Odd experience at O’Hare

[P055UM 281]

I just had a weird experience at O’Hare and wondering if anybody could shed any light.

 

I just returned with my wife from a trip abroad after getting my GC. After waiting forever in the line for immigration, we got to the CBP officer’s desk.

 

I handed over passport and GC, and wife her US passport. Agent tapped away, took our photos and fingerprints and then asked me to follow him. 
 

I thought this was normal as I just got conditional approval for my global entry and I guessed we was taking me elsewhere for the interview.

 

He then ushered us into a large waiting room and told us to wait for my name to be called. He went into another room, keeping my GC and passport with him. 
 

35 minutes later, my name was called, they handed back my passport and wished me a nice day. 
 

So no global entry but I guess I was in secondary for some reason? Why would that happen? And why would I be put into it and let out of it without being asked literally any questions?

 

I am really confused and a bit concerned. Anybody have any insight? 

[Timona 4,207]

Maybe name confusion with someone they have flagged in their system 

[Ontarkie 14,221]

5 minutes ago, Timona said:

Maybe name confusion with someone they have flagged in their system 

This is my guess too. 

[P055UM 281]

11 minutes ago, Ontarkie said:

This is my guess too

17 minutes ago, Timona said:

Maybe name confusion with someone they have flagged in their system 

Dear lord. Glad I missed my bus for that 😑 is this likely to happen every time?!

[Ontarkie 14,221]

7 minutes ago, AW1704 said:

Dear lord. Glad I missed my bus for that 😑 is this likely to happen every time?!

I would think not. I bet it was someone who just read your name or something wrong and once another set of eyes looked into it you were let go.

If there was more closer match they for sure would have asked you questions. But again it's just a guess.

Edited June 30, 2022 by Ontarkie

[Ontarkie 14,221]

Or maybe this guy just didn't know what to do with a GC holder and needed a supervisor to walk him through.

[P055UM 281]

4 minutes ago, Ontarkie said:

Or maybe this guy just didn't know what to do with a GC holder and needed a supervisor to walk him through.

My only other thought is that he knew he needed to take us somewhere to enroll me in global entry and just took us to the wrong place. By the time they realised it was a mistake, they didn’t want to admit to it. Good service for $100. 
 

Anyway, thanks for the input. Travelling again in six months so we’ll see if we have more luck next time! 

[Ontarkie 14,221]

39 minutes ago, AW1704 said:

My only other thought is that he knew he needed to take us somewhere to enroll me in global entry and just took us to the wrong place. By the time they realised it was a mistake, they didn’t want to admit to it. Good service for $100. 
 

Anyway, thanks for the input. Travelling again in six months so we’ll see if we have more luck next time! 

That always could be it too. 

[JeanneAdil 6,504]

my thought is they were checking your checked in luggage while u waited 

watching youtrube videos some are trying the global entry thinking it will bypass customs 

 

so,  did the contents of luggage show any signs of being disturbed 

it would have taken about that long for a suitcase(s)  to come off the plane and customs to xray the contents and return it to turnstyle for u to pick up

[P055UM 281]

Just now, JeanneAdil said:

my thought is they were checking your checked in luggage while u waited 

watching youtrube videos some are trying the global entry thinking it will bypass customs 

 

so,  did the contents of luggage show any signs of being disturbed 

it would have taken about that long for a suitcase(s)  to come off the plane and customs to xray the contents and return it to turnstyle for u to pick up

Good thought but I travel light. No checked luggage  

[mytruelove18 608]

5 hours ago, AW1704 said:

I just had a weird experience at O’Hare and wondering if anybody could shed any light.

 

I just returned with my wife from a trip abroad after getting my GC. After waiting forever in the line for immigration, we got to the CBP officer’s desk.

 

I handed over passport and GC, and wife her US passport. Agent tapped away, took our photos and fingerprints and then asked me to follow him. 
 

I thought this was normal as I just got conditional approval for my global entry and I guessed we was taking me elsewhere for the interview.

 

He then ushered us into a large waiting room and told us to wait for my name to be called. He went into another room, keeping my GC and passport with him. 
 

35 minutes later, my name was called, they handed back my passport and wished me a nice day. 
 

So no global entry but I guess I was in secondary for some reason? Why would that happen? And why would I be put into it and let out of it without being asked literally any questions?

 

I am really confused and a bit concerned. Anybody have any insight? 

I have seen many people taking to a room , i am a gc holder and all the time i come back to usa they send me to a room, they i see others people, they dont ask anything, and 20 or 30 minutes later they give me my passport back , i dont know why they do that,

at Newark airport, new Jersey

[Coco8 1,042]

I had this same issue the first time I came back after getting my green card (like you). Instead of being in a room, I was in like a waiting room and I could see one guy was checking my data in their computer. I think they pulled up where I worked and lived, etc, because they actually asked me to corroborate that. Their system is slow and it took a long time. I was the only one there and it took like 20 minutes. There were other two guys who worked there just watching TV and making jokes.

Edited June 30, 2022 by Coco8

[Mike E 11,739]

What countries did you visit on your trip?

[P055UM 281]

28 minutes ago, Mike E said:

What countries did you visit on your trip?

United Kingdom. Travelling on UK passport, the only passport I have. 

38 minutes ago, Coco8 said:

I had this same issue the first time I came back after getting my green card (like you). Instead of being in a room, I was in like a waiting room and I could see one guy was checking my data in their computer. I think they pulled up where I worked and lived, etc, because they actually asked me to corroborate that. Their system is slow and it took a long time. I was the only one there and it took like 20 minutes. There were other two guys who worked there just watching TV and making jokes.

Interesting! For me there were zero questions. Hopefully it was just a one off! 

[Coco8 1,042]

27 minutes ago, AW1704 said:

United Kingdom. Travelling on UK passport, the only passport I have. 

Interesting! For me there were zero questions. Hopefully it was just a one off! 

I think they randomly send people and they just check your case against a dataset. One time I had been to Colombia for work and I got send to a different line with more people, and they checked our prints against CODIS. I only find out because they told me the system was down and it was going to take a bit more. They also put our luggage in some huge xray machines, I'm guessing looking for drugs and they also had dogs.

 

After that, I just realized they do a lot of random checks for security reasons, so I don't take it personally. Of course I get nervous, but I also think it's part of their work and I don't even have a traffic ticket.