Surprise phone call from Global Entry
 

Anyone remember this thread from a few months back: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/archive/t-1411262.html

The gist of it is that I apparently fit a suspicious profile for a person applying to Global Entry (I am 28, with most of my money in foreign bank accounts because I have been living abroad for extensive periods of time and I living with my parents right now while I apply to graduate school). I was spoken to in a way I perceived as very aggressive by Customs and Border Protection staff - basically accusing me of being recruited by the drug cartels - before they rejected me for Global Entry/SENTRI. It was a pretty terrifying experience actually that left me angry for several days.

Well I got an interesting voicemail from CBP today basically apologizing for how I had been treated the first time, saying I have been conditionally reapproved and inviting me back for an interview.

After my last experience, I talked about it to someone I know in DC who is a former high-ranking Border Patrol official, and I think he passed my complaint up the chain, so I am pretty sure this is what is responsible for the about face. I didn't appeal to the ombudsman or anything before receiving this phone call.

But I am wondering what you guys think I should bring in order to make this a more pleasant experience this time. I am thinking about a notarized letter from my parents saying they have been supporting me while i prepare for grad school and printouts of my bank account information. I was thinking of trying to bring my dad with me to the interview in order to answer any other questions they might have.

When I talk to them about rescheduling, I am going to reiterate how disturbing my last interview was, ask that I be interviewed by a different officer and reiterate that all I really want is that they speak to me respectfully and in a non-intimidating manner.

Any other thoughts on how to help this go smoother this time?

Here's an idea. Don't ever mention the last interview again. The CBP Officer who interviews you this time could care less about the last guy, isn't going to do anything about it, and all it does is potentially get your application again held up.

Get your card and then, if you really want to, file a complaint wit the DHS Inspector General.

I just spoke to the supervisor who said upper management had reviewed my application and decided I deserved a "second chance."

He said I will meet with a new officer this time who will listen to me and speak to me respectfully. So I guess I will give it a go and see what happens. I must say, i am very surprised by this turn of events.

You owe your friend in DC big time.

And indirectly, maybe so will a few other people down the road. I can only hope that the agent you dealt with originally has been spoken to about this issue. If he was, he will be aware that word came down the chain, not directly from a standard customer complaint form (which would likely get ignored), but from 'above', ie, something to be taken seriously.

If that happens (and I hope it does), it might mean he'll think twice about dishing out grief without good reason or displaying an aggressive attitude to other applicants.

^ to you for following through on this.

As to what to bring, I would bring a letter, but wouldn't bother with notarization. I would bring bank statements.

You might even bring a copy of an application to grad school or standardized test score reports (or something to demonstrate it's real).

I had my re-interview today and it was 180 degrees different from the first time. The officer was unfailingly polite and I was approved in a matter of minutes.

Afterwards, I requested to talk to the supervisor and I kind of lectured him about how I was treated the first time and he didn't seem super-pleased, but I did feel that my point had been made, so I left it at that.

It's not clear to me what I should take away from this whole situation. I have to say that I am a little disturbed that the Global Entry application process could be so arbitrary. I mean, there is no substantive difference between my personal situation now and 2 months ago, so why was I interrogated the first time, accused of being a criminal, humiliated and rejected and now I am apparently a highly trustworthy person? The answer seems to be that I knew someone in DC who knows me and went to bat for me and when management looked into it further, they realized that I had been mistreated.

But having a situation resolved due to connections seems like something that should be happening in the third world and not the United States. I wonder how many Americans feel mistreated by CBP and then feel helpless. Perhaps the lesson is that we need to not be sheep and, at the very least demand high standards of service and a high level of respect from the people who are supposed to be representing us.

I am glad I didn't give up on this. It was a very satisfying feeling this morning.

An acquaintance of mine had his mother and brother receiving the DHS blacklist treatment when flying. After some dealing with the FBI, the blacklist treatment ended. I got a look at a report by someone involved in the matter and it was both amusing and pitiful how those innocent people were hassled for no good reason.

It was quite clear that whom you know matters when wanting the treatment to change sooner than later. However, even if you know someone or don't, bureaucracy is such that fumbling and bumbling outcomes are still a frequent possibility .... intervention or no intervention.

DHS has decided that all innocent Americans are not equal; and it has also decided that all Americans are not to be presumed innocent until otherwise merited. It's those kind of DHS "values" that have given the country this GlobalEntry and PreCheck nonsense that doesn't treat all innocent Americans as automatically entitled to the same treatment by agents of the government. It's in that environment that inconsistency of experience is increasingly a given like it is in the matter of the OP.

Thanks for returning to post an update.