March 28, 2005
Homeland Insecurity
As I am coming back on the bus to Boston tonight, the border patrol did a check for illegal immigrants on our bus while we were stopped at White River Junction. Their search consists of one question.
"Are you a US citizen?".
If you answer yes, they leave you alone and move on to the next person. If you answer no, they grill you for your documentation.
One young guy on the bus who lives in NYC was sitting behind me. He opted to answer "No". They ask him where he is from, to which he answers Jamaica (living in NYC) and had driven up to Vermont by car to ski for the weekend and was taking the bus home.
He did not have his paperwork with him and took him off the bus to check his documentation. Turns out that his visa expired in December of 2004 and he was technically an illegal. He was forced to stay in WRJ as our bus pulled away.
I really feel bad for the guy and the annoyance of being delayed by this situation. That said, I am baffled as to how the border patrol catches anyone this way. An illegal merely has to be able to say "Yes" in order to slip past this tightly woven dragnet.
That's right kids, the message used to be "Just say no", now that's changed to "Just say yes".
Homeland Security my a**.