Lee9876

Last week on Sept 9, 2014 I was denied entry from the USA to Argentina. I am a US citizen holding a valid passport and I have been to Argentina many time over the past years with no problems...until last week that is!

I had flown in from Los Angles on Delta Flight 101. I was stopped from entering the country and told that I had an “issue” in the USA and that the USA had requested that I NOT be allowed to enter into Argentina. This was told to me by the immigration personnel there in Buenos Aires.

When I explained that I had visited Argentina many times in the past the immigration officials told me that as far as they were concerned I was welcome. All of my paperwork was valid and in order including my US passport and the reciprocity payment that is required of US residents visiting. Again, they stressed that it was directly from the USA to not allow me entry and to return me to the USA.

I was put onto the next plane returning to the USA. Naturally I changed my return date which had been November 18th and paid the date change fee myself.

So I would like to know what this “issue” is that prevented my entry in Argentina. It was very costly and humiliating as an experience! I would like an formal explanation of the reason so that it can be addressed and corrected. There is no excuse for me being allowed to board a plane when the US government was simply going to request that I be denied entry to my destination and returned.

When I returned to the USA and went through customs I asked them about it and told them I had been denied entry and they blamed Argentina (which contradicts directly what I was told in Argentina) so the question is this...

Has anyone experienced this before? I have contacted the Argentine embassy here in L.A. and am waiting for them but as indicated by the immigration in Argentina...I was fine with them with all paperwork in order but it was the USA who said, DO NOT LET HIM IN AND SEND HIM BACK.

Who would I contact here in the USA to get an explanation?

Thank you!

Randyk47

The big issue would be a case of mistaken identity and finding that out could be an issue. They could look at the information on the real you and find no reason you should be denied. If there is somebody with a name like or close to yours that caused the issue they most probably aren't going to give you the information. Of course that leaves you hanging with the strong possibility it'll happen again. Giant bummer and I don't have much in the way of suggestions other than to get in touch with CBP or DHS and see if one or the other can guide you in the right direction.

GUWonder

Maybe the OP's name or passport or something close to the name is in an Interpol database with the filings made by the US.

Often1

Hire a lawyer. If you travel regularly, this will be an ongoing problem.

Crandall

You were probably flagged by the State Department. I happened to my wife but they were able to call DC and it was cleared up easily. The problem was that she had the same name as someone on the no fly list. A simple solution was to put her full middle name of the ticket each time we fly international. Doing this we have had no problems.

GUWonder

It may be a bit premature to spend money on a lawyer to try to figure out what to do about this when some can try to figure this out on their own without paying someone else to bungle around. [Most lawyers are pretty clueless about these matters, even most lawyers involved in immigration and citizenship matters. But there may be a point at which retention of a lawyer may make sense.

I would first let the staff of my US Senators and/or US House Representative work on this and get on the case of State and somehow on Interpol to get this looked in.

The no-fly list is most commonly a separate issue from US passports being flagged, limited or revoked by State, although some end up on various US and/or Interpol blacklists in a rather closely timed manner.

Given the lack of any mention of CBP sending the OP to secondary, and given the lack of any mention of the OP being subjected to anything extraordinary by CBP and of being allowed to fly back, there is very little chance that the OP is on the no-fly list and a rather low chance that the person and passport properly flagged by State. There is even lower probability that changing the name on a ticket would solve this issue if on a lookout watchlist and obviously not on a no-fly list.

Your wife's issue sounds more like a no-fly list issue with a name (or Soundex-equivalent) match; those are more commonly resolved by calling someone in the greater DC area, an FBI field office or another liaison and then the other side asking some questions (of the airline rep and passenger) about what is on the ID and/or talking to the passenger and/or passenger's companion (if any). Adjusting the names on a ticket is a way around that.

Often1

On the contrary, it is not a question whether a lawyer (one skilled at dealing with federal law enforcement) can fix the underlying problem, but what the underlying problem is. This could be as simple as the transposition of letters/numbers in some data field and it could be as serious as OP being a target of something he does not even know about.

If it is the former, trying one's luck on one's own is just fine. If it works, great. If it doesn't, you can always escalate. But, if it is the latter, saying anything -- and I mean anything -- to anybody, is simply a risky idea.

GUWonder

If it's the latter, what real new risk arises -- for the OP -- from having this matter pursued with assistance from the US Senate or US House of Representatives?

Ordinary Americans have no duty to protect state secrets, unless their terms of employment required such for matters they access via their job. So what's the risk for the OP if the OP has a pretty good idea that they didn't commit a felony or knowingly associate and cooperate with a criminal or criminal activity?

I like a good Halloween story too, but this isn't Halloween. The notion of prosecution arising from the OP communicating the OP content to an elected official -- to seek assistance in such matter -- is scare-mongering in my opinion. And I've seen lots of law enforcement and intelligence set-ups during my years of dealing with federal prosecutors on national security matters. The OP is either already fried or is not fried. Looking forward to another Halloween, but it's not Halloween yet.

Ari

I am shocked-- shocked-- to encounter this in this forum. [Personal attack omitted].

GUWonder

How dare you make a reference to Casablanca. Everyone knows that is Spanish terrorist-speak for White House. Now we're fried.

Loren Pechtel

Second this. You probably share a name with a black hat.

GUWonder

The OP was allowed to fly to the US. How is it that the OP was on the no-fly list yet able to fly to the US with the US passport in the PNR?

jphripjah

I find it hard to believe that the OP would be totally clueless about his "issue" with US authorities, unless this really is mistaken identity.

I'm curious what his occupation is, whether he has a criminal record, if he has ever been investigated or questioned by federal agents about anything, what his ethnicity/country of birth are, if he is active in an political causes, and why he has been to Argentina many times.

I'm not suggesting there anything wrong or suspicious about going to Argentina many times, I'm just trying to see if we can shed light on why the US authorities don't want him to go there.

I've never heard of this sort of thing happening before. US citizens have a constitutional right to travel, I've never heard of the US allowing a citizen to depart but contacting the arrival country and telling them not to let him in. It's unusual to say the least.

GUWonder

"Maybe the OP's name or passport or something close to the name is in an Interpol database with the filings made by the US."

Not everything filed or flagged by government is filed/flagged properly by the government or intergovernmental organizations. Governments make mistakes that frequently result in innocent people being harassed/hassled.

I've been to Argentina a huge number of times -- I was almost a regular commuter on US-EZE-US routes for a while -- and there is nothing suspicious about that either. Even as I get around in political circles in both countries.

I've never had such a problem, but I've known people who have had such issues and needed assistance to figure out what happened. Either they had a clue or they had no clue how they ended up in a Kafkaesque mess. Those who had a clue and needed assistance would commonly share everything and then some from the start.

alanR

If only OP had been going to Brazil