After returning to the US from a stay in Mexico I needed to enter the country in Houston at Bush International Airport where I went through Immigration, showed my passport and continued on to customs where I had nothing to declare.
I handed my declaration form to an officer who asked, "Are you traveling with any tobacco or alcohol today?" I answered, "I have 3 or 4 packs of cigarettes only." He then told me I needed to come with him and he took me to another room where I was required to stand for approximately 30 minutes while three other officers ogled my poor, almost blank declaration as though it were some VERY important document.
They then instructed me to bring my luggage over to them where two of them proceeded to go through every item in my suitcase and laptop case, all my personal papers. There they found 4 packs of cigarettes, an antibiotic I was prescribed in Mexico for bronchitis, and my Mexican Property Deed for a home I own there.
One of the three (3) officers, while paging through my deed, noticed that there were copies of identifications of persons who were associated with the trust that was created when I purchased my home in Mexico. Under Mexican law, each person, the seller, the buyer, and all officers of the bank who administer the trust must provide copies of their identification which then become a part of the trust deed.
A very aggressive, rude officer then stated, "Do you know that it's against the law to have the identifications of others in your possession?" I explained to him why I had the copies, not the originals, and he stated, "It's against the law to have copies of their identification." I told him he was incorrect, and that he obviously did not understand foreign property ownership. I then asked if there was someone with whom I could speak who understood foreign property ownership. He walked away and the three once again huddled around a computer with my poor little customs declaration.
I informed the officers twice that my flight was nearly ready to depart, and one officer stated that the airline could help accommodate me. He finally allowed me to leave 5 minutes before flight time, and I had to go to the other side of the airport for my gate.
When I was near my departure gate I stopped to ask one of the airline's employees how to get to the gate, and told her why I was late and that my flight was about to take off. She spoke with another lady who was speaking to someone on the phone, and when I told her my name, she said into the phone, "Oh, here he is now."
She then directed me to the gate, another five minutes from her location, and I managed to get to the gate 10 minutes after take off time was scheduled. The plane departed 15 minutes late.
This long report is being placed in order to help alert my fellow citizens to what I feel is a completely unfair, unconstitutional practice of the US Department of Homeland Security. I feel it is a violation of the Bill of Rights, fourth amendment which protects against illegal search and seizure, is unnecessary harassment of life long US Citizens and should not be allowed under the ever invasive "Patriot Act" enacted under the G.W. Bush administration.
I was made to feel as though I were some type of criminal by these rude, unfriendly, aggressive officers, and was never given any type of apology for my great inconvenience and stress while trying to make a connecting flight. My luggage had all been screened before my first flight, I had no contraband, no excessive tobacco products or alcohol and was singled out for no apparent reason.
To be clear, I am a 56 year old professional nurse, Caucasian, average-looking person who has been traveling back and forth to the same Mexican City for 23 years without incident.
I hope that some day soon the US public will wake up to the abuses that are being perpetrated upon our citizenry in the name of security. A motto which was used on the title page of An Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania. (1759), published by Benjamin Franklin and authored by Richard Jackson sums up my feelings quite well as regards this incident: Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
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