[lemming]

I was detained for four hours at Newark airport. I was entering on a visa waiver for some meetings, and I was just coming off the back of another visa waiver trip. They were basically trying to prove that I was working illegally in the US. I had to empty the contents of my pockets and the bag I was carrying. The guy took my wallet, took every bank card out of it and asked me where the bank account was held, how much money was currently in the account and how much money went through the account each year. He made me switch my laptop on and spent some time looking through files on it. He literally told me "I think you're lying to me, you better come clean or this will be bad for you". He spent ages typing into my file on his computer (supposedly, maybe he was writing his girlfriend) and told me that if I ever tried to come back on a visa waiver I would be declined (untrue, as it turns out).

Obviously if you're American it's easier because they can't deny you entry. I basically had two options - do everything he said, or go home, miss my meetings, and have to tick the "I've been declined entry to the US" box every single time I go to the US for the rest of my life, which would make every border crossing a multiple hour ordeal.