which I have recorded on the DVR. If they can manage that, we'll have another chat about politics, then maybe we'll watch Casablanca (also recorded) for some lessons on good people and bad people, and doing the right thing when the world turns crazy. We are spending a lot of time talking about the Statue of Liberty, how America was built by immigrants, and similar things.

Now I gotta go make pancakes for breakfast. Perspective...

David, I am very sorry you and your family had such a shocking experience.

David from Seattle...you know the mom and children in your story quite well. But, how would an immigration officer know them? Isn't it possible that the mom and three children might be entering the US and could possibly over stay their visas like thousands of people do each year? You might say they would not, but how would this officer know that to be true?

Immigration officers rely also on flags and alerts on traveler's passports. It is possible the mom and children have travel alerts and flags placed on their passports by their home country or other countries they may have traveled to in the past. No one knows what the immigration officer knew or suspected.

Before we blame the immigration officer or his politicized "boss", maybe we should just consider other possibilities. I feel sorry for the mom and children, but I also feel for the immigration person who has to look at the information and apply it everyday in difficult situations with a mom and three children or an 86 year old grandmother. I am sure it wasn't a pleasant experience for him either, but we have to assume he was doing his job.

The next mom and three children who enter the US might not look sideways at you if you kill a spider. 9/11 taught us something about innocent students on visas taking flying lessons. Times have changed, people have changed, countries have changed.

Let's give our immigration workers the same respect we give first responders. They are not difficult people, just people doing difficult jobs.

I flew into the US this evening and I thought you'd want to know how it went.

I was going to write something about Gestapo like tactics but I'm too tired. Here's what happened:

I have Global Entry I walked to passport control and had my photo taken by the machine. It said proceed. So I went to where the agents were and was taken ahead of the others. This is how the conversation went:

Agent: First name

Me: Frank

Agent: Anything to declare.

Me: I told him what I had to declare

Agent: Any fruits or vegetables.

Me: No

Agent: You're good to go.

Never asked to see my passport as my photo comes up on his screen with my name. He matches me to my photo. This is really no different than before.

The guy I was sitting next to on the plane was from Iceland. He went to the "visitor" line and was out in no time.

CBP have not changed what they are doing since the new administration came in. It's just that the media is now jumping on the stories. Keep in mind that CBP is looking for numerous possible crimes....overstaying visas, illegally entering a country with fake documents, bringing in prohibited items, people who plan to work without a work visa, sex trafficing, the trafficing of children, possible terrorist or people who want to commit crime.

I just look at things as much as I can in a neutral way. Facts and logic are usually my go to sources.

Detainments happened all the time before this year. According to The Department of Homeland Security, 311,580 non-US citizens were detained in 2022, 273,220 in 2023 and 277,910 in 2024. If you believe that all 862,710 detainments in the last 3 years were handled professionally, quickly and in some manner different than today, well...that is for you to decide.

David, thank you for sharing. This is first hand report from a source I trust as a reasonable, intelligent, well-traveled individual. If someone is flagged upon arrival, 4 hours of grilling, along with undoubted baggage search, before being released seems like either incompetence or animosity (from whatever source). If they are NOT flagged before arrival, then it makes even less sense.

Threadwear, they were given numbers to meet. So things get sloppy.

Let's give our immigration workers the same respect we give first
responders. They are not difficult people, just people doing difficult
jobs.

That’s a terribly unpopular notion. I spent a few years working at a border immigration and customs center and got to know the men and women working there. They were indistinguishable from my neighbors. It's blind rhetoric more than anything else that got us into the situation we are in today.

As I was walking past baggage claim and then
past the customs officer at the exit, I noticed he was intently looking at his screen and looking at people coming up. I slowed down but he said I could go.

What I think happens is that the immigration officer may send a photo of someone he thinks should be stopped by customs for a second look.

I'm following this closely as someone scheduled to enter the US this summer. While immigration has always detained people (we were picking up an exchange group and one of the 14 kids, a girl of 15, was brought in for scrutiny--scared the crap out of her), things are definitely different now.

As you can see, there are several here who strenuously argue that on the ground nothing has changed. They see Dave from Seattle's first hand account as a non-representative isolated incident. (Dave from S, sorry you experienced that. My sympathies. )

Rather the media is sensationalizing a few disparate unconnected cases and the media is poorly serving the public by agitating folks into an irrational frenzy. They say the good men and women who guard our borders and protect our customs regulations are the same dedicated officers they were a mere few dozen weeks ago and the RS reading travelers have nothing to fear but fear itself.

And then there are others, such as myself, who say there is ample evidence that there are policy changes and policing changes and that travelers need to be aware of this and maybe even take precautions. The evidence of policy changes is abundant. Just listen to what the leaderships says.The new leadership says they are more zealously guarding the border. While the same skeptics dismiss their words as non-evidence because 1) you can’t believe what they say; 2) even if you can believe them, it is only effects non-USA citizens who are and may be lawbreakers; 3) and even if there is a few examples beyond that, remember that overzealous policing has always occurred and there is really no statistical evidence that they (the skeptics in their expert opinion) deem to be statistically significant. Finally, if you’re white and non-political and better still have never posted anything on social media like made jokes about how silly it is to talk of a 51st state (OMG that’s me!), then you’re got nothing to worry about.

I even privately messaged one such prolific posting skeptic and said a) I have a long friend who is federal immigration judge and he says “it’s night and day”; b) I am a part owner in a Canadian company whose CEO shared more employees are challenged at the borders like never before. To which my skeptic friend says that is not evidence relevant to tourists. I even referred him to ICE sweeps in court documents picking up US citizens. "Not relevant". Until such time as I have gathered a large statistical database, I am out of order.

Fair enough. I am out of order! Often my socks don’t match so, so yeah, he’s got a point!

However in the meanwhile, I’m going to continue to recommend for myself and for fellow travelers to be extra cautious. But I’m still traveling. Indeed I will be in Montreal in a few days and then we are really looking forward to a RS tour of Switzerland where I understand there will be both mountains and chocolates. What can be better than that?

Happy travels.

P.S. One can say 1) things have changed -- but for the better as we are keeping America safer; 2) things haven’t changed at all; 3) things have changed for the worse and we are making America less safe; 4) and finally you can make ontological arguments on what you can know and not know. What do I know? Not much

Two things can be true.

Non-citizens living in the US are being interrogated and scrutinized more when flying. However, I will say having a foreign born in-law that was on a GC for years. They have always taken extra precautions and in-law was always taken out and asked questions when flying into the US. This has become more rigorous and less leeway is given now on procedure.

If you are a US citizen born in the US, 99% of the time you will be fine if you don't have anything illegal on you or wear an F-Trump hat or T-shirt. I've known many people who have traveled this year and none have been detained or interrogated.

Will lay off the politics but I think hysteria either way is bad and making blanket statements about experiences is dangerous. Traveling is a risk and it's up to everything to decide what their comfort level is and go from there.

Rick has posts on Facebook that may be better to talk politics.

If you are a US citizen born in the US, 99% of the time you will be
fine if you don't have anything illegal on you or wear an F-Trump hat
or T-shirt.

Heather I will only disagree with one thing that you said.

If you are a US citizen 99.9999% of the time you will be fine if you
don't have anything illegal on you or wear an F-Trump hat or T-shirt.

And I am only going along with the T-Shirt comment because public vulgarity, not matter what the topic, shouldnt be permitted.

I am still waiting for the BIG STORY in which it is reported that more people have been detained or turned away at our airports this year than were last year ... and what the count was. Because if 1% of all those entering had an issue that would be somehting like 100,000 and that would be all over the news.

First hand the only individuals that I know that came into the US in the last 60 days were two Iranian citizens .... from Iran visiting family in the states ... no issue .... my daughter and her husband flew home from the UK last week .... no problem .... and an Americn citizen, a naturalized Iranian, went to Italy and back to the US in March ... no problem (for some reason I know a lot of Persians).

99.9999% of the time I right 80% of time! That's me. Not to brag but I have an almost perfect 100 IQ too.

If human confidence had perfect calibration, judgments with 100%
confidence would be correct 100% of the time, 90% confidence correct
90% of the time, and so on for the other levels of confidence. By
contrast, the key finding is that confidence exceeds accuracy so long
as the subject is answering hard questions about an unfamiliar topic.
For example, in a spelling task, subjects were correct about 80% of
the time, whereas they claimed to be 100% certain.[5] Put another way,
the error rate was 20% when subjects expected it to be 0%. In a series
where subjects made true-or-false responses to general knowledge
statements, they were overconfident at all levels. When they were 100%
certain of their answer to a question, they were wrong 20% of the
time.[6]

So the key takeaway here is this: Keep on traveling but a little extra caution never hurt anyone. That's why to I am traveling in my Rick Steves disguise so that I get the extra benefit of the doubt. Who's gonna hassle Rick Steves at the border? Nobody. Or at least I hope so. Maybe I'll switch to a different more incognito disguise -- like Tom Cruise.

Happy travels.