I'm really not sure what he meant. Honestly, he seems to have missed the point.
I guess that depends. Once, before my wife became a naturalized citizen and had a green card, we drove from Buffalo to Niagara Falls (very romantic
). We left the U.S. and crossed the bridge to Canada. Canadian Immigration asked if we were both U.S. citizens and my wife answered, truthfully, that she was not. She was asked to produce her green card and that was when we discovered she forgot to bring it. We weren't allowed in to Canada and were turned around to re-cross the bridge back to the U.S. When we got to U.S. Immigration, we explained what happened and, of course, they would not admit my wife back. We were directed to the INS office (this was pre-DHS) and we explained what happened. They were very nice about it and took about 30 minutes to verify her permanent resident status. They then offered us a choice -- we could re-enter the U.S. immediately, or they could give us something that would admit her to Canada and then return, however we'd have to pay a $150 penalty. We opted for the latter (we really wanted to see the Falls) and that's what we did. On our return to the U.S., we stopped again at the INS office at the border, waited about 15 minutes to pay the penalty, and she was re-admitted. The whole process was handled by the INS sympathetically, politely and with good humor.
Was she detained until citizenship (or, in this case, permanent residence) could be verified? Yes. Was she harassed? Not in the least.
Oy. My civics class was a long time ago, but my law school education wasn't that long ago. Did they really teach you that the government gives us rights?