Avoid thoughtless posting - imagine a post that you would find inspiring from others, then aim for that standard yourself. In this way the board will blossom.
- Manlobbi
Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy
No. of Recommendations: 12
Borrowed from Cat9 on the Political Asylum board. An article about the insanity at our border controls.
The disaster began at border control in transit in Houston, Texas, when he was pulled aside and taken to a “secondary” room, he says. Posters hanging on the walls that had once celebrated diversity, equity and inclusion, had been crudely updated with a black marker pen, with mentions of DEI scribbled out. About 100 people from around the world sat and lay in various states of worry and exhaustion, he says.
“There were so many people in this room. A heavy percentage of them were from South America. I met a girl from Berlin. There were a bunch of people from Canada. There were two Brits.”
After about half an hour, he says, his name was called out. He was asked if he wanted to call the Australian consulate, but declined.
“I thought I was just going to be given my passport and sent on my way, or maybe asked a couple of questions, but they made some pretty outlandish accusations. They said, ‘We know you have two mobile phones. We’ve been tracking your calls. We know you’ve been selling drugs’.”
He says he told the border officer he did not drink, smoke or take drugs and owned just one phone. He was asked for his passcode.
“That didn’t sound right. I asked to talk to a lawyer and they told me I had no rights.” He says he was given a brochure explaining that he must surrender his phone and so handed it over, along with his smartwatch.
He says things “seemed really fucking weird” but he was careful to remain “overly polite”. He says when he asked the officer to repeat a comment he hadn’t heard, the man replied: “Are you deaf or just retarded?”The entire article is well worth a read.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/11/au...
No. of Recommendations: 2
thanks for the link. posted it to my Brit Group,,,, so far no one in our area seems to have had a bad experience..
No. of Recommendations: 1
He says when he asked the officer to repeat a comment he hadn’t heard, the man replied: “Are you deaf or just retarded?”
That sounds like a problem with the officers more than a Trump problem. There is absolutely no reason to be demeaning to people who are being detained.
--Peter
No. of Recommendations: 7
No. of Recommendations: 1
That sounds like a problem with the officers more than a Trump problem. There is absolutely no reason to be demeaning to people who are being detained.
I had a TSA agent treat me very rudely. (nothing at all like what people are going through now, but it still pissed me off)
I'm 75 and my hearing is not good. I walked through the scanner and he said go back through. He said something else I could not understand. This was repeated with me still not understanding. Finally I figured out that I had a something in my shirt pocket and that was the problem. So, fine, took it out and went through the scanner. And he gets in my face and says with a lot of attitude: "You don't listen to well do you!" I never at any point did anything but try to cooperate. I felt like asking to speak to his supervisor but thought it would probably do nothing. It is probably a boring job, but most TSA workers have been nice and often helpful. But there are those jerks who, given a little authority, just turn in to assholes. Clearly that was the case in Houston. WTF kind of training are they getting?
No. of Recommendations: 12
WTF kind of training are they getting?
Undoubtedly inadequate. But it may be an applicant screening problem, too.
Jobs like police and TSA tend to attract people who may be more interested in getting authority over others than in doing the public service job of keeping us all safe.
--Peter
No. of Recommendations: 4
I'm 75 and my hearing is not good. I walked through the scanner and he said go back through. He said something else I could not understand. This was repeated with me still not understanding. Finally I figured out that I had a something in my shirt pocket and that was the problem. So, fine, took it out and went through the scanner. And he gets in my face and says with a lot of attitude: "You don't listen to well do you!" I never at any point did anything but try to cooperate
Had the same thing happen, these fellows want you to get your computer out, empty your pockets, take off your belt and shoes, etc. Then you ask em if they got your suspenders, and you forgot a bit a sudafed in your back pocket, and there's someone with a personality disorder being demeaning about the sudafed.
