tanja

The things is the CBP did not ask how long I had been married or when I divorced. He only wanted to know why I had divorced an american man. I was travelling with my youngest son.

FlyingHoustonian

If it makes you feel better an "agent" at the border of The Gambia once asked me if I had ever had sex with a black woman...I am pretty sure he was going to find me one had I said no; also a bit ironic seeing as how it is normally fat Euro-woman going to The Gambia for sexy time... but that is for a different thread.

Sometimes they ask inane questions for a lot of different reasons-some valid, some maybe not.

tanja

Guess I am lucky then Cause if somebody would have asked me that I would Have gone realyy in a bad mood.WANt to add I/ was the bread winner in my house hold at the time. NOT MY HUSBAND. Also I am 5.6 121 pounds.

FlyingHoustonian

Well he was about 20, in an ill-fitting uniform and had a machine gun, which he was holding improperly, so it was not the best time to get too angry IMO but that was nearly 20 years ago. Now I am sure they wait and ask you after you enter

tanja

Who are you talking about?

relangford

Gee, my wife and I moved from Houston (guess we balanced two others comin' in).

So, you said ....?

More OT: I was asked (at DTW) why I had been in Korea. I told the agent that I live in Korea. He asked, "Why would any American live in Korea?" While I thought he might be confusing North Korea with South Korea, I told him, "Korean wife." He nodded his head.

Airbridge

Last time I cared to check I found there were very few "white" illegals crossing the border from Mexico, they tended to arrive at an Airport without the need for a VISA and simply overstayed. Your thought process is getting twisted with all the way you are twisting very different statistics and trying to blend them together.

The majority of "white" illegals are to be found at the airports and greatly outweigh the " non white" illegals using this method of entry. I use the terms of reference "white" and "non white" to fit the meaning you appear to be giving them and not mine.

There was a recent academic study that showed Irish people to have different genes to Caucasian people so i am not quite sure how you would classify the million plus "undocumented" Irish in the USA who entered via the airport.

The surgeon general should perhaps consider issuing a health warning that Food for thought can sometimes cause indigestion

jphripjah

Where do you get the idea that there are a million plus illegal Irish immigrants in the US? The only study I can find online, by the Pew Hispanic Center, is that 94% of America's 11 million illegal immigrants are from Mexico, Latin America, Asia, or Africa. 6% (about 660,000) are from Canada and Europe. America does not have a significant problem with fraudulent entry from white western Europeans or Canadians, or from white people who speak with North American accents, which may explain why CBP might give more scrutiny to non-white applicants for entry who speak with foreign accents.

FlyingHoustonian

While Airbridge is correct in that most Europeans who are illegal overstay after airport visits there are nowhere near a million illegal Irish in the US.

Seven years ago it seems there were 50,000 Irish illegals:
http://www.latimes.com/la-op-rodrigu...08-column.html
and they are still reporting 50k now:
http://thinkprogress.org/immigration...sh-immigrants/

And with Ireland having huge numbers of visa's available thanks to old Kennedy rules it is not hard for them to come over.

As for the "gene" study, since there is no caucasian "gene" not sure what part of the black hole that was pulled out of....
Caucasian ≠"white" by many in the CBP's standards.

rwoman

Connected @ ORD on my way to SoCal last year... Arrived into the international terminal, used the Global Entry kiosk, received receipt...totally normal.

The CBP officer at the desk was making passport/GE receipt checks. He stops me and I get peppered with questions. Something to the effect of:

CBP: Where are you coming from?
Me: London
CBP: Why were you in London?
Me: I live in the UK
CBP: What is your job?
Me: I work with the military.
CBP: How long have you been there?
Me: Several years.
CBP: Why are you coming into the USA?
Me: To see my family.
I was exhausted and getting fed up with the 50 questions...
CBP: How long will you be in the USA?
Me: Why does it matter? I'm a US passport holder and citizen; I can elect to stay forever IF I WANT TO DO SO!
CBP hands me back my documents and sends me on my way.

jphripjah

I agree with this. A European or Canadian who wants to enter the US and illegally immigrate can generally enter on his own passport. It would be quite rare for a white foreigner to fake being a US citizen and try to sneak in on a false passport, though it may happen from time to time. That is why when CBP encounters a white person speaking in an American accent and bearing a US passport and claiming to be a US citizen, CBP is unlikely to waste time asking a lot of questions. The odds of this being a foreign European or Canadian trying to enter fraudulently as a fake American are exceptionally low. Europeans, as general rule, don't have to fake American citizenship to enter the country.

Travelers from developing countries where visas to the US are not easily obtainable are more likely to try this particular ruse of entering on false documents, because it's one of their only ways to enter, in addition to an illegal border crossing. That is why naturalized citizens bearing US passports but who were born in such developing countries might get more questions from CBP to confirm that they are who they say they are. This is all am I trying to say.

jphripjah

By the way, anyone interested in a general discussion of the questioning of US citizens by CBP officers might be interested in the following older threads:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/check...-officers.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/check...r-airport.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/check...t-my-trip.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/check...ing-alone.html

Getting back to the OP's question of "what questions are you asked," the most common questions I am asked (always re-entering at airports) are:

1. How are you?
2. Where are you coming back from?
3. Are you traveling alone?
4. Are you bringing anything back?

The next three most common questions I am asked are:

1. What was the reason for your trip?
2. Were you on a group tour?
3. What do you do for a living?

After that, the less common questions can be all over the map, but usually they focus on why I travel so much and how do I have the time and money to travel so much, and they seem to be kind of a roundabout way of asking "Are you a drug smuggler?"

FlyIgglesFly

Being a dual US/Ireland citizen, the times I've been searched and questioned at borders and my other passport is found it leads to a whole line of questioning as to how I obtained that citizenship.

And I show that passport to the TSA, rather than my US driver's license/passport as my "government issued ID" just to mess with them and hope they try and pull the "you're here illegally!" on me so I can have even more fun with them.

FlyingHoustonian

I've done that with my Italian passport before. Lately it does not cause any reaction (which is how it should be mind you).
I've actually had more TSA stumbling with an Official US Passport than the foreign one. YMMV.

Based on certain country's citizenship laws I'd bet a large number of 'natural born' US citizens could be, in theory, citizens of another country also and not even know it. Just like so many that are finding out they are US citizens overseas and did not know it. Ireland and Italy, for example, are two big ones, and I'd suspect you would get several million just with those two- DHS' proverbial head would explode.

Paul56

Ok, I feel better now.

I receive the same line of questioning every time I go to Canada.
I am a Canadian citizen but work in Texas.

Gotta love that line about "How long will you be here?".

I don't get into it with them and just tell them I will be returning
in a couple of weeks.

Then on the way back the US CBP ask me the purpose of my trip
before looking me up. I say "work"... then they get busy on their
screens to see if they are going to have some excitement.

Once cleared I start to wonder if I am a man without a country
given the Canadians want to know when I am leaving.