A question asked all foreigners going through US Customs...

[Generic Other]

The Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) is a United States government requirement (mandated by the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007) for participating travelers from Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries arriving by air or sea to complete online the I-94W form (formerly paper-based and filled on arrival by participating VWP citizens) in advance of travel to the United States. --Wiki

One of my Euro friends sent me a copy of question C.

"C) Have you ever been or are you now involved in espionage or sabotage; or in terrorist activities; or genocide; or between 1933 and 1945 were you involved, in any way, in persecutions associated with Nazi Germany or its allies?" Yes / No

= One of the ESTA questions foreigners have to answer before they are allowed to travel to the USA

That folks is Homeland Security at work.

[gateley]

1. Good God - that's almost embarrassing. Homeland Security

is the biggest waste.

[NightWatcher]

2. Yes, I mean No No. Damn, foiled again

My fav was when they used to ask you at the airport if you packed your own bag or if anyone gave you something to carry on the plane.

Has anyone ever fallen for this line of intense questioning?

[treestar]

3. Wonder if anyone ever answered "yes" to Question C

[dtexdem]

4. No, that's Hoaxland Suckurity at work.

[sharp_stick]

5. The reason they ask that is

to set you up for deportation if you lied on it. It's the same reason the IRS demands that you declare all illegally obtained money. They know that nobody will ever answer yes but if they find out after you've been arrested for something that you actually did used to work for an intelligence agency it's a quick way to get you on a plane or keep you in jail until they decide how to proceed.

[Generic Other]

6. There must be some world leaders who could answer YES

We probably let them into the country.

[Peregrine]

8. The correct answer, thank you

but it will be ignored by those who think it proves the ignorance of the agency.

[robdogbucky]

7. It was always this way, and even worse in bygone eras

<“Immigrants entering the United States who could not afford first or second-class passage came through the processing center at Ellis Island, New York. Built in 1892, the center handled some 12 million European immigrants, herding thousands of them a day through the barn-like structure during the peak years for screening. Government inspectors asked a list of twenty-nine probing questions, such as: Have you money, relatives or a job in the United States? Are you a polygamist? An anarchist? Next, the doctors and nurses poked and prodded them, looking for signs of disease or debilitating handicaps. Usually immigrants were only detained 3 or 4 hours, and then free to leave. If they did not receive stamps of approval, and many did not because they were deemed criminals, strikebreakers, anarchists or carriers of disease, they were sent back to their place of origin at the expense of the shipping line.”>

From “Immigration in the Early 1900s”, http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/pfsnpim1.htm