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Humiliation greets visitor at airport
The Mercury News ^ | August 13, 2002 | Truong Phuoc Khánh

Posted on 08/13/2002 3:18:01 PM PDT by snopercod

Edited on 04/13/2004 3:29:42 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

Every summer for the past 25 years, New Zealand native Maggie Anderson and her American husband have visited their family in Portola Valley.

But never before had her visit begun in handcuffs and humiliation.

Upon landing at Los Angeles International Airport at 11 a.m on July 24, Anderson -- a former flight attendant who had flown in and out of U.S. airports hundreds of times -- was questioned and arrested by federal immigration agents.


(Excerpt) Read more at bayarea.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: homelandsecurity; newzealand; policestate; transsecurity
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To: Chu Gary
Bush can appoint a limited number of positions. Klintoon, and the beast, had 8 years to pack many organizations with diehard Commie Demoncrats - Bush can't fire those people.

There are many things that can be blamed on Clinton. This airport security fiasco is not one of them.

ML/NJ

161 posted on 08/14/2002 4:05:57 AM PDT by ml/nj
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To: DainBramage
Go to Israel and see what you go through.

Do you have any idea? Have you gone to Israel recently, or at all

Do you have any idea about anything you've commented about on this thread? About the only thing you seem to have gotten right was your comment on your ID pages which says, "I'm not a really educated man."

The Israelis don't waste their time on women from New Zeeland. They don't even waste much time on middle-aged American males who honestly tell them they didn't pack all their own bags. And no, they didn't make me open them either. (This was last summer about midway between the Dophinarium bombing and the Sbarro bombing.)

The Isrealis know what they are doing. We haven't a clue.

ML/NJ

162 posted on 08/14/2002 4:28:07 AM PDT by ml/nj
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To: Vidalia
HELOOOO? Quit Flying!

Amen. If people quit flying, the airlines would put the heat on the feds to quit this stuff.

A nation of sheep.

163 posted on 08/14/2002 4:30:40 AM PDT by AppyPappy
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Comment #164 Removed by Moderator

To: snopercod
Bet she'll never overstay her visa again. NOw, if the folks at the airports would nail everyone who has overstayed a visa, that would be great. Too bad they weren't doing it before, when a German citizen overstayed his visa by 40 + days and then later reentered the country and rammed a plane into the WTC.
165 posted on 08/14/2002 4:41:16 AM PDT by piasa
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To: ml/nj
Is that the best you can do? A personal assault on me because I beleive this is a result of our system at least trying to get tighter? What do you know about arriving at an airport and having your name pop up as having done something illegal in the past? You really think they would wave you through in Israel? BS

I'm sure your a favorite caller to alot of radio shows. Hell man record it and listen to it over and over and really begin to think your the only opinion that matters, that should feel good.

BTW, I grew up overseas and traveled to many points in the world from the eighth grade on, most times alone. I've been through customs plenty, searched, researched and called into alot of little rooms off to the side to be questioned, though never strip searched. I was detained entering Saigon for over an hour because they thought I was an AWOL GI trying to get out, even though I was only in the 10th grade. They put me in the back of a Deuce and a half and took me to a security shack to talk with an American, that let me go fairly quickly.

Once in Manila while Marcos was around I was kept overnight because a cab I was in hit a kid while driving through unlit slums. Finally school officials found out and came and got me. Go call some radio show and spew your nonsense somewhere else. Mistakes will be made at airports againgI'm sure but at least its getting better.

166 posted on 08/14/2002 4:57:40 AM PDT by DainBramage
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To: DainBramage
I'm sure your a favorite caller to alot of radio shows. Hell man record it and listen to it over and over and really begin to think your the only opinion that matters, that should feel good.

So I guess the bottom line is that you haven't been to Israel?

But you wrote about their security as if you had. Someone (me) who has been there recently sets the record straight, and you call it a "personal assualt."

In fact, the Israeli setup, with intelligent screeners who do profile, and who do exercise judgment, is what some of us want to see here, but I guess the unwashed here in the USA just won't have it.

We're doomed.

ML/NJ

167 posted on 08/14/2002 5:06:10 AM PDT by ml/nj
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To: DainBramage
Thank you for staying on message and consistently rebutting the folly on this thread.

The woman broke the law. She was detained as a person who violated her visa. As much as the INS does wrong other places (and they need to improve in a lot of areas), they did right here. We cannot rely on someone's citizenship or phenotype to determine whether or not we will scrutinize them breaking our laws.
168 posted on 08/14/2002 5:21:22 AM PDT by Under the Radar
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To: DainBramage
Exactly how many airliners have been hijacked in the US since these security measures have been put in place?
169 posted on 08/14/2002 5:47:16 AM PDT by RabidBartender
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To: snopercod
I sure wish I was forty.
But my record might still stand with five searches for three short legs on a single trip.
I can also assure your friend that the pot belly is not a factor in the "random" selection.
170 posted on 08/14/2002 6:49:25 AM PDT by norton
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To: snopercod
``Post 9-11, we are being exceedingly careful about dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's,'' Kice said, ``because we recognize the potential tragedy if we make mistakes.''

Yep, they'll spend hundreds of millions of our taxpayer dollars "dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's", but they won't do something very efficient, proven and cost effective: profiling.

So they're very concerned about making mistakes. I'd say they already have made a very huge mistake, and it is a mistake of omission, not commission.

171 posted on 08/14/2002 6:58:30 AM PDT by chimera
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To: snopercod
"This is AMERICA, dammit! "

It used to be but not anymore. I don't understand what all the fuss is about. Her experience seems like a normal trip on any airline right now. (\sarcasm)It is nice to see an airline employee (former or not) get the same treatment as the passengers.

Fly only as a last resort. 27+ years of flying world wide has taught me the only good airline employee or security agent is an unemployed one.

172 posted on 08/14/2002 7:11:19 AM PDT by Wurlitzer
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To: July 4th
"Great. What a novel solution for people who need to get places in short periods of time."

If you need to get somewhere in a short period of time, depending upon the distance, by air is NOT the way to go. If you deal with a NON-Hub airport like I do, most cities are at least 1 connection away. Combine the wait for "security" with the connection, assuming you make it, then the next leg, then the rental car, then the drive to your finial destination and in many cases you would be better off to drive. I know I have done it and continue to do it.

On a recent trip from Buffalo to Midland MI, to Chicago, to St. Cloud, to Detroit then back to Buffalo, in one week, I made the trip in less time than had I flown. When I was done in one location, I immediately was on the road to the next location and did not have to wait in the airport for some sub-human to declare me innocent enough to fly then wait for the airline schedule to the next city.

Note to the airlines and the FU#$%$#g feds:You want me to fly again (up to 30 times a year) then treat me like I am innocent until proven guilty. Treat me like a customer not an interruption in your day. Tell me the truth about delays. Search the rag heads and not the 80 year olds and 2 year olds. It is not profiling you stupid idiots it is looking for identifiable suspects. Until then, you can keep your $900 fares from Buffalo to Chicago and insert them where security will not find them.

173 posted on 08/14/2002 7:37:15 AM PDT by Wurlitzer
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To: piasa
Bet she'll never overstay her visa again. NOw, if the folks at the airports would nail everyone who has overstayed a visa, that would be great.

Going after visa violations is fine with me, but if they're gonna get this tough with folks that bothered to apply for entry, in obvious good faith, wouldn't it be an even better idea to go after those who don't even have a visa to violate?

174 posted on 08/14/2002 7:45:55 AM PDT by skeeter
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To: Vidalia
I don't want nationalization of the airlines but I see this as a national security emergency and nightmare and we have got to get control. And throwing my tax dollars at these clowns to flush down the toilet isn't going to get the job done. So either nationalize them or let them fail. We can't support the volume of air traffic that flies around this country these days if we have to do it in a secure manner. We might be able to restrict it severely, get the security in place, and then build it back up, but we're never going to impose it on the model we have now. Something I always forget when I'm bashing the airport security people. Their job is freaking impossible. No win situation. This is not the time to be arguing the system of government we would like to see. The red dot is on our collective chests and our spoiled, fat, little lifestyle is going to suffer so get used to it. You might get used to those numbered cards as far as that goes, though I think ultimately when we get the traitors and foreign agents in irons we will be able to make THEM carry the cards.
175 posted on 08/14/2002 12:17:51 PM PDT by johnb838
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To: Under the Radar
Thank you for staying on message

You sound like a voice in the wilderness. So far I'm idiotic, stupid, uneducated, a liar, and my favorite personal attack of the day ...."you sir are a cad, good day".

176 posted on 08/14/2002 12:31:21 PM PDT by DainBramage
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To: chimera
"...they'll spend hundreds of millions of our taxpayer dollars "dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's", but they won't do something very efficient, proven and cost effective..."

Likewise, all the trillion$ spent on "defense" and intelligence-gathering since WWII didn't stop 19 Third-World radicals armed with boxcutters and the will to succeed.

177 posted on 08/14/2002 3:15:32 PM PDT by Middle Man
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To: shaggy eel
Should we feel like we're doing the right thing if this is the sort of comment we get from people like you, let alone iron curtain treatment from government approved "Dr Jellyfingers" at LAX is resultant?

She was a victim sacrificed on the alter of Political Correctness.

For every few arabs we half-heartedly search, at least one white middle-aged obvious non-offender has to get buggered or else it's 'not fair to minorities.'

Besides, it's against a Moose-limbs religion to take off their headress, but it's not against any kiwi religion to take off a sports bra.

You can hardly imagine my joy over our 'homeland security' when I watch some sweaty nog in a dirty nightshirt and tablecloth on their head shuffle through security being patted down by another sweaty nog in a uniform while I show my military ID and get gate-raped to the point of taking off my cowboy boots, belt and untucking my shirt....

178 posted on 08/14/2002 3:29:04 PM PDT by Cogadh na Sith
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To: ml/nj; DainBramage
The Israelis don't waste their time on women from New Zeeland. They don't even waste much time on middle-aged American males who honestly tell them they didn't pack all their own bags.

DB, I think this is what people are miffed about.

It's the attitude that we're going to secure the airports from non-Middle Eastern appearing men and women. The attitude that strip searching a grandmother from Boise is going to guarantee that safety, all the while they are scared of the PC police if they focus on those they should-----and yes, that is people of Middle East descent.

New Zealanders, an elderly man or woman, they didn't ram a plane into the WTC on 9-11.

So these folks harrass politically correct targets (ie white westerners), they don't offend the liberal press, and at the same time it appears they are doing their job.

...and it's nonsense. They should be profiling. These same people threaten a new jihad every day, and for some reason, we can't bring ourselves to call a spade a spade, and say that Arab looking fellow should be scrutinized more carefully at the airport.

179 posted on 08/14/2002 3:32:47 PM PDT by He Rides A White Horse
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To: chookter
Chooker, I was formulating my post as you posted yours; I didn't see it until I posted. You are dead on.
180 posted on 08/14/2002 3:33:52 PM PDT by He Rides A White Horse
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