Traveler says it took ‘1 minute’ to be ‘welcomed back’ to US, urges ‘race baiters’ to stop spreading airport rumors

A Reddit user has urged people to “ halt dread mongering” and spreading what they trust is a off-key tale about people being harassed at US airports. This comes after various reports of travelers claiming they faced intimidation and discrimination by immigration officials at US airports.

The user wrote on Reddit, “Traveling from Mexico city to Dallas, I was traveling by myself. I have green card through marriage. I have been in the US for 14 years at this point. Not as much as a parking ticket. I was running late for a connection, and the customs officer was empathetic about the delay, and it took me < 1 minute to be “welcomed back”.”

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“For all of you race baiters, I am brown with a dark long beard. Stop fear mongering. There have been isolated incidents with people from all over the world, not just brown people. There is also immense misinformation spreading around some cases. So if you are scared, that’s valid. If you don’t want to be scared, that’s valid too because there isn’t any rational reason especially if you don’t have a prior record of any kind,” the person added.

Several people travelling to the United States have reported increased scrutiny at airports, with some claiming they are being subjected to random searches, according to USA Today. While immigration authorities may not be breaking the law by extensively searching travellers, the experiences have left individuals unsettled, according to them.

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However, in the comment section, most Reddit users agreed with the traveler who shared their experience. “I came in through JFK a few weeks ago and watched the visa line with interest. Longest it took anyone was 30 seconds. Which I found odd, because according to Reddit, they all get sent to El Salvador,” one user wrote. “Yeah my wife (brown and got a green card a couple months ago) and i drove to Mexico and drove back and aside from a doggy taking a sniff at the trunk they didn’t even really talk to us either way. I think they mostly rely on tech and dogs for trafficking and smuggling and only question immigration status if they have probable cause. The stories of “My uncle was born in Boston but immigration took him at the border and now he’s dangling from a helicopter in El Salvador because be has brown eyes” all seem to be fake when you investigate them even a tiny bit. Making up stories like that is not something I can logically understand or have any drive to do but I don’t logically understand feet porn either,” another wrote.

“AMEN!!!! As a fellow brown person (hispanic) I'm sick and tired of the race baiting! Obviously more hispanics are stopped as we make up a disproportionate percentage of legal and illegal immigrants. But don't use our skin color as an example for your politics. Legals get through easy. Illegals have a hard time. I love that about this country,” one user wrote. Another said, “Yup got in from overseas two weeks ago. I have an expired GC with an extension letter. It was the smoothest entry I have ever had.” “Returned from Colombia and buzzed through in like 10 seconds. One question what was I doing traveling to Colombia. I answered and the guy gave me pass real quick. No sweat,” another said.

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