what happened to me at customs?! HORRIBLE situation

[lovestevie 0]

HI everyone!

THis is my very post in here, I was hoping I could get some kind of help with what happened to me a few months ago

on my way to the US, when going thru customs.....

Im warning you first, it is going to be a VERY long post, coz i do need to describe what happened to me

completely......also IM REALLY hoping to get answers, because it is really bothering me and pretty much ruining my

life right nw!......

Let me explain my situation first, Ive been dating my bf for more than a year and a half now, he is american and Im

french living in France......

Ive been visiting him for the past year 3 times already......one week in feb 2008, 3 months from mid-june to mid-

sept 2008 and one month in feb 2009.....

On my way to the US, last febuary, everything seem to be going fine ( Ive been travellin to the US since 2004 now

to visit friends etc etc, so Ive always been very good at following the rules, answering questions, having

everything ready, documents, adress in the states during my stay etc etc,...)

Ok so here I am at the airport, waiting in line at customs, waiting to get thru customs, get my luggages and get

into my connecting flight.....

After about 45 mins waiting, its finally my turn to be asked all the usual questions...where im going, what is the

home adress there, for hw long im gonna be staying, etc, give the I-94 form, passeport, go thru fingerprints, etc

etc...

So far, everything is fine, the custom agent is checking everything, it seems like its a matter of mintues for me

until i can make it to my next plane...( i was running late after waitin for so long at customs....)...The lady

gives me my passeport and form back, I have the stamp on passeport n form, Im good to go....!

Next step for me, go get my lugagges asap and hurry for my next flight......ok so I got my luggages and Im RIGHT

before passing the check point where one agent is sitting there, just checking passeports and forms one last time

before letting people go out of customs, and go thru the halls etc etc......

STILL today, I dont know why he told me to go w my luggages on the right.....(which is for what i see where custom

agents check luggages and belongings COMPLETELY.....the agents wearing blue gloves

Edited May 20, 2009 by lovestevie

[Misty1979 0]

Troll much?

[lovestevie 0]

ARGGGGGH this is so frustating......obv my post is way tooo long.....idk how i can send the complete story so im tryin to upload it all using notepad....

hope this works....i really hope someone will help me out!

tks

[SirJon 0]

Random bag check, as carried out in most airports in the world????

[lovestevie 0]

please read my story below and help me out thank you all!

i had to use mediafire....such a pain...maybe im just not doin the right thing but either way i just really need to have this post in here!

http://www.mediafire.com/?zjtmyyhnmeh

Audrey

[SirJon 0]

Just to save anyone the bother of clicking on the link...........

HI everyone!

THis is my very post in here, I was hoping I could get some kind of help with what happened to me a few months ago on my way to the US, when going thru customs.....

Im warning you first, it is going to be a VERY long post, coz i do need to describe what happened to me completely......also IM REALLY hoping to get answers, because it is really bothering me and pretty much ruining my life right nw!......

Let me explain my situation first, Ive been dating my bf for more than a year close

Cookie: ukey=l3a3z23and Im french living in France......

Ive been visiting him for the past year 3 times already......one week in feb 2008, 3 months from mid-june to mid-sept 2008 and one month in feb 2009.....

On my way to the US, last febuary, everything seem to be going fine ( Ive been travellin to the US since 2004 now to visit friends etc etc, so Ive always been very good at following the rules, answering questions, having everything ready, documents, adress in the states during my stay etc etc,...)

Ok so here I am at the airport, waiting in line at customs, waiting to get thru customs, get my luggages and get into my connecting flight.....

After about 45 mins waiting, its finally my turn to be asked all the usual questions...where im going, what is the home adress there, for hw long im gonna be staying, etc, give the I-94 form, passeport, go thru fingerprints, etc etc...

So far, everything is fine, the custom agent is checking everything, it seems like its a matter of mintues for me until i can make it to my next plane...( i was running late after waitin for so long at customs....)...The lady gives me my passeport and form back, I have the stamp on passeport n form, Im good to go....!

Next step for me, go get my lugagges asap and hurry for my next flight......ok so I got my luggages and Im RIGHT before passing the check point where one agent is sitting there, just checking passeports and forms one last time before letting people go out of customs, and go thru the halls etc etc......

STILL today, I dont know why he told me to go w my luggages on the right.....(which is for what i see where custom agents check luggages and belongings COMPLETELY.....the agents wearing blue gloves and opening everyhting asking u tons of questions etc etc)...........I still dont knwo why I was chosen, if they choose people randomly or not, or if it is depending on what he feels like doing etc....i dont know why he told me to go at all......i didnt look suspicious, didnt have anything declared on form, didnt say anything, was just polite and handed my docs to him.......i dont know why........

I thought to myself, ok Im REALLY running late, Im gonna miss my plane, Ive never been there before so Im getting frustated, worried abt next flight and afraid to go thru that.....( I didnt have anythin to declare so i was good.... i really thought id take me a few mins....the agent would be nice and see im not suspicious or dont have anything suspicious or illegal in bags etc and understand I have to catch my flight and let me go/........

Oh god, was I wrong to think for a minute everything would go fine there!!!!.............

I start walking there, pushing the cart w my 2 luggages and my carry on, Im about to go w. a guy on the right, first agent who just finished w another passanger......too bad, a lady agent walking by me, tells him that she is taking care of me, he can check someone else.......I though to myself, ok a woman, shes young, Im sure its gonna be fine.....well now I do knwo for a fact that women at customs are the worse!!!.....w other women...they can be B....S!!!

She starts talking to me, very cold and like do this do that, open this open that, looking at me suspicious, checking my passeport, taking forever, she asks me to open my luggages, one by one, they are so damn heavy I have a hard time puttin them on table....she doesnt care she just stares at me, I have to do it all myself whitout any help......she is waiting.......I managed to put them up there, she asks me to open them one after the ohter............... UNFORT for me, i locked my luggages w the kley and in my purse, it was such a MESS in there i couldnt find my key n got so worried n stressed out lookin for it I ended up taking sthg else to open my luggages...............I finally managed to open them both, she looked thru EVERYTHING....read notes, personnal books, letters things i had w me, she asks me questions, open everythin in front of everybody ....( I guess thast normal procedure for them but still I believe this is very humiliating and sometimes way too much!!)

She keeps asking me questions as she looks thru my things, asks me abt where im going what im gonna do there, for hw long etc, since Ive alwasy been honnest to them and thought that was the best thing to say i mention to her, im planning on attending college in the us and was goin there for a month to check out the colleges etc.......for some reason she doenst buy that...(or at least doesnt want to!)

She says I do have A LOT of things in my luggages for just a month there,,......it was also after Xmas so i had also lots of presents etc.... I agree i did have a lot of things, clothes, things i wanted to leave there etc, coz let me explain sthg....... my plan was to bring as much as possible over there, and leave it all there , so next time Id come back to go to college, knowing that I could only bring 2 luggages, I would already have a lot of my things waiting for me in the US.......obv that was A VERY BAD thing to do....that made me soooooooo suspicious to her or at least so she said.....After more than 30 mins, she is still goin thru my things over n over, Im getting so worried coz by then I prob missed my plane or abt to.....Im askin her very nicely if its gonna take a long time.....she keeps repeating me one thing.....cold & mean......"if you miss your flight, you will be given the next one automatically, you will have to check w the airline....."

Im getting worried, she takes her time on purpose, stop and go talk to her co-workers there for a few mins, come back to me, go back n talk to someone else again....... laugh w them, i can see they are talking abt me., probably making fun of me, of my stories im telling,.....Im now freaking out. litterally, I feel like Im in a very bad movie, they talk abt me, i can hear them say its all lies, .....Im now crying I cant help myslef, i cant stop crying and shaking, wondering how can someone be so mean and now wondering if i will ever get out of there without any serious troubles .....i keep crying more n more....can barely answer her questions........she tells me ( coz i have a hard time saying words...crying n couldnt control it.) she tells me that now I dont want to co-operate w her and refuse to answer her questions..........Im getting so pissed and scared, i tell her I AM doing everythin, answerting all her questions but im just so afraid to miss my plan i dont even see what i did or said wrong , i keep sayin the truth and im being accused of lying......she laughs at me...and keep smiling while she looks at me crying!.......one of her male colleague joins her and turns to me, he points his finger at me and put his face right agst mine REAL CLOSE and start being intimidating bad!!, while im still crying, he is like : " look at me in the eye, you should be ASHAMED of yourself, to lie to me like that, actually I AM the one ashamed for you coz you face me and you lie to me, you are such a liar, its embarassing to even face you!!!!".....then the guy walks away from me, making me cry even more.....SOOOOOOO MEAN.....I cant believe it.....the b....h next to him is happy and laughing more at me!

She keeps tellin me its all TOO SUSPICIOUS, she doesnt believe anythin I say to her.....she says me travelling back n forth for the past year is also suspicious ( which i never thoguht it was FORBIDDEN to travel to the states as long as you dont stay more than 90 days!!anyway obv, it is!) I keep asking her if she wants to check I have the name n phone number of the person ive been in touch with for the past 6 months in one college I was really interested in , I told her to check w her she would prove my story is right etc, she doenst take ANY info I want to give her....she asks me abt the SO CALLED COLLEGE, the program, the tuitions, I can tell she wants to see me hesitate or dont have any answer but unfort for her I do, I answer all her questions perfectly,.......so i think shes getting pissed at me for not have anything suspicious or anything to hide....I guess she wanted to go after someone and decided it would be me.......so she keeps trying she keeps having fun being mean to me.......

After more than an hour standing there w my luggages open n after being questionned for all this time, she tells me she is conviced that Im planning on going to the US and never leave their country, she believes its all bs what i told her, everything is lies!....to that point im just too down & ready to literally abt to break dwn i give up and say .....thats not true..,. and just shut up.......thast all......she asks me to get all my stuff and follow her....she made a real mess and took everything out of my luggages so its takin me forever to put everything back n close luggage again.......she stares at me pissed at me for waitin so long still not helping.......when she made the mess!

..she takes me to the office where you have all the "so called suspicious" people waiting there forever (i think it is the detention office or sthg )......more like all the people looking suspicous coz of their skin colors or countries etc.......UNFAIR id say!.....still, among all of them I look kinda akward, i donot look like the typical terrorist or illegal person....im 22 , young woman i dont knwo what the hell im doing there at all..........

she gets in there w my passeport ...makes me wait outside .....it is now passed 8 pm and i def missed my flight...im just standin & sitting there, crying and depressed n afraid where i would possibily spend the nite, that was now my biggest worry!....i was afraid to be left alone in airport...most of people were gone the airport was empty then......i was so worried........

She dissapears somewhere inside in an office n stay there for AT LEAST 35 to 40 mins, making me wait, sometimes i see her walk aournd there, laughin w her colleagues, still nothin from her....while there ive learned afetrward she contacted the number i gave her in the states to see if i as really goin there and if everything i said was true etc......

after 40 mins or so she comes back to me and tells me to follow her somewhere......i dt ask anythin i just follow.........she says she needs to talk to her supervisor to see what will happen to me........im scared but at that point , too tired & depressed i just dt care i just wanna get out of there.......She takes me to that guy, stereotype of stupid american cop......big , fat stupid american cop ( im in no way tryin to be mean its just a stereotype but sadly true in that case)

...anyway, they both now keeps harassin me w more questions....as mean as possible, the guy tries to impress me n scares me bad....he keeps tellin me im a liar, he knows it , he doesnt believe what im saying, he doesnt believe what i say abt me workin in france before, he says its not possible etc ( which it is wrong but hes just being a dumb american who doesnt knwo SH$T about other work system in other countries!)..........he asks me personnal infos abt me , my life, my family, how much money i have in france, in my bank account etc, how much i make, ect etc.....

While he asks me all these, that damn mean B...H keeps talkin and whispering to him and says to me like///: " she wouldnt answer me rignt, she kept saying weird answers etc...I couldnt see everythin in her luggages, she may have sthg hidden there "......in one word she was LYING abt me to him to make it worse for me.........pretendin things.....to make him keep me more n give me more probs!

I was so tired n depressed and worried i kept asnwering, still crying after all this time (once i start i ct help myself, especially in that kind of situation) he also kept abusing his position and tellin me to talk louder n face him and answer w "yes sir", but nicer etc...which i was doing ALL THE WAY!.

...anyway i guess i will stop here saying that he ended up giving me my passeport back but to make sure i knew HE WAS the boss there, he was in control, he abused his position and told me he could easily send me home right now but instead he would just give me a 6 months ban after my one month stay in the US.......After more than 2 hours stuck there goin thru HELL....i didnt try to complain or say Anything at all....... it wasnt fair and I knew it ...i knew sthg wrong happened w them but i couldnt talk or they would only have given me more troubles......

I just took my passeport back n left in tears, finally free to go .....i was so afraid n shaking couldnt believe what just happened to me......all i wanted now was to get home to my bf safe........i went to the ariline, in tears unable to talk n asks when was the next flight for denver....it was passed 9 pm...so that should have been for the next day, the lady there was very nice told me they had a special one scheduled that day at 9. 30 pm sthg.....it was free of course coz missed flight fr me/.....anwyay i handed my luggages. went for the gate n made it safe at almost 11 pm in denver.............

Now i DO believe this whole thing was completely abusive !......I am convinced the agents there, especially that woman did ABUSE their rights and position , i also got banned over NOTHIN they could actually proove!!....they were harassing me, abusive emotionally and almost accused me of lying n commiting the worse acts....when it wasnt proved AT ALL....and wasnt done properly!

I believe this guy banned me so he would show me he's got power there over people, he just couldnt have let me go after all this mess, or else it would have sounded pretty ridiculous for them...so he abused his rights n banned me for 6 months..........just so i would get some kind of punishement!

they had lots of fun playing w me, abusing their power, and went after me for no specific reasons.......

It was the WORSE day of my life ever!.....I wish there was sthg i could do agst that..........I think because of this high security level BS since 9 /11....customs are getting way out of control and gets rights to go thru personnal belongings n personnal questions which is REALLY WRONG......in order to get thru people they are using ABUSIVE ways n barely LEGAL too!........because they have the terrorist security excuse they are doing WRONG things....!!! and basically all you can do is shut up and take it up the $$$ and say thnk you for whats happenin to you!!!

Since that day, im just completely depressed and maybe it sounds stupid but have been traumatised by the way ive been treated!.....i was already depressed living a long distance relationship and seeing the person i love only a few weeks a year is already the HARDEST thing and im sure a lot of people would agree w me on that .........

but now knowing that they ruined it all and there is no way for me to go bck there before at LEAST 6 months, Im getting dwn hill pretty bad!...

I wont talk personal probs in here coz its not about that ....but ive been struggling w difficult probs w myself for years now and they basically pushed me right back into it all ( physically and emotionally )inflicting myself pain physically (pretty much overcame this prob a few months ago after years...but wht happened tome there , brought it all back).... and bringing me back to that depressed state of mind that ive been fighting for years and finally overcome w the person i love...now its all back at me and worse than it has ever been!....stuck in here alone whtout my love....depressed and helpless....apart from each other for more months to come...... I almost wish i could sue them there for abuse, emotional and physical damages they caused on me since it happened.....but i only wish that....there si nothing i can do...someone had her fun n abuse her job i was a vicitim of that abuse.....

Now i do have a few questions .......

1) Ok the guy told me i would be banned fr 6 months BUT He never gave me any kind of paper at all....nothing to notify me of my 6 months ban!Wasnt i suppose to get sthg, to get notification .......!????.......or maybe it is like i think just sthg he said to scare me and he could tell on my face it worked, it was devasted already and crying .....so im thinking that what he said about me being ban was nothing but a lie to scare me?...did he just say that to scare me or what it for real????.....

FYI, when he told me i was banned, he was sittin outside in the hall w me n the other custom agent woman, we were all talkin outside the office, he then handed me back my passeport, so im thinkin how can he ban me just verbally ? is it legal and possible??

I dont know how to check on that and see if there is something in my record at all....im pretty sure its kept secret in their files out there, especially with that homeland security stuff.....

I would appreciate it SO MUCH if someone could help me out on that prob......it ruins everythin, now i have to wait for a year before hopefully go to college and i also cant see the person i love for more than 6 months now.....they made my life hell, and there is nothin i can do abt it!

Please someone explain what happened to me that day and if i really got banned or if it sound fake n was nothin but to scare me coz i didnt get ANY NOTICE like i said......he was the only one who could take the decision and he only took it outside far away from the office and then he walked away and was laughing w that woman......

And also, if i did get ban, will it stay on my record forever, will it be a prob if i want to apply for college there?!

THANK YOU SO MUCH

IM SORRY for that way too long and boring post, i just had to take it all out, after wondering abt this fr the past 3 months,,, i really need answer to that prob!

Its bothering me way too much!

Thank you and have a great day!

Audrey

Why the OP couldn't do this is beyond me.

[lovestevie 0]

Just to save anyone the bother of clicking on the link...........

Why the OP couldn't do this is beyond me.

[/quo

OMG THANK YOU SOOO VERY much for doing that !

TY SirJon!!!!

[Enlighten one :) 5]

Did you sign anything?

[lovestevie 0]

Did you sign anything?

no nothing at all....the guy was just sitting there he handed me my passeport back n while he was doing so he told me i would be banned for 6 months thast all he said.....i just wanted to get out of there so took my paseeport and left....

nothing signed or given to me.... no paper nothing...just his own words.....

[Bobby+Umit 161]

So you were picked for a more intense customs search - no big deal.

There is no such thing as a "verbal" ban.

They would of written something in your passport.

Are you sure they didn't do that?

[Enlighten one :) 5]

Wow sorry to hear your story.

I believe, but I am no expert, that they usually have you sign something when you are banned. They also put a stamp in your passport stating the ban.

[SirJon 0]

You can always make a complaint.

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/customer..._complaints.xml

[lovestevie 0]

So you were picked for a more intense customs search - no big deal.

There is no such thing as a "verbal" ban.

They would of written something in your passport.

Are you sure they didn't do that?

nope im positive....ive checked at my passeport....nothing on it unusual....all i see in there is the regular stamp they put in there when u go to the states w the date etc....but that is ALL i see.....

do you know if there is an official way to be notificed when u are banned ?

Is there sthg special that you should receive in person or by mail?

because basically right now, i dont know if what happened really happened or if its not real at all?

is there a way for me to know?

[Donna A 4]

dear audrey, i have no answers to your questions but i can say, dont let them a$$holes take one day of your happeness away. life is to short to waste a day of it being depressed over what someone else did. u didnt do anything wrong and be proud of yourself for that.

why people do this is something i cant understand. treating anyone like that is wrong.

just move forward and forget about it. i know easier said then done but by doing this means their attempts to scare u or scar u failed. thats the best way to get revenge on them.

good luck.

[baron555 934]

just took my passeport back n left , finally free to go

You are free to go. Sorry you had a run-around with these jerks. You were singled out for a complete bag check, it happens to everyone now and then, and you were just harrassed by some jerks in Customs. What they told you was just to get you upset. You are not banned. Don't worry and don't hold a grudge against the system; just these individuals.

Welcome to the US; most of us are nice people.