What strikes me is that often the ‘US’ line at a port of entry is well-staffed and nearly non-existing, while the ‘alien’ line (can we just be called foreigners please?) is full length and understaffed.

Signs points to either one after often poor, and many airports end up with people yelling at incoming travelers to go to one line or the other. Do you have to yell? Seriously. The sign says ‘Welcome to the USA’, people come out of a long flight and are tired and disoriented. Stop yelling at them!

Furthermore, most immigration officers are overworked, and short-tempered. Now I acknowledge that many visitors don’t have their paperwork in order, but I’ve never had that in other countries (Canada, Mexico, Caribbean, Japan, EU).

To me it is always puzzling, that the US – the country where marketing is omnipresent – is not able to put some marketing in it’s entry process. It’s not that hard. Inform the visitors, give them something useful to look at while in line, and get some immigration officers that are not overworked and polite. Oh, and it would be nice if not every third of them would look at my visa as if they’ve never seen one before.

And here’s another concerning one. I’ve got several Chinese friends whose parents just walked into the country without understanding a word of English.

And here’s a nice way to select the ‘unlucky’ person who gets extra screening. In Mexico (Cancun that is), you have to hit a big gameshowbutton next to a traffic light. Do you get green, you’re in. Do you get red, you get to go with Manuel and his glove box. But guess what. Nobody feels unjustly picked, because it’s a random generator.

I’ve gotten the third degree coming back from Europe as an American citizen with an American passport. Finally I asked the immigration officer whether I had a legal right to return to my country and why I getting the third degree about things outside his jurisdiction. He just grunted and gave me back my passport and pointed down the lane.

I am tired of us treating everyone as a terrorist. The terrorists are predominantly [all?] male and Muslim. The few women The fear of profiling terrorists drives me crazy. You go ANYWHERE else in the world and they profile potential criminals. We have stripped our rights and freedoms so soccer moms can ‘feel’ safe. And politicians can claim there have been no more attacks on their watch.

If we continue to view our fellow citizens as a risk, then we will never be welcoming to others. The view of Fortress America is not one in which I would want to voluntarily live. I’ll take a little risk, even for my own family, to get some of our freedoms and friendliness back.