Originally Posted by
ianjr
UK passport holder and used ESTA on current passport to enter the US before. Arrived from London on BA last week at Phoenix. All non US passport holders directed away from machines into the line for all non-US citizens. Only after 30 mins when it was clear no one else was entering the immigration hall did they start to ask people at the back of the line to use the machines if eligible. At that point I was 10 minutes away from the front of the line.
Either I'm allowed to use the machines or not?
EU/EEC citizens also get prioritised border processing in Europe, US+Canadians do in Canada, NZ+AUS citizens in NZ, etc etc. This is standard practice anywhere. The same border desks (in terms of physical hardware) can be used regardless of citizenship anywhere in the world, but they're still going to funnel people as they see fit.
Plus they have to give us foreigners stamps, so it's still more onerous than the processing of a US citizen.
Worth noting that US airline hubs are likely to have a higher proportion of US-citizens arriving, compared to non-hubs, or hubs in more touristy cities.