|
It seems obvious that the US
will not play ball. I've been told as much by Foreign Office
Minister Kim Howells who tells me that the Americans will not
reveal the files they have on me. See
Betty Williams and Kim Howells letter.
And yet before I was
unceremoniously sent back to the UK, I was promised by Officer
'S' at San Francisco International Airport that I would be
given a copy of the statement I was forced to sign under
duress. So why did I never get it and why don't the Americans
release their information? Obviously, something to hide on
their part. Perhaps corruption in their ranks?
More about my latest course of
action ...
I tried getting help from Ken
Purchase, Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton North-West
(where my sister lives and whose address I used for
reference).
He was quite hopeless. I just
got fobbed off with some feeble excuses. So much for my MP.
I did make several visits to the
Foreign & Commonwealth Office (F&CO) in London. But before my
first visit, I was informed by an official at the office that
I was not the only person to be victimised by US Immigration.
She gave me one example of a
family that flew to Florida and were turned back because one
of their children was not with the family. Simple as that.
Even if this child was mentioned on a Visa, or whatever, it
was an example of over-zealous and quite possibly
underemployed Immigration officials abusing the rule book -
just so they could justify their jobs.
The official told me that the
F&CO has had several meetings with the Americans to discuss
the mistreatment of UK travellers. But because the UK
Government has no influence over the tyrannical actions of the
US Department of Homeland Security, they could do nothing to
help the victims.
We've seen similar things in the
UK. Traffic cops have repeatedly been exposed as being
instructed to target motorists and give out more traffic
violation (usually speeding) tickets.
When I visited the Channel 4 TV
offices in London, I was told by a Canadian lady on reception
that the same thing was happening in her country. Towards the
end of each month, Canadian traffic cops had to meet a quota
of tickets.
During my ordeal in San
Francisco, the same thing was virtually admitted to me as
well. Perhaps if I had not travelled on January 30th and had
waited until February 1st, I may have got through immigration.
So, the actions of these immigration officials is made even
more criminal if this is true.
While I despair of the suffering
caused to other travellers who have been victim to corruption
in the US Immigration system, it was reassuring to know I was
not alone. It was not just about me. It was about all those
who feel foul of a system of meeting quotas, of being at the
mercy of ill-mannered monsters. An when the two came together
- well ...
|
