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by aemoron 23 days ago
I was lucky enough to visit the US before Trump's 1st term back in 2015. I even considered working there. Sure, the customs and TSA were uncomfortable experiences, but that's nothing compared to what my dual-citizenship colleague had on a recent trip.

They were taken into a backroom for questioning at Houston airport for hours with no explanation and ultimately let go with no apologies, nothing. The "crime" was using their European passport, methinks. They are not going back to US after that experience.

2 comments

Generally if you are a citizen of a country you are expected to enter and leave on that passport.

The UK has recently implemented the system

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2d9yk2kpjo

Canada

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/se...

Australia is just a should

https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/entering-and-leaving-austral...

NZ requires an endorsement of not travelling on an NZ passport

https://www.immigration.govt.nz/process-to-apply/once-you-ha...

> it shall be unlawful for any citizen of the United States to depart from or enter, or attempt to depart from or enter, the United States unless he bears a valid United States passport.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1185#b

So that seems like something that should be easily dealt with in a few minutes - request that they present their US passport, apprise them of the fine for entering without having obtained a US passport, and/or turn them away since their entry would be illegal. None of these require hours of questioning in a back room.

I'm tired of this trend of people using a violation of the law, especially administrative style infractions, as a justification for arbitrary horribleness.