New Form Of Screening At Us Immigration

[A_Traveller]

Well Dude

Dated Tue, Aug. 29, 2006

Link :- http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/15384739.htm

Note this paragraph as well:-

His biography on Wharton's Web site states that Ward was currently involved in study projects in the Philippines. He previously had a visiting appointment at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand.

[britmaveric]

Stamped everytime time i enter Yankland. They know where you are going/coming from - remember passanger data is screened prior to arriving/going.

[sbk]

The article is from the Philadelphia Inquirer dated 29 Aug 2006. The man had a previous conviction for attempting to solicit sex with an underage kid. That should be red flag enough for anyone, I should think.

Posted on Tue, Aug. 29, 2006

Wharton professor accused of child porn

Lawrence Scott Ward was arrested at D.C.'s Dulles Airport. Authorities say he imported sex videos of children.

By Robert Moran

Inquirer Staff Writer

Lawrence Scott Ward, a Wharton School professor emeritus, was arrested Sunday morning at Washington's Dulles International Airport after he allegedly entered the country with videos of him engaged in sex acts with underage boys.

Ward, 63, who has a 1999 Montgomery County conviction for attempting to solicit sex from an undercover agent posing as a 15-year-old boy, was arriving on a United Airlines flight from Brazil when he was flagged in a sex-predator crackdown for having taken "excessive" trips to Thailand, a haven for sex tourism, authorities said.

In Ward's luggage, customs agents discovered three mini-DVDs showing the renowned marketing professor performing sex acts with boys who appeared to be between 14 and 16 years old, according to an affidavit filed in federal court.

Did you ever stop to think that his previous sex conviction combined with the trips to Thailand might have something to do with the search?

[jdinasia]

Stamped everytime time i enter Yankland. They know where you are going/coming from - remember passanger data is screened prior to arriving/going.

Brit ... US Nationals may or may not get stamped back in

[Thaiquila]

Thaiquila, you are one paranoid Mfer, dude

I understand how you would think that. But history has shown that it is often the "paranoid" who are just a little more sensitive to the TRUTH.

[britmaveric]

Thaiquila, you are one paranoid Mfer, dude

I understand how you would think that. But history has shown that it is often the "paranoid" who are just a little more sensitive to the TRUTH.

Or end up in Bedlam!!!

[Axel]

Brit ... US Nationals may or may not get stamped back in

In the whole thread I wonder about this. Own nationals are usually not stamped as there is no need to check how long they stay.

[lannarebirth]

Things are changing, thats for sure. I feel the US is turning into a police state. Anything for security though. Its worth it! (Uh huh)

Maybe you just don't get around much. I've been travelling to Europe for the past 25 years before coming here, and military personnel carrying automatic weapons could be seen throughout most major airports. One thing about the Europeans though, they are more discrete. Nothing Uncle Sam does is ever subtle.

Edited September 1, 2006 by lannarebirth

[PeaceBlondie]

Brit ... US Nationals may or may not get stamped back in

In the whole thread I wonder about this. Own nationals are usually not stamped as there is no need to check how long they stay.

Axel, that's what I thought. I'm pretty sure I usually didn't get checked back into my home country (Texas, that is ), and I remember me having to ask for it to be stamped once, upon returning to the USA, for some reason.

Having said that, the USA may think it needs more reasons to start stamping its own citizens in now.

[Rooo]

Australia, no stamp in or out.

[SamuiJens]

Hey, whats the problem guys.

If you have nothing to hide

then you wouldn't be paranoid.

If not, then you deserve worse than you will get

EXCEPT the prisoners in Prisons ha ha ha!

[sriracha john]

American re-entering America log:

2005: not stamped

2004: stamped

2003: stamped

2002: not stamped

2001: stamped

reminds me of those dumb math sequence test questions in grade school...

"Based on the above information, will I be stamped or not stamped in 2006?"

[jdinasia]

guess I'll be asking for a stamp

[Thaiquila]

Hey, whats the problem guys.

If you have nothing to hide

then you wouldn't be paranoid.

If not, then you deserve worse than you will get

EXCEPT the prisoners in Prisons ha ha ha!

That would be the attitude of Americans who have lined up like lemmings to surrender constitutional civil liberties and give illegal authority to the executive branch during in the bush years in the name of security. The terrorists won. We surrendered.

Who cares if you have US stamp in or not. Doesn't make any difference.

Edited September 1, 2006 by Thaiquila

[The Dude]

The only time The Dude was ever paranoid about his American government was btw 1993 and 2001. In other words, the Clinton years. The Dude knew that that elitist administration was out to get regular American dudes like The Dude. The Dude was paranoid then and he was not digging the shady goings on at the time

[sriracha john]

I thought the teenagers working as TSA employees were the winners. Their pay sure is better than the McDonald's burger-flipper jobs that they would have normally been doing.

They epitomize how crazy things have become.

Edited September 1, 2006 by sriracha john

[Thaiquila]

The only time The Dude was ever paranoid about his American government was btw 1993 and 2001. In other words, the Clinton years. The Dude knew that that elitist administration was out to get regular American dudes like The Dude. The Dude was paranoid then and he was not digging the shady goings on at the time

I think I read once that referring to yourself in the third person is a mental disorder.

Well, Thailand and the USA both have at least one thing in common. Both are divided countries. I think yesterday bush referred to critics of of the Iraq war as fascists and traitors. Must be election season!

http://www.starbulletin.com/lite/bigidea.htm

[Boon Mee]

... yesterday bush referred to critics of of the Iraq war as fascists and traitors. Must be election season!

In some circles, that's considered a true statement.

[Thaiquila]

... yesterday bush referred to critics of of the Iraq war as fascists and traitors. Must be election season!

In some circles, that's considered a true statement.

Well facts are facts. Bush's foreign policy has failed. Iraq is in civil war. The Bush war has lasted as long as World War 2 and the progress has been backwards. And now in defeat all he can do is demonize his critics as well as blame them for his failures. Takes alot of gall!

Some circles you travel in ...

http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/gall

Edited September 2, 2006 by Thaiquila

[Boon Mee]

... yesterday bush referred to critics of of the Iraq war as fascists and traitors. Must be election season!

In some circles, that's considered a true statement.

Well facts are facts. Bush's foreign policy has failed. Iraq is in civil war. The Bush war has lasted as long as World War 2 and the progress has been backwards. And now in defeat all he can do is demonize his crtitics as well as blame them for his failures. Takes alot of gall!

Some circles you travel in ...

http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/gall

I 'spose one would draw the same conclusions if they were to believe everything they read or watched in the lamestream media. Put down the SF Cron and NY Times TQ & listen to some of the GI's who have actual 'boots on the ground'...

[Thaiquila]

So now grunts make US foreign policy?

Uh huh, didn't the Pentagon today start openly using the C word.

CIVIL WAR.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6090100610.html

[autonomous_unit]

American re-entering America log:

reminds me of those dumb math sequence test questions in grade school...

"Based on the above information, will I be stamped or not stamped in 2006?"

Do you only do it once or twice a year?

I think I have been stamped at least once every year I have re-entered the US. But, my best tally of all the stamps just now (one pass w/ a pencil and scratch paper) is that out of about 20 re-entries to the US, I have 10 entry stamps. This is in the range 2001-present in this passport. However, there are a couple years I did not cross the border at all, so I cannot say I was stamped every year.

I wonder if it depends what airports you went through. I think all of my stamps are from LAX and ORD.

[sriracha john]

once a year... through LAX.

[zenseless]

3000 iraqi civilians dead every month and people actually believe the administration line: "Noooooo, its NOT civil war."

Maybe its just over exubarant football fans.

[zenseless]

I remember an article a few years back about a computer system to be sold to thailand by the US gov. They promoted it by saying it would allow thai immigration to keep track of everyone entering and exiting the kingdom. Don't know why anyone would think the US does not keep track of your travels. The airlines know everywhere you travelled on their airlines. And immigration is hooked into all airline systems.

[astral]

Australia, no stamp in or out.

UK likewise, but they do swipe the passport.

No questions about where you have come from.

[Ulysses G.]

In the recent past, the airlines destroyed the information about who had left the country 24 hours after a flight and they refused to share the information with the US Government who had no record of citizens leaving the country.

I'm not sure about after 9/11 though.

[lomatopo]

Current U.S. law requires airlines to transmit the passenger lists of flights bound for the United States to the Department of Homeland Security within 15 minutes of takeoff. Sometime over the next year it will be a requirement to transmit this list before the plane takes off.

I’m not sure what pops up on the screen when a U.S. Customs & Border Protection Agent swipes a machine-readable passport?

All passengers entering the U.S. need to document which countries they have visited/transited on their current trip via the Customs Declaration Form (Item no. 8).

I usually return to the U.S. 5 ~ 7 times each year, traveling via Tokyo/Narita or Frankfurt, arriving HNL/SFO/ORD/BOS. I list my “Country of Residence” as Thailand. U.S. Customs & Border Protection agents appear to know, based on their spoken comments, I am arriving from Thailand before they look at my Customs Declaration Form or examine the stamps in my passport.

In ~ 30 arrivals, from Thailand, I have been subject to a secondary search once, at HNL. It was 05:45, I was the first person through Immigration. The agent asked me a lot of questions, maybe 25 or so, and entered data into a terminal as I answered. She performed a very cursory examination of my briefcase and roll-a-board. She did not examine my camera, PC or DVD’s. (Arriving IAD from AMS I have been subject to a secondary search twice in three arrivals.)

Based on some posts in other travel forums there does seem to be a profile (male, over 45, having visited S.E. Asia, perhaps other locales), that is probably one among hundreds, calling for possible secondary searches with a focus on child pornography, aka ‘Immoral Articles’, U.S. Code 19, sec. 1305.

[fxm88]

Anyone game to do a FOIA? From http://help.customs.gov/cgi-bin/customs.cf...php?p_faqid=776

"How can I obtain a record of dates of all my entries and departures from the US?"

That information can be very time consuming to pull together. If you entered and exited by car, we will not have that information at all. If you wish to file a FOIA request for entry/exit information by air, please write:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, OFO/FOIA/CSU Room 5.5C 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20229 with the request.

We will need your full name, date of birth, a clear copy of your passport photo page and your social security number, as well as a return address and telephone number. Please be aware there may be a charge for researching this information. If there is, you will be notified before we begin the research.

[Scott]

I will be going to the US in October--I can hardly wait. I've had some sort of search almost everytime. They have been relatively courteous and efficiently quick. It's still disconcerting.