Harassment of expatriate by USCIS reported
Today I received an email from a correspondent who is a recent expatriate. He reports a sobering experience at the hands of our trusted servants at the border. With permission (and identifying information anonymized with [ALL CAPS]):
Hi Phil, I much appreciate your newsletter. Now I have a question that may be of wider interest. A few days ago I entered the U.S. with my new German passport, having renounced U.S. citizenship in March. I am not a “covered” expat and have no tax issues (that I know of). My 2014 U.S. return was done by a professional. In [GERMAN CITY] the [AIRLINE] check-in agent told me that I would “probably” have trouble from the U.S. authorities since my German passport gave my place of birth as a city in the U.S. I thought he was being fresh. Then, when we landed in [U.S. ARRIVAL CITY], the customs police took me and my (German) wife aside for about one hour without telling us what the problem was, which caused us some difficulties because we needed to contact the realtor from whom we were renting a house. We felt like criminals. We were not allowed to use our computers or to go to the bathroom without police escort. They did not search our luggage, so it was not a customs issue. Finally the agent apparently in charge, having done some “research” (her word) told me there were two people with my name, whereupon I told her that perhaps that was because until recently I had traveled (to the same port of entry) with a U.S. passport, but since March had a German one, since I had become a naturalized German citizen. Then she told me (apparently as a result of her “research”) that I had been arrested in [ALMOST FOUR DECADES AGO] (in [U.S. CITY]) on a DWI charge, but that that was not actually a problem so I could pass through. I then dared to ask her ask her why that had come up since in the past 30 years that I had been traveling regularly (once a year) to the U.S. on my U.S. passport it had never been a problem, and she said, “We don’t mess with Americans. But now you’re traveling on a German passport.” I said, “Well, that was so long ago. Can’t I get that cleared?” She said, “No, that’s your record.” I was so glad to be free of them that I did not pursue the matter, but it seems to me that this was a case of pure harassment triggered by the fact that my German passport had a U.S. city as my birthplace. This was exactly what the German [AIRLINE] ticket agent had predicted. The incident scared me, and troubles me greatly. That DWI charge was clarified with a guilty plea and a fine, as I recall, and as I had to show (by documentation from the [U.S. CITY] authorities) way back then when I applied for a German driver’s license, which I received. Then I married a German citizen and got a permanent visa in Germany. That was my status for ca. 30 years, until I decided to become a German citizen, which occured as I said in [MID-2015]. None of this would ever have happened if I had been considered as having a “criminal record,” as these customs police now seem to think. That “record” should have been expunged years ago. The first and only time it has ever come up again is now, [ALMOST FOUR DECADES] after the fact! It seems to me that the U.S. authorities are targeting people like me (with non-U.S. passports and U.S. birthplaces) for harassment. Why, I wonder? It has cost me much time and money to renounce my U.S. citizenship, and there is nothing inherently immoral or reprehensible, much less criminal, in wanting to become a citizen of the country one has chosen as one’s home (namely, Germany). So why should the U.S. authorities want to exact “revenge” in this way? That is what is seems like to me. You are a lawyer specialized in tax law, so maybe you don’t know the answer, but I’ll ask anyway: How can I find out how to avoid such problems in the future? Or do I have to resign myself to being treated like a criminal every time I return to my native country (even though it is no longer the country of my citizenship), because of a DWI arrest that occurred and was adjudicated 39 years ago? I will be most grateful for any light you can shed on this. But please do not use my name in any public response, since I have become thoroughly paranoid.) With best regards, Michael
Question
Who out there has experienced grief at the hands of our USCIS friends guarding the gates? Any words of advice for my correspondent?Comment
I suspect that the sole trigger for this BS from USCIS is the almost four decades old conviction for drunk driving. That is astonishingly petty, if indeed this is the reason. There could be a hidden government agenda of harassment of expatriates re-entering the country, but I doubt it. At least, no one else has said anything to me. Yet.Wherein Phil Anoints Himself with a Tin Foil Hat
And I am far from being a conspiracy theorist. (I am more of a mediocre middle management muddling through theory of life person — that overworked, normal average person brains make poor judgments because they had too much coffee and haven’t had lunch yet, etc.) And yet . . . Lois Lerner, amirite? (I’m not saying she should have been brought up on criminal charges; I’m just saying that there is something stinky that happened there.) The Gods of the Copybook Headings will ultimately be heard. /rant (Memo to self: re-read Rule 62.)Remedial Suggestions
For my correspondent, the answer might be a formal proceeding in the local State court for explicit expungement of the record of that DWI, almost forty years ago. It will take some time and money, and probably a return trip to stand in front of the judge. I also suggest a discussion with an immigration lawyer about this. It may well be that our Federal Overlords don’t give two hoots about formal expungement of a criminal conviction at the State level — at least for USCIS purposes. You have to find out whether the expungement process will be worth pursuing, or whether it will be futile. If expungement is impossible as a matter of State law, or futile because the Federal government doesn’t believe in State-level expungement of convictions, then your only choices are:- continue to endure gratuitous harassment by the USCIS when you visit the United States;
- complain to the German government and continue to endure gratuitous harassment by the USCIS when you visit the United States; or
- stay out of the United States entirely — don’t even change flights in a U.S. airport.
The reason this never came up for you before is because when you were an American Citizen you entered the country by right. This means that as an American the government could not legally deny you access to your own country. As such their was no reason for them bring up your past conviction. However, now that you are no longer a US citizen you no longer have an unfettered right to enter the country. You are now subject to the same rules as any foreign national, which means that if you have what the US Government considers a serious criminal conviction on your record you can be refused entry. Unfortunately I think this means that you are going to continue to experience delays when entering the country. What will happen is that when you arrive at Customs the USCIS officer at the primary inspection point will run your passport and see that there is a conviction on your record, you will then be sent to the secondary screening area where another officer will look up exactly what you were convicted of and check their rule book to see if it is considered serious enough to deny you entry. Every foreign national is subject to these rules, so I don’t think it is the fact that you renounced that is causing this issue. It is just that the US is notoriously up tight and picky about admitting people with any kind of criminal history. I live in Canada near the US border and we hear stories all the time of people who have been denied access to the US because of what most would consider a minor bloch on their record.
The reason this never came up for you before is because when you were an American Citizen you entered the country by right. This means that as an American the government could not legally deny you access to your own country. As such their was no reason for them bring up your past conviction. However, now that you are no longer a US citizen you no longer have an unfettered right to enter the country. You are now subject to the same rules as any foreign national, which means that if you have what the US Government considers a serious criminal conviction on your record you can be refused entry. Unfortunately I think this means that you are going to continue to experience delays when entering the country. What will happen is that when you arrive at Customs the USCIS officer at the primary inspection point will run your passport and see that there is a conviction on your record, you will then be sent to the secondary screening area where another officer will look up exactly what you were convicted of and check their rule book to see if it is considered serious enough to deny you entry. Every foreign national is subject to these rules, so I don’t think it is the fact that you renounced that is causing this issue. It is just that the US is notoriously up tight and picky about admitting people with any kind of criminal history. I live in Canada near the US border and we hear stories all the time of people who have been denied access to the US because of what most would consider a minor bloch on their record.
One thing I’ve learned is that alcohol-related convictions like DUI are permanent. That is apparently so that the “3 strikes you’re out” law can apply. So if you were arrested in 1975 for DUI and again in 2015, it’s two strikes, and the next time you go to jail. This is what I’ve heard, anyway, and I suppose it is the same for foreigners as for Americans.
I am still wondering why they took an hour to check me as a foreigner but apparently never bothered when I was a US citizen. The answer that “We don’t mess with Americans” may simply mean that a 39-year-old DUI conviction could be grounds (but isn’t) to deny entry to a foreigner but not to an American. So maybe I was “flagged” before, as an American, but the full check was not done, but this time, the same flag triggered a “full check” procedure. So what if a native-born German had had the same conviction? Would he have been “fully checked” also upon every attempt re-entry? In other words, I am still wondering if the combination of US birthplace and foreign passport is the cause of trouble, rather than the actual 39-year-old arrest record.
One thing I’ve learned is that alcohol-related convictions like DUI are permanent. That is apparently so that the “3 strikes you’re out” law can apply. So if you were arrested in 1975 for DUI and again in 2015, it’s two strikes, and the next time you go to jail. This is what I’ve heard, anyway, and I suppose it is the same for foreigners as for Americans.
I am still wondering why they took an hour to check me as a foreigner but apparently never bothered when I was a US citizen. The answer that “We don’t mess with Americans” may simply mean that a 39-year-old DUI conviction could be grounds (but isn’t) to deny entry to a foreigner but not to an American. So maybe I was “flagged” before, as an American, but the full check was not done, but this time, the same flag triggered a “full check” procedure. So what if a native-born German had had the same conviction? Would he have been “fully checked” also upon every attempt re-entry? In other words, I am still wondering if the combination of US birthplace and foreign passport is the cause of trouble, rather than the actual 39-year-old arrest record.
@Phil,
Is a previous DUI conviction enough for the US border agents to deem someone inadmissible? As I recall, the so-called “Bit Coin Jesus” was refused admission to the US after renouncing due to a previous criminal conviction.
It is truly concerning that so many of us are literally being forced into giving up our “right of return” (a human right as delineated in the UN Declaration of Universal Human Rights”– of which the US is a signatory).
Thank you for the very helpful column.
BC Doc
@Phil,
Is a previous DUI conviction enough for the US border agents to deem someone inadmissible? As I recall, the so-called “Bit Coin Jesus” was refused admission to the US after renouncing due to a previous criminal conviction.
It is truly concerning that so many of us are literally being forced into giving up our “right of return” (a human right as delineated in the UN Declaration of Universal Human Rights”– of which the US is a signatory).
Thank you for the very helpful column.
BC Doc
Thanks for the helpful comments. I do not plan to go the legal route because of the expense, time, energy, and humiliation involved. I am hoping, however, that now that my heretofore pristine German passport has been stamped for U.S. entry, subsequent entries will be less strenuous. I mean, at least the agents will see in the future that I have been checked out once already, so maybe it won’t be necessary to do all that “research” every time. I’m also wondering if such relatively trivial legal “records” in one state are accessible in all states. My German wife was even more astounded than I was, since she says that in Germany such things are automatically expunged from a person’s “criminal record” after a certain number of years.
Trying to see this objectively, it seems to me highly problematic to subject an expatriate to such scrutiny when Americans are not, and non-Americans are not, either, generally. I was singled out, apparently, solely on the basis of having a U.S. birthplace on a German passport. That seems to me fundamentally foul.
I would be happy to hear from anybody else on this subject. I doubt that I am the first expat to re-enter the U.S. on a foreign passport.
Thanks for the helpful comments. I do not plan to go the legal route because of the expense, time, energy, and humiliation involved. I am hoping, however, that now that my heretofore pristine German passport has been stamped for U.S. entry, subsequent entries will be less strenuous. I mean, at least the agents will see in the future that I have been checked out once already, so maybe it won’t be necessary to do all that “research” every time. I’m also wondering if such relatively trivial legal “records” in one state are accessible in all states. My German wife was even more astounded than I was, since she says that in Germany such things are automatically expunged from a person’s “criminal record” after a certain number of years.
Trying to see this objectively, it seems to me highly problematic to subject an expatriate to such scrutiny when Americans are not, and non-Americans are not, either, generally. I was singled out, apparently, solely on the basis of having a U.S. birthplace on a German passport. That seems to me fundamentally foul.
I would be happy to hear from anybody else on this subject. I doubt that I am the first expat to re-enter the U.S. on a foreign passport.
Do you prefer a great lock on your entry doors or a lock that looks like a lock and doesn’t do the job? Just a thought.
Do you prefer a great lock on your entry doors or a lock that looks like a lock and doesn’t do the job? Just a thought.
It’s sounds like a case of sour grapes to me.
US immigration can refuse entry if you’re an ‘immoral’ person. In other words, they have a wide scope to refuse entry to an ‘alien.’
It’s likely the US Government is in one of the 5 stages of Loss – Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.
The US Government has denied renunciations for years so it must be in Anger at present. I don’t know what form Bargaining would come in, or if the US Government can even be depressed, but someday Acceptance will come when the US Government realises throwing it’s teddy out of the pram doesn’t work.
It’s sounds like a case of sour grapes to me.
US immigration can refuse entry if you’re an ‘immoral’ person. In other words, they have a wide scope to refuse entry to an ‘alien.’
It’s likely the US Government is in one of the 5 stages of Loss – Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.
The US Government has denied renunciations for years so it must be in Anger at present. I don’t know what form Bargaining would come in, or if the US Government can even be depressed, but someday Acceptance will come when the US Government realises throwing it’s teddy out of the pram doesn’t work.
See http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/86942.pdf
See http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/86942.pdf