From 10 to 11

For the past couple of weeks, US Customs/Immigration/Border Protections officials have instituted a new procedure for Tunnel Bus passengers.   For those not familiar with riding the Tunnel Bus and clearing American Customs from the bus, let me first explain the procedure prior to this new initiative. 

Upon reaching US Customs on the Tunnel Bus, passengers must alight from the bus, enter the US Immigration Office and present their citizenship and employment papers to an officer.  The officer usually asks several questions, such as where were you, where you’re going and what you’re bringing into the country.  There are many stories of various questions and answers that I’ll share in the coming days and weeks about the questions one gets asked!  The officer than hands back your papers and you are allowed to re-board the bus for the short ride through downtown Detroit.  Yes, this is something that Tunnel Bus passengers must go through everyday just to go to work.  I often ask myself how many others have to go through this much, just to go to work. 

About 2 or 3 weeks ago, that normal procedure was augmented.  Now, after the officer clears you for entry and returns your paperwork, he or she is suppose to hand you a half of 3×5 card with the number “10″ stamped in the middle of it.  Before boarding the bus, you are to hand the ”10″ card to the officer stationed by the door.  In all fairness to the officers, I understand why this is being done.  Evidently, there was an incident several weeks ago where someone who was not cleared by an officer re-boarded the bus and left.  The “perfect 10″ solution was born.

After the first couple of days of this “10″ procedure, one quickly realizes that it is a complete waste of time and taxpayer dollars.  It now takes 2 officers to clear the Tunnel Bus, one to check your paperwork and one to collect a number “10.”  Most of the time, bus passengers have to remind the officer to provide them a “10″ so that the officer by the door doesn’t send them back to be cleared again.  This is simply stupid.  The officer by the door has a clear view of all the officers clearing bus passengers.  In fact, he or she can probably hear the conversation between officer and passenger.  Obviously if the walk back towards the bus without being directed for additional screening, doesn’t common sense say they have been cleared? 

Now let’s talk about the paper and “10.”  There’s nothing special about the “10.”  It’s a 3×5 card cut in half with a stamped “10.”  Remembering back to my elementary school days, I think we would have done something like this in second grade.  I wouldn’t have to work very hard to create my own “10.” 

I hope that this silliness will end.  What a waste of tax dollars having two officers clear 20 passengers every 20 minutes.  Really, Homeland Security cannot come up with a better way to track passengers without 3×5 cards.  I can certainly see them spending millions of dollars on motion detectors, cameras and radiation sniffing devices at the border.  Really a 3×5 card with a “10″ on it?  I did hear one Custom’s Officer say that they were going to bring in “11″ soon.  This is how we protect our borders? 

This entry was posted on 28. October 2008 at 08:50 and is filed under US Customs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.