I used my passport to return to the USA

Brookswood

Brookswood

Senior Member
Upon completing a trip overseas, I returned to the USA. I stood in line for at least 30 minutes to show the border agent my passport, declare any items I brought into the country, and then was allowed to enter.

I am a natural born US Citizen, a lifelong taxpayer, a voter, and have never lived in any other country. Still I have to show a passport to get back into my own country.

Recently my barber told me about a new customer. A Russian man and his family. They crossed the Southern border to enter the USA. They did not show anybody any papers. No id. No proof of shots. No papers from another country. They just walked over the border.

So, let me get this straight.... A citizen needs a passport, has to go through border entry procedures and customs, before he or she can enter the country after being away for a few weeks. His luggage might even be searched. But, a foreigner from another country can walk over the Southern border and showing nothing to anybody.

My question is this: Why do we bother with passports for citizens? Is it only because other countries will not allow people into their country without proper documentation?
 

Warrigal said:
A Russian man and his family was waved through the border by customs? Is that a verified fact?
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No. He walked over the Southern Border after traveling to Mexico according to my barber. From what I was told, I don't think anybody stopped him or asked for any documentation.
 

A passport has been required for years to get back into the US after visiting another country. Are we also going to complain that those who don't have TSA Pre-Check have to take off their shoes in the security line because terrorists commandeered planes to attack our country? It's the price we pay for safety, and it's a part of traveling.
 
Nathan said:
A passport is the "Gold Standard" of ID, so a Social Security agent told me. Sure you gotta show your ID to get into the US, how else would they know who you are?
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^^ This!
Passport requirement for foreign travel was introduced in the USA in 2007 and in Canada in 2009. Required to get in and out of the country.

Other forms of I.D. such as Drivers License etc. are too easy to fake.

Passport also tells border agents where you've been and how frequently. It can alert Customs/Immigration Agents to suspicious travel habits in which case they can pull you into secondary for a more intense examination.
 
Brookswood said:
Upon completing a trip overseas, I returned to the USA. I stood in line for at least 30 minutes to show the border agent my passport, declare any items I brought into the country, and then was allowed to enter.

I am a natural born US Citizen, a lifelong taxpayer, a voter, and have never lived in any other country. Still I have to show a passport to get back into my own country.

Recently my barber told me about a new customer. A Russian man and his family. They crossed the Southern border to enter the USA. They did not show anybody any papers. No id. No proof of shots. No papers from another country. They just walked over the border.

So, let me get this straight.... A citizen needs a passport, has to go through border entry procedures and customs, before he or she can enter the country after being away for a few weeks. His luggage might even be searched. But, a foreigner from another country can walk over the Southern border and showing nothing to anybody.

My question is this: Why do we bother with passports for citizens? Is it only because other countries will not allow people into their country without proper documentation?
Click to expand...

I really don't get the point of this post.

So, someone walked into a store and stole some food. So let's get this straight, a guy from goodness knows where got food for free, and I - a citizen - have to pay for it? Why bother paying?

See? I mean, you WANT people to have ID's/passports, and to show them, right? So.... yeah, sorry, this is a little confusing.

Also, you don't need any shots to get into the US. And you got this story from your barber?
 
MrPants said:
^^ This!
Passport requirement for foreign travel was introduced in the USA in 2007 and in Canada in 2009. Required to get in and out of the country.

Other forms of I.D. such as Drivers License etc. are too easy to fake.

Passport also tells border agents where you've been and how frequently. It can alert Customs/Immigration Agents to suspicious travel habits in which case they can pull you into secondary for a more intense examination.
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A slight correction. Canada does not require US citizens to present their passport to GET INTO CANADA. We know that YOUR Government DOES require that US citizens present their passports, to re-enter YOUR country. Because of the US policy ( first introduced by Bush in 2007 ) Canada makes sure that visiting Americans do have their passport, so they can re-enter the USA later. Canadians who travel to the USA, even for a couple of hours, to go cross border shopping, MUST produce their Canadian passport at the US border check point.

By international agreement, passports from all nations have certain physical factors in common, such as having 24 pages, a standard information page, a standard photograph size and no glasses and no smiles, in the photo. Individual nations are free to print backgrounds on each stamp page. The Canadian passport has scenes of our country, national historic sites, and floral and animal designs on all the pages. Your passport does not belong to you. It is the property of the Government that issued it to you. Don't get it wet, as that may affect the hidden security devices in it. Diplomatic passports usually have red covers, front and back. JimB.
 
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Brookswood said:
Upon completing a trip overseas, I returned to the USA. I stood in line for at least 30 minutes to show the border agent my passport, declare any items I brought into the country, and then was allowed to enter.

I am a natural born US Citizen, a lifelong taxpayer, a voter, and have never lived in any other country. Still I have to show a passport to get back into my own country.

Recently my barber told me about a new customer. A Russian man and his family. They crossed the Southern border to enter the USA. They did not show anybody any papers. No id. No proof of shots. No papers from another country. They just walked over the border.

So, let me get this straight.... A citizen needs a passport, has to go through border entry procedures and customs, before he or she can enter the country after being away for a few weeks. His luggage might even be searched. But, a foreigner from another country can walk over the Southern border and showing nothing to anybody.

My question is this: Why do we bother with passports for citizens? Is it only because other countries will not allow people into their country without proper documentation?
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My question is this: Why do we bother with passports for citizens? Is it only because other countries will not allow people into their country without proper documentation?
That is probably precisely why.
 
MarciKS said:
My question is this: Why do we bother with passports for citizens? Is it only because other countries will not allow people into their country without proper documentation?
That is probably precisely why.
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The logical answer would be you check a passport to make sure the person is a US citizen and legally allowed into the country. But yeah, checking a passport means zilch if they can just walk across a boarder.

So my son is married to a girl who grew up in Germany and he wants to move there for the experience. Guess what? Germany won't grant him residency until he can pass a language test a prove he has skills that make him employable. Can you imagine if the U.S. did that?
 
helenbacque said:
I don’t think this post is as much about passports as it is a statement about U. S. porous borders.
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C50 said:
The logical answer would be you check a passport to make sure the person is a US citizen and legally allowed into the country. But yeah, checking a passport means zilch if they can just walk across a boarder.

So my son is married to a girl who grew up in Germany and he wants to move there for the experience. Guess what? Germany won't grant him residency until he can pass a language test a prove he has skills that make him employable. Can you imagine if the U.S. did that?
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Exactly. Whatever the intent of the OP this is the reason why everyone should be concerned.

If the borders are porous and people who are not citizens can cross without a passport and stay after crossing why harass citizens?

So far this year 151 people from the terror watchlist have been intercepted at the border and that's just the number intercepted. There is a much larger number of criminals just walking in.

Just yesterday people were posting in the Hamas thread about their fear of WWIII. I wonder how many members of Hamas walked across that southern border and nobody knows who they are or where they are. Maybe they're living next door planning to hijack an airplane.

Total Border Patrol encounters for for FY 2023 were over 2 million. That's a lot of unvetted people walking across the border.

Edited to add a link. CBP Enforcement Statistics Fiscal Year 2023
 
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C50 said:
The logical answer would be you check a passport to make sure the person is a US citizen and legally allowed into the country. But yeah, checking a passport means zilch if they can just walk across a boarder.

So my son is married to a girl who grew up in Germany and he wants to move there for the experience. Guess what? Germany won't grant him residency until he can pass a language test a prove he has skills that make him employable. Can you imagine if the U.S. did that?
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Canadian Immigration does the same thing. Applicants have to take ( at their own expense in their own country, an International test of their ability to READ< WRITE>SPEAK>UNDERSTAND> either English or French at a high school level of ability ) The test results are used towards the overall points score of each applicant.

If the applicant cannot score over the minimum 450 points, their application is rejected. Higher scores are much more likely to get an invitation to come to Canada to live and work here as a Permanent Resident. Extra points are scored for having a 4 year University degree in one of the STEM fields, OR being a certified skilled trades journeyman. Extra points are also scored if the applicant is willing to go to a specific part of Canada, where their skills are in high demand. About 80 percent of the P.R. applicants become a Canadian citizen as soon as they are legally able to apply for it. To do that they need to live and work in Canada for 4 years, before they can apply for citizenship. By year 5, most are citizens. JimB.
 
C50 said:
The logical answer would be you check a passport to make sure the person is a US citizen and legally allowed into the country. But yeah, checking a passport means zilch if they can just walk across a boarder.

So my son is married to a girl who grew up in Germany and he wants to move there for the experience. Guess what? Germany won't grant him residency until he can pass a language test a prove he has skills that make him employable. Can you imagine if the U.S. did that?
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I lived and worked in Germany for three years. A lot depends on where in Germany he's going, but man I loved it there. Germany have all kinds of weird rules, such as registering in the area you want to live. But it's worth it!
 
jimintoronto said:
Only 5 US States issue an enhanced D.L. that Canada accepts at our border. ALL of those US States border Canada. JimB.
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True enough, but my Michigan EDL has worked just fine for entering and leaving Mexico as well. I'll admit I haven't tried to use it for rafting over to Bermuda though. :ROFLMAO:
 
Pre-Covid I was on a bus traveling to Canada. One guy on the bus had a of hippy dippy look about him. At the border, the bus pulled into a special spot and we all got out for a quick chat with Canadian officials. After returning tp the bus we notice the hippy dippy guy was not on the bus. We asked the driver, concerned that perhaps he might be accidentally left behind. Nope. He was denied entrance to Canada on the grounds that he could not show any “visible means of support“ while in the country.
 
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Brookswood said:
Pre-Covid I was on a bus traveling to Canada. One guy on the bus had a of hippy dippy look about him. At the border, the bus pulled into a special spot and we all got out for a quick chat with Canadian officials. After returning tp the bus we notice the hippy dippy guy was not on the bus. We asked the driver, concerned that perhaps he might be accidentally left behind. Nope. He was denied entrance to Canada on the grounds that he could not show any “visible means of support“ while in the country.
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That is still the case. If CBSA has doubts about a person at entry, one of the standard questions is...How much money do you have with you ? Being able to produce a credit card with a reasonable line of available credit will also suffice. JimB.
 

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