Originally Posted by jphripjah

Back to the racism point, it is the job of CBP officers to prevent inadmissible aliens from entering the country, even if they are bearing documents falsely purporting to be US citizens. That's why they question people. And, a lot of you won't want to hear this, but non-white people with foreign accents presenting US passports and green cards are more likely to be frauds than white people with native born American accents presenting US passports. Think about it for a moment. 95+% of white skinned people born since WWII are citizens of the US or Western Europe or Australia/NZ or Israel or South Africa or some other country whose citizens are allowed visa free entry into the United States or entry with an easily obtained visa. The vast majority of foreigners who try to illegally enter the US on false documents are not white skinned.

When a CBP officer sees white skin and hears an American accent and sees a passport that looks like the person, the chances that this is a foreigner pretending to be American so as to enter the US are infinitesimal. That is why those people are not asked many questions about citizenship. Similarly, native-born African Americans who speak in an American accent probably get the same pass on citizenship questions.

Foreign born travelers with foreign accents who were born in developing countries where people have been known to try to illegally immigrate to the US (many of whom may have non-white skin) warrant scrutiny upon entry to confirm that they are in fact, who they purport to be and that their documentation of permission to enter or reside in the US is legitimate.