Stranger and stranger questions asked by a border guard.

[wildstar]

I've had some strange questions during a cross into the US, but today was by far the strangest.
I crossed the border into Washington state (from Canada) and was asked "When was the last time you were fingerprinted?" and some other weird question if I was on any missing child lists or something.
My responses were "uh, never" and "no".

Does anyone have any insight into what the deal is with this?

PS, I'm 40, not a 12 year old that might be mistaken for someone. The whole thing was very puzzling to me.

 

[{ Emilia }]

Uh, the whole questionnaire you have to fill in when you want to enter the US from Europe is ridiculous.

"Do you plan a terrorist attack?"

"Do you deal with drugs?"

Terrorists and drug dealers totally answer "yes" there, I'm sure.

 

[Marten]

A Swedish singer once answered yes to all those questions, as a joke. The authorities was not that amused. I don't think they let him in.

 

[BDJ]

Y'know there is a wonderful history of dumb questions on what we would consider important paperwork. For instance a buddy of mine applied for a job at Wal-Mart once. The application included several questions that were strange. The one that really blew my mind was "If you were to rob a house how would you do it?". My buddy filled in the entire space provided with a detailed explanation about how he would first "case the joint", learn the occupants routines, and then pilfer when he knew they wouldn't be home.
BTW, not surprisingly, he didn't get the job. I dunno, Do you think the questions are to weed out the "dum-dums"?

 

[Thena]

PS, I'm 40, not a 12 year old that might be mistaken for someone. The whole thing was very puzzling to me.

Apparently you look a lot younger than you are. You should be flattered!

In all seriousness, those are some odd questions. Sounds to me like a border patrol agent who wasn't very skilled at trying to elicit information.

 

[Misfit Toy]

Them Canadians are sneaky!

 

[Starbreaker]

Uh, the whole questionnaire you have to fill in when you want to enter the US from Europe is ridiculous.

"Do you plan a terrorist attack?"

"Do you deal with drugs?"

Terrorists and drug dealers totally answer "yes" there, I'm sure.

You'd be surprised. I work for a staffing company that has a questionnaire that asks if you're currently on meth. About 14% answer "Heavy use, but controlled"

 

[Theodore Jay Miller]

"Do you deal with drugs?"

What if you're a pharmacist?

 

[Showdown]

I've had some strange questions during a cross into the US, but today was by far the strangest.
I crossed the border into Washington state (from Canada) and was asked "When was the last time you were fingerprinted?" and some other weird question if I was on any missing child lists or something.
My responses were "uh, never" and "no".

Does anyone have any insight into what the deal is with this?

PS, I'm 40, not a 12 year old that might be mistaken for someone. The whole thing was very puzzling to me.

It doesn’t seem that weird to me. I think they are more interested in your emotional response than your actual answer. The Millennium Bomber was caught coming in from Canada because he seemed too nervous to a border patrol agent.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

My friend applied to work at Staples. One of the questions was "have you ever stolen from your job (not counting office supplies)."

For oral questions, especially on things like the border, strange questions make some sense, since they can weed out nervous people. Paper forms depending on the honor system don't make a lot of sense unless the goal is just to add greater punishments if you're caught because now you've lied about it.

 

[Small White Car]

It doesn’t seem that weird to me. I think they are more interested in your emotional response than your actual answer. The Millennium Bomber was caught coming in from Canada because he seemed too nervous to a border patrol agent.

Yes. Israeli airport security is based on this principle. You first pass through several layers of security that you won't even notice AS security. The point is for the agents to observe your reactions to various stimuli.

I wouldn't be surprised if to find out that this is what the OP was experiencing. They could ask you about what you had for breakfast and get just as meaningful info on you.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

It doesn’t seem that weird to me. I think they are more interested in your emotional response than your actual answer. The Millennium Bomber was caught coming in from Canada because he seemed too nervous to a border patrol agent.

For oral questions, especially on things like the border, strange questions make some sense, since they can weed out nervous people.

But surely the most likely reason for nerves or similar emotional responses is precisely that you're being scrutinized by guards and security personnel? And the more odd questions they ask (and the more aggressively), the more nervous you'll get. That's far, far more likely than it being a sign that you're up to something, surely? I mean, I've heard often that going through US Customs is considered a highly nerve-wracking experience. And I can think of many, many countries where attention from security personnel would swiftly make me wonder on some nagging level of my mind "so I am going to be dragged off somewhere and beaten in a cell?"

Not to mention some people are nervous anyway in social situations or around "authority". So I don't understand how this is supposed to work, the odd highly fidigity would-be-bomber aside. Do they say "well, we claim the right to perform extensive searches on you because you look nervous! Oh, what's this, as we speak you're looking more and more nervous! Oh ho! Definitely suspect, you are!" Seriously, though, I'm a bit confused here.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Uh, the whole questionnaire you have to fill in when you want to enter the US from Europe is ridiculous.

"Do you plan a terrorist attack?"

"Do you deal with drugs?"

Terrorists and drug dealers totally answer "yes" there, I'm sure.

"Have you been involved in Nazi war crimes during WWII"? was amusing to me when I travelled to the US the first time.

 

[SmoothieX]

When crossing from the Yukon into Alaska, I got peppered with the most random, yet inane questions ever. I think the guard was looking to see if I was calm and has reasonable answers more than really needing to know that info. He asked what we do for work, what have we been doing on our trip, where we were flying home from, etc.

 

[Chaos Descending]

It doesn’t seem that weird to me. I think they are more interested in your emotional response than your actual answer. The Millennium Bomber was caught coming in from Canada because he seemed too nervous to a border patrol agent.

For oral questions, especially on things like the border, strange questions make some sense, since they can weed out nervous people.

But surely the most likely reason for nerves or similar emotional responses is precisely that you're being scrutinized by guards and security personnel? And the more odd questions they ask (and the more aggressively), the more nervous you'll get. That's far, far more likely than it being a sign that you're up to something, surely? I mean, I've heard often that going through US Customs is considered a highly nerve-wracking experience. And I can think of many, many countries where attention from security personnel would swiftly make me wonder on some nagging level of my mind "so I am going to be dragged off somewhere and beaten in a cell?"

Not to mention some people are nervous anyway in social situations or around "authority". So I don't understand how this is supposed to work, the odd highly fidigity would-be-bomber aside. Do they say "well, we claim the right to perform extensive searches on you because you look nervous! Oh, what's this, as we speak you're looking more and more nervous! Oh ho! Definitely suspect, you are!" Seriously, though, I'm a bit confused here.

"Innocent guy made nervous by authority" and "Would-be-Terrorist afraid to get caught holding a bomb" are two completely different types of nervousness, and Israeli Airport Security tend to know how to tell the difference.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

"Innocent guy made nervous by authority" and "Would-be-Terrorist afraid to get caught holding a bomb" are two completely different types of nervousness, and Israeli Airport Security tend to know how to tell the difference.

Fair enough.

It just seems rather odd to me, that apparently customs officials and border guards have an eye out for nervousness, yet choose to act in a manner that's going to get quite a few people nervous.

 

[RevdKathy]

I recall offering a security official the Teddy Bear's passport by mistake when arriving at Florida. Those guys have no sense of humour.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I had to go through US Border Patrol and Customs this afternoon and it was surprisingly painless. They asked what the purpose of my visit to Europe was (tourism), what I brought back (souvenirs), and sent me off to the baggage claim area. The Customs guy just took my declaration card and told me to have a nice day. I was kind of sweating it because I didn't know if they'd want to look through my bags or what, and I didn't want the hassle. But no, it was really easy.

 

[JiNX-01]

Uh, the whole questionnaire you have to fill in when you want to enter the US from Europe is ridiculous.

"Do you plan a terrorist attack?"

"Do you deal with drugs?"

Terrorists and drug dealers totally answer "yes" there, I'm sure.

As an American citizen I find that so embarrassing in a hilarious kind of way.

 

[Emher]

Uh, the whole questionnaire you have to fill in when you want to enter the US from Europe is ridiculous.

"Do you plan a terrorist attack?"

"Do you deal with drugs?"

Terrorists and drug dealers totally answer "yes" there, I'm sure.

"Have you been involved in Nazi war crimes during WWII"? was amusing to me when I travelled to the US the first time.

Yeah, that was probably my favorite as well. The capper though is "If you answer yes to any of these questions, concact the US embassy before you go on your trip." And they gave me this slip of paper somewhere over Iceland

Granted I got into a bit of trouble with a DHS representative when entering into the US, but I expect everyone knows that story by now.