Letter: Expand trusted-traveler program to frequent foreign visitors

Regarding "DHS' trusted-traveler program expands": I feel deep respect for the women and men of  Customs and Border Protection who protect this country from possible terrorist attacks and other threats.

However, every time my mother, who is a Mexican citizen, travels to the United States, CBP makes her to stay in one of the rooms for a four-hour interview. The situation always ends in my mother being released, but she suffers the agony of thinking about the next time she will have to go through the same thing to visit her son, who is an American citizen.

Last time, when she explained that she was coming here to visit her family, the officer in charge told her that to avoid these kind of situations she "should become an American citizen," which is an insult to people who have no intention of living in the United States on a permanent basis.

My mother has a good financial situation and owns an apartment in the United States. Like other middle-class Mexicans who come to visit and not to stay, she has been making a contribution to Uncle Sam and the economy of the United States. Maybe extending the trusted-traveler program to foreign visitors would help people like my mother, who is 70 years old and frustrated traveling under the described conditions.

Anonymous


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