statue of liberty.jpg

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

--Inscribed on the Statue of Liberty's tablet

Lately, everywhere I turn, I hear a new horror story about how people are treated entering our country. Meanwhile today our new president won the Nobel Peace Prize. How can it be that a country that prides itself on being a safe haven for refugees from war and famine can treat the average tourist with such contempt? It feels so completely out of step with our national values.

This week I opened my inbox to find an email from my cousin and his wife. They are currently adopting an orphaned child from China. My cousin and his wife have traveled very little and were looking forward to seeing their new daughter's homeland, but when it came time to re-enter the U.S., all did not go so well. Carrying an X-ray of their daughter's tuberculosis-free lungs with them and all the necessary documentation, they were aghast at the treatment they received by the customs officials. Worse still, they were appalled at the treatment others around them received--yelling at people who did not speak English, gruff handling, impatience and open hostility--and they began to wonder at how this could be allowed to go on.

Meanwhile a Kiwi friend recently flew to see me in San Francisco. She just so happens to work for the New Zealand government and was grilled about her position in it. My friend has a very thick accent and when she said she works in "tourism," the officials heard "terrorism" and things went from bad to worse. But I ask you, how many Kiwi terrorist are there?! Even better, how many would say, "Oh, I work in the terrorism department of the government?"

I recognize the need for vigilance in the post-9/11 world, but I wonder, have we taken things too far? In all the stories I have heard, more patience, a smile, a little understanding on the part of our customs officials would have gone a long way.

Have you been mistreated by the U.S. customs staff?