E-Mail 'Welcome back, you are in America now' To A Friend
Email a copy of 'Welcome back, you are in America now' to a friend
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1 COMMENT
I am a home-grown Minnesota girl of European descent (i.e. caucasian), and the exact same thing happened to me at MSP customs after arriving here back from Nigeria in 1998 (before 9/11 even). My customs form was “marked,” every last item, even in my wallet was taken apart. They wanted to know if I spent time in rural areas-my shoes could be bringing back who-knows-what terrible piece of dirt or plant! It wasn’t until they found a piece of paper titled “A Prayer for Nigeria” that they finally let me repack everything and let me go. I was the last one too, except for the the young man who was caught with drugs by a sniffing dog. My parents by then were worried, and an airport employee asked who I was and that my parents were concerned. I guess so, after 45 minutes of delay and when every other passenger had passed. I was in Nigeria visiting my fiance so he could get a fiance visa so we could marry. Some threat that was, right?! I really felt like customs must have been bored that day and created such a flimsy pretense to detain me almost just for their own amusement. Then about a year and and half after 9/11, my husband returned to Nigeria for his mother’s funeral, and upon returning here to MSP, he breezed through customs, with a Nigerian passport and just a temporary permanent resident card. I was shocked he passed through so easily, especially after what I had been through. So even if you’re a 45-year-old woman born and raised here and a citizen, even that doesn’t exempt you from that same experience at MSP. I totally agree that the US needs to get more savvy when it comes to screening for the truly dangerous.
I am a home-grown Minnesota girl of European descent (i.e. caucasian), and the exact same thing happened to me at MSP customs after arriving here back from Nigeria in 1998 (before 9/11 even). My customs form was “marked,” every last item, even in my wallet was taken apart. They wanted to know if I spent time in rural areas-my shoes could be bringing back who-knows-what terrible piece of dirt or plant! It wasn’t until they found a piece of paper titled “A Prayer for Nigeria” that they finally let me repack everything and let me go. I was the last one too, except for the the young man who was caught with drugs by a sniffing dog. My parents by then were worried, and an airport employee asked who I was and that my parents were concerned. I guess so, after 45 minutes of delay and when every other passenger had passed. I was in Nigeria visiting my fiance so he could get a fiance visa so we could marry. Some threat that was, right?! I really felt like customs must have been bored that day and created such a flimsy pretense to detain me almost just for their own amusement. Then about a year and and half after 9/11, my husband returned to Nigeria for his mother’s funeral, and upon returning here to MSP, he breezed through customs, with a Nigerian passport and just a temporary permanent resident card. I was shocked he passed through so easily, especially after what I had been through. So even if you’re a 45-year-old woman born and raised here and a citizen, even that doesn’t exempt you from that same experience at MSP. I totally agree that the US needs to get more savvy when it comes to screening for the truly dangerous.