[guerrilla]

Ever since 9/11 it's been harder for non-whites. That was long before any of this. I won't even bother now. It's not worth my freedom.

I was harassed and detained every single time I went back. Always something different, never anything to actually do with who I actually am or anything I actually did or didn't do.

[mmmBacon]

Do you have any data to back this claim up or are you just stating your opinion?

I was routinely detained at passport control because there was a bad guy with my same name. It took some amount of time and being very polite to get me out of that.

[more_corn]

I know a guy who shares a name with a one legged IRA bomber. One would think there would be some effort disambiguate name collisions. In this case a three year old could probably do it. Let’s see. One, two. Not the guy!!!

[ceejayoz]

Ironically, a three year old can be on the list.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Fly_List#False_positives

> Numerous children (including many under the age of five, and some under the age of one) have generated false positives.

And at least on one occasion, a sitting US Senator: https://www.theregister.com/2004/08/19/senator_on_terror_wat...

[carabiner]

It's been harder for people of middle eastern descent but that's about it. I'm nonwhite and have flown a lot and never had any issues. My friend is arab, hipster girl born in LA, and she always gets selected for screening.

[tamimio]

I know it's normal to criticize the US now being like that, but the reality is, this is a shared vision among the 5-Eyes countries if you dig deeper. It just happens that the US is very outspoken about it. In Canada, for example as I read a couple weeks ago, individuals "having some sort of geopolitical proximity to a concern of Canada" are being put under the microscope and seen as guilty until proven otherwise, primarily from the Middle East (or West Asia if you don't like that terminology), despite the fact that there was no 9/11 or similar event to trigger any reaction, and how’s that a “proximity concern” to Canada.

https://halifax.citynews.ca/2025/08/06/immigration-lawyers-s...

[undeveloper]

I have had some issues as someone of Indian decent despite having an American accent and native born.

[nirav72]

Whats the most common reason they’ve harnessed you over? Just wondering if they’re going based on prior issue on file? I’m of Indian descent , born and raised in the U.S - I must be the lucky one. Because I’ve never had any issues. Entering back in the country has been trouble free so far. Have you thought about signing up for global entry. Recently signed up for it myself and now I just skip talking to a human (and waiting in line)

[dijit]

Ok, so.. I don't know how to say this without sounding insensitive, but I'm a pretty traditional looking (albeit perhaps short) British, blue-eyed, white guy.

I have seriously never had a positive interaction with the US border force. Wether it's the TSA or another associated organisation (since I've been pestered by people who are not TSA).

I've been detained, questioned, randomly selected, given contradictory rules by different people, had things randomly confiscated and even been insulted.

I'm not confrontational, and I don't believe I stand out.

I have had exactly ONE positive interaction (in 2011) whereby I had accidentally travelled with a pocket knife in my checked luggage and due to the fact I was not allowed to check my luggage on the return journey (due to the train being delayed going into Newark; seriously, I understand why Americans distrust public transport) - I told the TSA agent about it and he was kind regarding it, offering condolences, but obviously destroying the knife.

I'm not sure if I'm on some kind of easing program to disincentivise me in particular from visiting the US, but I could easily see that if I was anything other than what I am in terms of race/religion/looks/citizenship: that I would presume that this was the reason.

And, for context, I've been to the US on average twice per year in the last 15 years, so this is my experience from around 30 trips, and 60-ish interactions with the international air apparatus.

It's a pretty decent country once I'm in though, though I wouldn't want to live there.

EDIT: I'm not sure why the parent is being downvoted, his anecdote is the same as mine.

[ceejayoz]

Both things can be true; that it's on average a shitty experience, and that it's on average an even shittier experience for folks of certain demographics.

[dijit]

I genuinely can't understand how it can be shittier.

Unless they're taking liberties with your wife and children or something.

[ceejayoz]

You can't imagine a shittier outcome for bringing a banned weapon into an airport than "I told the TSA agent about it and he was kind regarding it, offering condolences"?

[dijit]

That was my one positive interaction, and yes it could have gone a lot worse, as mentioned. 1/60 is not exactly batting a thousand.

Every other interaction, I can't imagine being worse. Rude, tense, confusing, authoritarian with arbitrary detainment - with no acknowledgement of time or empathy for your own obligations (to board the plane for example); and heaven help you if you express your frustration.

[guerrilla]

Exactly. This is what I mean.

[JumpCrisscross]

> I have seriously never had a positive interaction with the US border force. Wether it's the TSA or another associated organisation (since I've been pestered by people who are not TSA)

The trick is to pay to not interact. Global Entry, TSA PreCheck with Digital ID, et cetera.

And for the record, I'm dark-eyed and brown skinned. There are absolutely racists in the Trump administration. But they don't seem to have co-opted this element yet. Instead, it just presents the classic American preference for wealth.

(Note: I'm not endorsing the system. TSA PreCheck makes sense; the fee for it does not. Same for Global Entry.)

[singron]

These days at many airports, precheck has the same procedures as normal screening. You keep your shoes on, laptops and liquids stay in the bag, and you don't show a boarding pass. And the lines are the same length.

Global entry is a real difference, but you need to travel internationally quite a bit to make the application/renewal process worth it (conditional approval backlog is 12-24 months now, although it seems you skip to the front just in time to do interview-on-arrival on your next trip).

[nirav72]

by the way - You can use Global Entry ID# for precheck during domestic travel. My precheck was expiring and I had called specifically for a question. Their support person told me that since I recently signed up for global entry, I didn't need to get precheck. So even if you don't travel internationally often, but might - then its worth it to get Global entry. Of course if you don't plan on ever travelling outside of the U.S ,then yeah no reason to get it.

[more_corn]

I call it the travel bribe. It excuses you from security theater. If you have an airline credit card they also reimburse the cost of the bribe.

[hitarpetar]

you meant to write unequal treatment for the wealthy right?

[JumpCrisscross]

> you meant to write unequal treatment for the wealthy right?

Yes. I'm not endorsing the system. Just stating why folks on HN might be having wildly different experiences.

Broadly speaking, if you have to interact with border control or airport security, you're going to have a bad time. The stupid, lazy and mean are overrepresented in their ranks. You may have a slightly-worse time with particularly physical affects. But I've absolutely watched my British-accented white friend from Atlanta get singled out every time for fuckery by their TSA.

If, on the other hand, you get the unequal wealth treatment, you won't see a disparity. Because there isn't one. You're rarely interacting with a human being.

[hopelite]

Ah yes, the “give in to the system” strategy to avoid the deliberate conditioning to force everyone into the panopticon.

One easy trick to world domination prison planet…

[JumpCrisscross]

> the “give in to the system” strategy to avoid the deliberate conditioning to force everyone into the panopticon

I'm not sure what I'm giving up by ceding fingerprints and a picture to a government agency that almost certainly already has both.

[hopelite]

It’s not the simple act of just “giving them what they likely already have” once that house booked about 20 years ago. And yes, I can sue you the government had way more on me, but I seem to at least realize that that stallion is long gone.

You seem to represent a rather is phenomenon in society though. For a lack of a better term at the moment; the shift or maybe even deliberate psychological manipulation of society, civilization, culture towards not only a passive, depressive state, but also a kind of self-harming, self-destructive, nihilistic state of “what does it even matter anymore” and “I probably deserve the abuse of my abusers” type of mentality. A variation of that is “I’m not sure what I’m giving up by ceding…” an odd fatalism.

[alephnerd]

Weird.

I look stereotypical MENA and haven't faced any extra screening, and I travel a lot for work both domestically and abroad, and I'm too lazy to get Global Entry or TSA Pre so I'm dealing with general TSA.

Did your friend maybe travel to an Arab country at some point in time that either faced significant instability, a country that borders Syria+Iraq, or to the West Bank via Jordan?

[JumpCrisscross]

Out of curiosity, which airports do you travel through most?

[alephnerd]

Domestically?

SFO, SeaTac, JFK, OHare, and ATX, with a decent showing for Logan, DCA, and RTP.