An Open Letter to Homeland Security
Why are you questioning me at the border?
I’ve lived around in my life. Five countries in total, so far, and probably more to come. My home country is the US, I’ve lived in two countries in Europe, one in Asia, and currently I live in Istanbul, Turkey. Ever since I decided to move to Istanbul at the tail-end of 2009, I’ve noticed a pronounced difference in the way I’m treated when I go through passport control to visit home.
I get taken back to the interrogation rooms for further questioning.
For example, in just the last four times I’ve visited home, I’ve been taken back three times (see below). And the one time I wasn’t taken back is the only time that I haven’t been flagged since moving to Istanbul. So, you can imagine my annoyance of being interrogated 80+% of the time I visit home, the country I grew up in, and the country I love so dearly.
- April 2013 — Houston, TX √
- March 2014 — Honolulu, HI √
- July 2014 — New York, NY
- December 2014 — Houston, TX √
I even plan my connecting flights around it, or avoid connecting flights all together.
The Passport Control Experience
To the officers’ credit, they are always professional and courteous, although they do have that “seriousness” of US border control personnel that doesn’t really exist elsewhere in the world. But it always ends in them setting my passport down, looking at me and saying something like, “We got one more stop for ya,” and calling another officer over to escort me back.
The Waiting Room Experience
At least in my hometown of Houston, TX, the path to the interrogation rooms at Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) is a surreal experience. They open a door for you and you enter a long white corridor. As you walk down, there are interrogation rooms to the left with windows, each room having 2–3 chairs and a desk with a computer terminal. At the end of the hallway, there was a waiting room with an overweight lady with overly-permed hair sitting at a desk. The officer hands my passport to her and I’m instructed to sit.
“This must be Disneyland,” I think to myself, sarcastically.
I sit and look around to see I’m surrounded by people who are undoubtedly from “suspicious” countries. Anywhere from North Africa, to the Middle East, and of course, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. I noticed one Turk as well. I feel out of place. I smile at the lady and she’s kind enough to give me a smirk.
There’s a 10 year old stereo with tape decks that’s set to the radio. It’s got one of those radio antennae that’s just a wire you connect to the back — and it’s crudely taped to the wall. The radio’s tuned to Rock 101 KLOL, blasting some AC/DC, then some Van Halen, etc…
I feel like I’ve entered a scene from a movie.
I have to use the men’s room to take a dump, so I go through a giant heavy door. Inside, I noticed that the toilet has it’s own room but no door. On the other side of the door there’s a camera pointed right at me. What can I do? Nature calls. As I’m sitting there answering nature’s call, I can’t help but think that on a server somewhere, a video will be saved of me doing my business…
The Interrogation
I’m always asked the same questions. What do you do there? Where do you live? Please write your address. Please write your phone number. Who are your friends? Write down their phone numbers. What countries have you traveled to? Have you traveled to Syria, Iraq or Iran? Are you aware of any terrorist groups in Turkey? Have you been in contact with any terrorist organizations?
My answers to all these questions are always the same. What business do I have with those people anyway? I live in Istanbul, the same as I did in New York. I take the subway, I go out for dinner, I meet friends, go for drinks… Nothing out of the ordinary…
I always end the session by asking the question, “What can I do to avoid this?” No offence to the guy doing his job — I got nothing against him. But I’d prefer not to experience this lovely ordeal basically all the f’in time. Enough already… Haven’t they figured out by now that I’m not a threat to national security? Is this really the best use of their time, energy and resources? Interrogating me? By this point, my patience is usually wearing thin and all I can think of is giving my mom, dad and siblings a big hug.
Their answer is always the same: “Nothing.”
“The U.S. government does not reveal whether a particular person is on or not on a watchlist.” — DHS website
So the DHS isn’t allowed to tell me whether I am on a watchlist. They also told me they’re not allowed to disclose the reason why I was flagged for questioning that particular time, or any other time.
I’m left wanting for answers but none are forthcoming…
In Defense of DHS Personnel
To be clear, I’m always more than happy to cooperate and am 100% courteous to the DHS personnel. They perform an invaluable task and I also understand that they are hired to carry out a job, which they seem to do by the book every time — so I definitely don’t want to give anyone beef just for doing their job. It’s not really them that I have anything against, but the process itself, which seems to be placing and undue burden on thousands, if not tens of thousands of travelers.
DHS, why is this happening to me?
I would really like to know the answer to this question. I know I can’t find out whether I’m on a watchlist, and I genuinely hope that I’m not, but there’s no way of knowing. This link from the ACLU has some startling numbers in the millions. The DHS’s own website states:
“Many people erroneously believe that they are experiencing a screening delay because they are on a watchlist. In fact, such delays are often caused merely by a name similarity to another person who is on the watchlist. Ninety-nine percent of individuals who apply for redress are not on the terrorist watchlist, but are misidentified as people who are.”
My full name is Karl Hideyo Schroeder. I doubt if there’s another person in the world with my exact name. So, if I’m not on the watchlist, that means I’m being manually screened by border protection personnel. If so, what are the criteria? What about my behavior, travel patterns, etc. arises suspicion? I’m not a scary looking guy, I have no religious affiliation, I’m just on this good Earth to make a living and enjoy life, like billions of others. There must be thousands more just like me who are being inconvenienced by what feels to me like over-reaching and paranoid policies by a government agency.
I really wanna know what it is about me that’s so suspicious. I have nothing on my record back home. I have no debts. I’ve never been arrested (only one traffic citation). I haven’t traveled to the east of Turkey. I definitely haven’t traveled to any country bordering Turkey to the east — only to the west: Greece and Bulgaria. I haven’t visited Israel, nor any other middle eastern country. I do stuff by the book. I have an official residence permit for Turkey. I file my taxes. What gives?
I just wanna know…
What about you?
What do you think? Do you have similar experiences? You don’t know me, but given that I am who I say — a totally non-suspicious person with a totally non-suspicious past — do you think that DHS is over-reaching?
I love my country and want the people entrusted to keep it safe to do their jobs. What are your thoughts on my experience or this topic in general?
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Karl Hideyo Schroeder is a globally-experienced manager of people and relationships, having worked in banking, finance and start-ups in multiple countries. You can follow him on Twitter @KarlHideyoSchro.
