So I’m returning here, my native land, on a sleep-deprived overnight flight from Europe and, without realizing it, step over the line on the floor before the Immigration booth. The officer barks at me like an angry pitbull, I look up and find myself confronted with a glare so intense that one would assume a drawn gun would be the next step in the process.  I step back, but the glare continues. I rise to some higher level of wakefulness and say to myself I’m not putting up with this shit and do my very best to match him in glare intensity.  He only breaks off momentarily to hand back the passport of the preceding citizen and immediately returns to shooting me with eye darts – and I’m thinking, what the hell is this guy’s problem?  Does a half-step over a painted line ten feet back from his little booth represent a serious assault on the Homeland? 

It’s my turn, so I walk forward with our eyes locked like the start of a fight at the Garden and slide him my USofA passport while he still seems more interested in excavating my pupils.  At that point I am so hoping that he starts using his mouth like he’s using his eyes because I’m totally up for it.  He hands back my passport without saying a word, apparently because his leash as yet still only goes so far.

Now imagine Giuliani taking the leash and the collar off. He can’t wait. And Fox News will provide the choreography. Meanwhile, a Lou Dobbs wet dream: a New Zealand blogger detained for over a month because his departure from the US was six days past his visa expiration:

He still has no court date, hasn’t even been formally arrested, is just held in detention.  It sounds like he will be released and deported in a week or so – after six weeks detention.

This should be a wake up call for anyone visiting the US – be very very careful with your visa dates.  The consequences can be dire.

But it also reflects badly on the US – there has to be a better way to handle immigration than this.  I mean six weeks detention for a couple of days overdue – shocking.

The guy was leaving the country and they still harassed him. Ricks has just gotten home, too exhausted for a full debrief yet. Here’s another horror story of a woman hauled off in shackles because of a minor error in her papers.