A woman returning from from Cabo flew to Tijuana and then crossed over the U.S. land border into San Diego. Officers scanned her passport and attempted a live photo match. They took her picture five times but the system still wouldn’t verify her identity. She was pulled aside and taken to a separate area – a locked glass room – “There were handcuffs on the chairs, but I was not handcuffed.”
She wasn’t allowed to use her phone and was separated from her fiancé. Officers asked the same series of personal questions repeatedly, re-scanning her passport and taking photos over and over – “more than 20” attempts.
- Officers said her eyes looked different than on her passport, they looked “more open” in the passport photo.
- Her passport photo was taken when she was 18. It’s 10 years later, at the end of her passport’s validity.
She says they eventually unlocked the doors and told her she was free to go, with no paperwork, explanation, or guidance for future travel.
“There were handcuffs on the chairs, but I was not handcuffed.”
“They said my eyes were different.”
“If you’ve made drastic changes or aged a decent amount, get a new photo… It’s not worth it.”
@juliaaannb
U.S. Customs and Border Protection tablet captures a live photo and compares it to the traveler’s image on file. If it can’t resolve, an officer may conduct additional screening. She’s subsequently replaced her passport and hasn’t had problems.
People do have problems when they don’t look anything like their passport photo and the TikTok trend a couple of years ago of photo shoots to create hot passport photos turned into something of a nightmare.
However, it seems like this becomes less of an issue with biometrics. Photos already weren’t always helpful because Americans might often look alike to passport officers in other parts of the world, and vice versa. Plus, people gain and lose weight all the time. Probably more so with the popularity of Ozempic.
You mean they didn’t torture or water board her? They treated her as a human? Wow, I guess the news media is sensationalizing things to control the educated liberal party.
It doesn’t take 10 years. After several weeks in Punta Cana (we have a place there) my beard and hair were so long that the incoming picture immigration had taken simply did not match my outgoing one and the automatic gate wouldn’t open. After repeated tries the officer sensibly gave up and let me through. AI and computers are great, until they’re not.
My passport got washed when the jeans that it was in were washed while I was out of the USA. It was totally mangled. Coming in to IAD I explained what happened and showed my driver’s license, medical card, and a wallet full of credit cards in my name.
That was fine.
I wonder why this woman didn’t offer similar confirming documentation?
I have had scan problems, including with a passport replaced three months before, but never had a problem with an actual agent. I think that the scan software needs tweaking. Maybe that was part of the delay, documenting how the software failed.
Bad when other countries don’t want you visiting and your own country doesn’t either. The new America.
@drrichard — Wish I was in DR these weeks; yikes, it’s been cold in NYC (feels like -15 F).
@Michael Mainello — I’m shocked, too… /s
@Ray — Thank goodness we’re not a service-based economy. Phew.
@L3 — Yay, you passed the Family Guy OKAY-NOT OKAY chart test!