Spreading the pain around

I'll deviate from my normal real estate orientation in this post to share a recent experience with our homeland security forces in action.

My wife and I went to Cape Cod for a wedding last week. The most direct route there and back is to transit across Canada, from Port Huron to Niagara Falls, New York. The trip there was uneventful and the wedding came off without a hitch. The Cape is nice this time of year, albeit a bit hot. It was the trip back that provided us with a glimpse of our homeland security forces in action.

At the Port Huron entry point we were informed that "the computer picked you for a random check" by the border agent at the booth. We were instructed to pull over to the side. there another agent asked us to get out and "go get in line". That already sounded ominous. We had been making fairly good time on the return trip and had high hopes of retrieving our dog from the pet boarding place; that is until this interruption to our trip.

The line turned out to be about 10-11 groups deep when we got there and quickly grew behind us. Most of the people in the line had likely been victims of the kind of profiling that goes on these days, since they all appeared to be of foreign origin, many dressed in obvious native costumes. It also became apparent very quickly that this checkpoint was both severely understaffed and poorly managed.

As time passed and I grumbled a bit, not so far under my breath, the gentleman ahead of me turned and told us that this was the 15th time in the last year that he and his family had been stopped for an interview at the border. So, I felt kind of silly for complaining about my one incident, even though it had now cost me my opportunity to get my dog out of the kennel.

As time passed and the line grew, it was obvious that the 1-2 agents assigned to interview people were overwhelmed by the task. there were 4-5 more agents wandering back and forth in plain sight, but doing little or nothing to alleviate the situation. A supervisor (I supposed) stuck his head out of his office a couple of times, but took no action to speed anything up. This was classic Federal bureaucracy in action - sort of a FEMA moment.

Some 45 minutes after we had been directed into line, someone finally came up with the idea to ask who in line was there because of a random computer check. Apparently there had always been the opportunity to process those instances quickly, since all that was needed was to check the car out and ask us to fill out a declaration form. Our car had already been checked and we had nothing to declare, since we had not even stopped in Canada. So, 10 minutes later we were on our way, now way to late to get our dog.

I'm certainly not one to say that security at the border isn't needed. It is. And, I suppose that random computer checks are needed, too. But, if the border guards are going to create the delays that ensue from these random checks, they certainly need better systems, better management and perhaps more agents on duty to provide better customer service - a better experience for everyone entering the United States.

I also have more empathy for the people of foreign origin who are constantly profiled and must endure much more than random computer checks when entering the US. Another thing that was apparent from my experience was the issues that are created by language problems when people of foreign birth are stopped for questioning. Not only did the border agents try to use the good old American solution for a language problem (just keep raising your voice in hopes that saying the same things louder will somehow magically get through), they also were fairly oblivious to the issue of someone not understanding specific words or phrases in English that might not translate well into another language.

I'd be tempted to take a longer route should I have to go out that way again, just to avoid another experience at our border.