LA airport immigration officers are racist to middle eastern looking visitors. Why?

Question

My personal experience - a group of 15 middle eastern looking (turkish, egyptian, arabs, etc) were held in a room, illtreated - what they called secondary inspection for more then 2 1/2 hours - some elderly and some having young infants. This includes my colleague on a a few days business visit having visa and invitation letter. Worse the same thing happen on his wayout.

I fully agree with security checks - but why add harrassment in to it.
it is global business we are talking about - are u saying that all middle eastern countries should cut trade links wuth US???

Answer 1

They're not being racist they are racially profiling middle eastern people. It is what has to be done. I flew from Chicago to Lansing in '02 and they "randomly" checked an entire middle eastern family. They even made them take their baby out of the carrier so they could check underneath the baby.

Answer 2

I am white and my husband is Middle Eastern. You cannot generalize like that. First of all, the Middle East is made up of several countries with different cultures. Within those different cultures are different people. Just because someone came from a certain place does not mean that they are sexist. Also...did you ever think that maybe some of those "sexist" Middle Eastern men might have come to America to get away from the parts of their culture that they disagree with? My husband loves that I have a mind of my own and am not afraid to argue with him and tell him he is wrong. I go to school full time, I work full time during the summer (part time during school), I hang out with my friends, I go out to bars, I am not having kids until I'm ready....Middle Eastern men as a whole are not controlling and sexist. Stop looking at the extremists, they do not define the culture.

Answer 3

Crikey. My husband was born in the UK. His mother is Irish, his father Italian. He takes after his father. He is dark,hairy and olive skinned. He has a beard which doesn't help. EVERY time he flies (which is a lot on business) into and out of the US, he is subjected to more scrutiny than the....lets say arian type of person. He does not mind, he realises that this is the way the world is today. It is a fact that the majority of terrorism is middle eastern. Now let me again reiterate, he is NOT middle eastern, Irish/Italian is what he is. If we were in a world where there was a huge terrorist campaign led by Swedish people, all the blonde people would be scrutinised. After 9/11 everyone (and still do) blaim the US airport authorities for letting these people slip through the net. People complain when it happens....and then complain because they are trying to stop it happening again. As I said, the major terrorism threat is from the Muslim extremists, fact is, the majority of the Muslim extreemists are dark haired, olive skinned, dark eyed people. My husband is included in this bracket for being half Irish. He doesn't mind because he appreciates his and everyone Else's safety MUST come first. The question is.... why can't everyone else feel the same way?

Answer 4

I've been pulled out of line for physical pat downs, etc., twice, once when traveling with small children, and I have blonde hair. It isn't just them.

No one should be ill treated, but everyone needs to put up with it. I remember when only Europe had the special procedures. I knew that if I wanted to travel through Frankfurt my luggage was going to be opened on the tarmac with me beside it, and that was just the way things were.

It is also possible that their names were similar to some on no-fly lists, and that is more likely if they have middle eastern names than if they don't.

Answer 5

A few months ago, a friend of mine travelled from the Uk to the US with her teenage son, who plays Squash at an international level. My friend, despite being born and raised in the UK, converted to Islam when she married, and her son has a muslim name and looks what he is - half Pakistani. He was whisked away for hours. No explanation. My friend waited around for hours, a middle aged Englishwoman, articulate, frantic with worry. Not one immigration officer came out to reassure her, or explain why he was being detained, or ask her any questions - they simply did not care about her or anything she had to say. Stupid, because if doing their job properly, they would learn something by interviewing a woman posing as a terrorists mother.

An ordinary American woman was wonderful. My friend had also cut her foot on the baggage carousel, this woman stayed with her, dressed her foot, and was incredibly kind.

This is the paradox of Americans, either totally inhuman and stupid, or really, really human and kind. I'm not saying they should not have detained the boy, I'm saying they could have at least spoken to his mother about it.

Answer 6

Sorry but the profile of would be threats or possible terrorists is very high from people of the middle eastern region. If your country had been under attack from hostile forces from a certain area or from certain individuals you would also practice the same security factors as us!!! Look at the circumstances ...they are not being racists.......its a matter of security!! If it bothers you so much you have 2 things that you have to ask yourself......either deal with it or dont travel here!!! Because of the sensitive nature of these blatant attacks we as a coutry have to saveguard our way of Life just as Im sure you would too...Give us a break and get off the racists comments.......logically it is just right!!

Answer 7

Tigerlilly is willfully ignorant of reality, and so are you.

Most Middle Eastern Muslims are not terrorists, BUT MOST TERRORISTS ARE MIDDLE EASTERN MUSLIMS!!!!

It is not "racist" to develop and act on accurate profiles of those who are most likely to be (and as a category/group have already proven themselves to overwhelmingly, disproportionately in fact be) murderers/terrorists, especially the Middle Easterners whose entire culture and ethos supports the idea of strapping bombs to young children and elderly women as "martyrs" for Islamic jihad.

I'm glad to hear you report that at least somewhere, somebody in aviation security is doing their job thoroughly.

Now put down that I-pod or Wii or bong or whatever and get your hands on some books by Michelle Malkin or Ann Coulter or someone that tells the truth about the issue.

Answer 8

Because it was middle-eastern people, not anyone else, who hijacked a plane and crashed it against our towers! It may be wrong but it's safer than not doing anything about it. That's just like latinos being pulled over by the police without being asked legal status.

Answer 9

There are millions of people searched every day at airports around the globe.

Personally I think it stupid to search an elderly Asian woman trying to board a plane. Or a 350 pound middle aged white guy.
Happens to our minister every time he is at the airport - not a pretty site , airport security even cut his shoe in half once as it had metal insoles.
Picture that - a 350+ pound guy over 55year of age hopping his way to board his flight carry one shoe that was in pieces.

But that is the world we now live in thanks to 9/11 and the politically correct .

Answer 10

The U.K and U.S.A have been attacked by Muslim extremists. The threat is still present, what else would you expect, coming from a part of the world, where these extremists come from. Coming from that part of the world, you would obviously be suspect, before most others.