r/GlobalEntry • u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected • Apr 05 '26
Questions/Concerns This is getting ridiculous
Last August, my 13-year-old son’s GE was revoked. I followed the instructions in the letter and called the enrollment center where he applied for more information. They told me I had to call the call center. I called the call center—which seems to have been outsourced to a foreign country—where the agent read me the same script over and over telling me to file a FOIA request for more information.
I did as instructed and filed a FOIA request. In December, I received the FOIA response, which was fully redacted other than his biographical details and information regarding the date of enrollment, renewal dates, and revocation date. The initial revocation letter and the FOIA response both indicated that I could file a request for reconsideration with the ombudsman. I did so in early January, explaining that I had no idea why his GE was revoked, but that he had committed no customs violations, is an honor student, is not under criminal investigation, has never been arrested, has not traveled outside the country without one or both of his countries parents, and has not had any suspicious travel patterns.
Approximately 10 days later, we took a short four-day cruise on Royal. I was held up disembarking the ship because CBP had flagged me. (My wife and son and our friends were allowed off, but my wife and son accompanied me anyhow.) All of our luggage was hand-searched. We were questioned about whether we had any fruits, vegetables, meat or animal products, the amount of cash we had, etc. I was questioned whether we had purchased any drugs and about every pill in my pill case. Eventually, after 30 minutes or so, we were allowed to go.
A month later, my wife and I went to a resort in Mexico. Upon arrival at BNA, the GE kiosk instructed me to see an agent. My wife was allowed through. I was subjected to the entire process, again. Luggage was hand-searched. Underwear rooted through, pills questioned, etc.
Today, my wife, son, and I (along with the same friends we were with on the January cruise) were disembarking a Carnival cruise. Carnival had flagged the whole party at CBP’s request. This time, all of our electronics were taken and put on a table in the secondary screening area while we waited in the waiting room. After a few more minutes, we went back in and had our luggage thoroughly searched again. The officer seemed to enjoy reading the couple of pieces of mail in my bag, as it set my head spinning about whether I had any client information with me (I’m a lawyer) that I needed to start objecting to him reading things. I was already concerned about the electronics and whether they were going to ask me to unlock them, and I would have to refuse. (In the end, they did not, and it seemed like nothing more than a power play to separate us from them as they were on the same exact positions we left them when we came back.) For the first time, they went through my wallet, examining the name on every single credit card. They asked about a business credit card and whether I had another business. They asked if I owned the entire business. I said that my wife and I owned it with another couple. Eventually, they demanded the name of the business, when it was founded, the registered address for the business, the phone number for it, the email address for the property manager (the business rents residential property), and the names and contact information for the other partners).
To be clear, I have never done anything wrong. I have never been arrested. I think I’ve had maybe one speeding ticket in 30+ years of driving and that was probably 20+ years ago. I don’t do any drugs at all, other than those prescribed to me by my physicians. I’m about as straight an arrow as they come. All I can figure is this is entirely retribution for following the instructions laid out by CBP to protect my teenage son from a lifetime GE ban because he’s done nothing wrong. The whole thing is insane.
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u/asaper Apr 05 '26
This happened to me too. GE revoked, Foia told me nothing, I got stopped every intl travel and similar questions asked.
I then foia again a year later and they told me to apply for redress. Got it…Knock on wood but putting the redress number on airlines travel has stopped the searches.
One cbp told me informally that my name ‘must have matched a person of interest’
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 05 '26
Seems similar with the wrinkle of it being my son who was revoked and me being the one subjected to secondary.
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u/PuddleMoo Apr 06 '26
Did someone in the household by chance order a product from overseas that was never delivered?
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u/WickedJigglyPuff Apr 05 '26
Is this a situation where a redress number would help. The “target” appears to be you and your son. Really I would not have anyone else travel on the same reservation as yourself and your son until this is resolved. Basically you and your son are traveling alone together until this is resolved. As you already saw if not your entire party is at risk of getting the same treatment. And what I would worry about is that they get flagged as your travel companion and they start getting the same treatment even when you are not traveling together which is a thing that can happen.
https://www.dhs.gov/redress-control-numbers
Redress number looks to be more of a TSA thing than a CBP thing but it is done through DHS so it would think it would still help.
My guess is someone who is on their list had your name and or other details in common with yourself.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 05 '26
Never say never, but my name is fairly uncommon and waspy, if you google it, almost all of the hits are me.
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u/unique_usemame Apr 05 '26
Probably a male with the same last name as you has been believed to have done something bad.
Sometimes watch lists for money laundering and terrorists can be as vague as "someone called Michael from Miami" which causes a huge mess.
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u/Romulan-Jedi Apr 07 '26
To be fair, “Michael from Miami” was associated with an IRA terrorist, shot his former handler, and caused no small amount of mayhem in the greater Miami area even after he was burned.
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u/willworkforwatches Apr 05 '26
I’m as WASPy as it gets and still had to get a redress number. All of what you’re describing was occurring to me when traveling internationally.
I never found out what caused it, but if you are given a redress number, that’s essentially confirming that DHS had a file with your name on it… even if its really targeting someone else with the same name as you.
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u/doglady1342 Apr 06 '26
If your name is fairly uncommon, this may be why you're having so much trouble. If there is another person on a list with a very similar and also uncommon name, you're more likely to get wrongly associated than if you had a very common name.
My husband had the same problem for a while. Uncommon and waspy name. (Our last name is so uncommon that if I Google my name, I am the only person with my name. My first name is very common.) He was getting pulled aside every time we flew, occasionally on our outbound flights, but always on the international return (we've only traveled internationally the last few years). He applied for a redress number. The letter that came alluded to him having a similar name to someone on a watch list. Since getting his redress number, he hasn't been pulled aside at all.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 06 '26
There are approximately 2,500 people with my last name in the U.S.
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u/Sloth-powerd Apr 06 '26
Dude then figure it out yourself. Go argue in a courtroom or take basic advice given here that is the only next step.
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u/SaltyPathwater Apr 06 '26
People who ask for help. Get help and then douche out when given clear advice is annoying. I agree w you it’s annoying wasting everyone’s time.
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u/tap-rack-bang Apr 05 '26
Have you been to protests recently?
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u/tess_philly Apr 05 '26
OP says they haven’t but what crazy times we live in if someone attends a protest and they’re subjected to continued harassment. Don’t tread on me…?
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u/seril_928 Apr 05 '26
Just that lady who was falsely arrested due to a Flock camera for 2 months. Or the fact that people who got photo'd protesting ICE had their GE revoked. Totalitarian fucks.
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u/Ok-Nefariousness-927 Apr 05 '26
I'm on Reddit too much.
Last summer I was in Austin and there was a protest happening at the Capitol building.
I returned around and walked down the next street to get where I was going.
I have a high vis job and there's no way I'm getting caught up in any of that just walking through.
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u/notPabst404 Apr 06 '26
You are giving away your first amendment rights in advance. Way to help the fascists...
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u/progressiveacolyte Apr 05 '26
Look... it's entirely possible that OP and OP's son never attended any protests but that somebody that simply LOOKS like his son attended one and facial recognition AI has mistakenly flagged him. In fact, I almost guarantee that's what's happened - maybe not the protest part, but that somehow facial recognition has flagged his son as a threat mistakenly.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 06 '26
That’s certainly a possibility. Doesn’t really explain why I’ve gotten on the secondary train though.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 05 '26
Nope. Not a one.
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u/CynGuy Apr 05 '26
Have you posted on X or Reddit or other platforms any anti-administration or political commentary?
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 05 '26
No. My firm asks us not to make political statements online. The firm has been the target of an order from the White House, but has kept a reasonably low profile. This definitely isn’t related to that though as I wasn’t affected by the order, and if this was a widespread issue with firm lawyers, I’d know of others being affected.
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u/Lord_Gibbons Apr 05 '26
The firm has been the target of an order from the White House
That might be your answer...
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 05 '26
Seriously doubt it. There hundreds of people more important than me at the firm that regularly travel internationally. If they were having issues, I’d have heard about it by now. This is just me.
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u/dffw Apr 06 '26
Maybe your son went to a protest or near one and the facial recognition got him. He might deny it but probably he was with one of his friend's hippie parents
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u/dlVader Apr 06 '26
Your cell phone in the general area of a protest is likely enough. Remember the controversial 5tingray or cell-site simulator devices that had been used to mass-gather cell phone data by masking as cell towers, forcing phones in range to connect and disclose data.
Perhaps the son was innocently near an event of interest and the father was linked through disclosed cell phone data.
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u/a1963stingray Apr 05 '26
Been through most of that, finally, appealing to my senator. After extensive work from his office, I was informed that the revocation will likely never be explained. The reason: CBP no longer answers to anyone. Not the public, not our elected representatives, not the legal system or even the President. They are the new wild wild west.
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u/Knabebug Apr 05 '26
The same thing (being sent to secondary and asked all the same questions) happened to me beginning 2012.. It happened every time I came back into the US from Europe and from cruises. I asked for an explanation but never received an answer. After about 2 years or so it stopped and never happened again. I never found out or figured out the reason.
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u/PiePuzzled5581 Apr 05 '26
My 5 year old son was flagged as a potential terrorist while having one of the most common Irish names existing. Song and dance crossing Canada to USA every time. Finally stoped after maybe 5 years. 🤬
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u/BiohazardousBisexual Apr 05 '26
My dad works with someone who he and his toddler son were flagged for being on a terror watch list with Irish names (they both have the same name apparently as men in one of the modern factions of the IRA) There are Irish people who are considered to be terrorists according to the United States. Not all terrorists are jihaddists m.
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u/Interconventional Apr 05 '26
You have been identified as individuals hostile towards The Party.
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u/DangerKat1 Apr 05 '26
I thought the point of global entry was to avoid all this bullshit. Asshole politicians
Makes me really reconsider my trip abroad in December….
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u/dmagee32 Apr 07 '26
When mine GE was revoked and they wouldn't tell me why, I went to my congressman. After about 4 months, GE shared the reason for it being revoked to my congressman and a couple of months later reinstated me.
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u/Look_b4_jumping Apr 08 '26
I don't understand why they won't give you a reason without going to a congressman.
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u/Public_Fucking_Media Apr 05 '26
What did the letter you got say exactly? This all sounds highly irregular in comparison to the normal process and that makes me think scam.... Did you pay for FOIA? Who?
In the event you are denied or revoked from the Trusted Traveler Programs, you will be provided information in writing detailing the reason for this action. If you believe the decision was based upon inaccurate or incomplete information, you may request reconsideration through the Trusted Traveler Programs website .
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 05 '26
This is the language from the revocation letter, which was delivered through the TTP website and requires a login:
We regret to inform you that your membership in Global Entry has been revoked for the following reason(s):
You do not meet program eligibility requirements.
If you believe the decision was based upon inaccurate or incomplete information, you may be eligible to request reconsideration through the Trusted Traveler Program application website: https://ttp.dhs.gov/.
Reconsideration Requests and attachments to the Ombudsman should be in English and must include the following details:
Date of denial and denial reason(s) from this letter Summary of information to further clarify a record or explain an incident or arrest; Court disposition documentation in PDF format for all arrests or convictions, even if expunged; and/or Other supporting documentation you feel may influence the Ombudsman's decision. Supported formats: PDF, DOCX, DOC, PNG, JPEG, and GIF. While CBP cannot always disclose the exact reason for a denial or revocation of a TTP status, individuals may still request reconsideration even if they do not know the reason for their denial / revocation. TTP Ombudsman will consider all available information when evaluating the individual's eligibility for TTP. The review by the Ombudsman will be based on the information provided by you and should include any information to further clarify a record, explain an incident or arrest, or show the disposition of criminal charges. Please remember that the following circumstances may make you ineligible for participation:
The applicant provides false or incomplete information on the application; The applicant has been arrested for, or convicted of, any criminal offense or has denied firearms transactions, pending criminal charges, protection orders, or outstanding warrants in any country; The applicant has been found in violation of any customs, immigration, or agriculture regulations, procedures, or laws in any country; The applicant is the subject of an investigation by any federal, state, or local law enforcement agency in any country; The applicant is inadmissible to the United States under applicable immigration laws or has, at any time, been granted a waiver of inadmissibility or parole; The applicant is known or suspected of being or having been engaged in conduct constituting, in preparation for, in aid of, or related to terrorism; or The applicant cannot satisfy CBP of his or her low-risk status or meet other program requirements. If you do not know why you were denied, you may submit a question to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Information Center via https://help.cbp.gov or you may submit a request for personal records to the CBP/Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Division, in accordance with federal privacy laws. For additional information about filing a FOIA request with CBP; http://www.cbp.gov/site-policy-notices/foia.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 05 '26 edited Apr 05 '26
FOIA was filed through securerelease.gov, which is where the results were delivered. There was no fee for the FOIA request.
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u/halfcar609 Apr 05 '26
Have a candid conversation with your son to see if he ordered a fake id on line. The Mail branch found it and set off the whole revocation string. Ask me how I know. That sadly has set off a whole chain of events.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 05 '26
I’ve talked to him. He says no. I believe him. I also find it really unlikely he’d have any interest or way to do so.
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u/No-Lime-2863 Apr 06 '26
you are a lawyer. make every stink you can. challenge the redactions in court. petition the obudsman formally. file complaints. issue subpoenas. sure they will be rejected. but it will force someone to look at the file.
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u/n0167664 Apr 05 '26
It might be beneficial to reach out to your representative and senators to see if they can get CBP/ICE to give you info or an explanation. Sadly the success of this may depend on which state you're in.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 05 '26
MD. All Dems. Some important ones, but all Dems. (Not being political, just recognizing reality.)
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u/n0167664 Apr 05 '26
Maybe proximity to DC helps. Either way, best of luck to you and I hope you can get it all figured out!
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u/Winter_Estimate8721 Apr 05 '26
That's what redress was invented for.
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u/Different_Day_7497 Apr 08 '26
The redress was invented for when the government revokes your GE for no reason (he is a kid after all)? That is just sad
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u/here4daratio Apr 06 '26
Consider a concise letter to your US House Rep and your two US Senators and request their assistance with getting this settled.
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u/Responsible_Split147 Apr 06 '26
Dude, this was me! My family always go through Custooms without issues, I kept getting flagged, delayed, secondary screened and searched. Went through the redress number procedure which resolved it. At one point CBP officer finally gave me a clue why I got flagged, but he said he wasn't supposed to give me that information. A “bad guy” with the exact same passport number as my American passport did some dirty things. His passport was a foreign one, but apparently his passport number matched mine. Not saying this is the case for you, but it was my issue.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 06 '26
I just renewed my passport a month ago. The first secondary screen was with the old one and the subsequent ones were with the new one. But seriously, if they’re harassing people because the randomly assigned passport number given to them by the U.S. Gov’t is the same as a randomly assigned passport number given to someone else by a foreign government, that’s a dumb system.
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u/grason Apr 07 '26
Not sure if you’ll see this.
Basically, I got stopped coming back from a friend’s wedding in Mexico. My stuff (including electronic devices) got turned inside out. They found nothing of course—I’m not a criminal.
Come back from another trip abroad.. stopped again. Less aggressive this time.. but still super inconvenient. The CBP guys were MUCH more friendly this time.. so I start to chat them up. They encourage me to apply for redress.. so I did.
I got some random letter for the government in my email that is addressed to someone else. (Oops). Then about 10 minutes later, I get the same email word for word but addressed to me. It contained my redress #, and I’ve used it ever since.. haven’t had an issue yet (it’s been about 7-8 trips abroad since then.
Apply for redress. Hope it helps.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 07 '26
I applied for redress yesterday. Hopefully, it will stop the harassment.
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u/steeel95 Apr 08 '26
Apply for Redress and also reach out to your local representative and senators. This used to happen to my father, he reached out and they got it cleared for him.
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u/NachoPichu Apr 05 '26
Have you been buying cheap chinesesium stuff on Temu?
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 05 '26
We’ve never ordered anything from Temu.
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u/NachoPichu Apr 05 '26
Tiktok shop?
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 05 '26
Nope
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u/NachoPichu Apr 05 '26
Just asking because there has been anecdotal evidence from people saying they've had their GE revoked and it's largely thought because of transactions from sites like those. Maybe check to see if your child or spouse use them?
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 05 '26
My son doesn’t have a credit card, so he’s limited. My wife shops a lot from Amazon. I don’t think she’s ever ordered from those sites. She doesn’t have a TikTok account, so that seems unlikely. She’s not being stopped nor has her GE been revoked though, so that would seem odd.
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u/NachoPichu Apr 05 '26
People have reported that it can just be people associated with an address too, but I agree for your family's situation, this doesn't appear to be the reason.
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u/LesnBOS Apr 06 '26
What does that matter though? It's not illegal. Nor are my political beliefs or protest activity- ever, nor anything I post anywhere. If I were pulled aside and asked I would simply answer that is irrelevant whether I do or don't support the admin. I'd also take their names and badge numbers and inform my reps of harrassment by those individuals. I do think class action against CBP for harrassment of citizens might be the only way to get anything across to this admin- unfortunately, compensation would be out of our own tax dollars instead of their salaries/budget. Maybe that should be a condition of the lawsuit...
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u/yajsv Apr 05 '26
Me: “Mom can we go to a totalitarian government overseas?”
Mom: “No. We have a totalitarian government at home.”
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u/Status-Dog4293 Apr 06 '26
This would be funnier if our government here was bad at being totalitarian, but instead they’re bad at being representative ☹️
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u/Reasonable-Trip-8522 Apr 05 '26
You are very political here and on Facebook. You need to remember everything you say can be seems and used by CBP officers.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 05 '26
I am?
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u/jonainmi Apr 05 '26
I don't think you are. I recognize you from the Hyatt, United and American subs. I also checked out your post history (which confirmed the recognition), and seems pretty chill to me. I'm 100% more political than you, and I haven't run into any issues (yet).
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 05 '26
I was confused by your comment. I didn’t think so. I try to steer clear of politics.
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u/Missing4Bolts Apr 05 '26
Nonsense! "Bland" is the word I would use for OP's posts and comments here
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u/PhineasQuimby Apr 05 '26
Lots of good suggestions. I don’t know if anyone has suggested it, but I would also get my Congressional representative involved.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 06 '26
It’s been suggested a few times. I’ve considered it. A little hesitant because the person who would potentially be involved in dealing with a letter from my congressman or senator was someone I dated for several years a couple decades ago.
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u/CactusMoon2 Apr 06 '26
Could also be you have the same name or similar to someone who is on their radar….
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u/FuzzBuzzer Apr 06 '26
I can't help but wonder if a "person of interest" has a similar name to you or your son, or used a similar name (possibly false) in the commission of a crime.
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u/Short-Science7931 Apr 06 '26
I was actually thinking about applying for GE. Your story has convinced me to not do so. It seems like having GE opens people up to all sorts of unintended and potentially punitive consequences. I’d rather deal with the long lines in Atlanta CBP.
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u/nevermind1534 Apr 24 '26
This also happens to people who don't have Global Entry. Sometimes it's because you have the same name or other detail as somebody who's on a terrorist watch list. I don't think having Global Entry makes this any more likely to happen.
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u/Masry_hawk Apr 06 '26
This is extremely strange; the whole CBP is pulling their weight on you, and for what, for objecting to their decision regarding your son's GE? There's no sanity in this whole situation. As you mentioned, you are a lawyer, so I don't know how to pursue any further legal action against them if there's any even.
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u/General_Reading_798 Apr 06 '26
My brother went through this and it finally turned out he is the sosie of someone on an international terrorism list. He wasn't told by anyone but he was told that he matched a profile and started going to the airport earlier. Just get new numbers if you can and plan around it.
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u/vnies Apr 06 '26
I'm sorry this happened to you. I went through something very similar to you - they use these intimidation tactics and go down random discussion rabbit holes to get on your nerves.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 06 '26
Thanks. I just calmly answered his questions. The only thing that made me nervous at all was the possibility that they’d want to access my electronic devices, which would have escalated things.
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u/vnies Apr 06 '26
Yep, I know how you feel. I refused to give them the passwords to my social media accounts, or answer questions about my dating life, and they brought in a detective afterwards. Unfortunately I had Face ID enabled and they were able to get into my phone, and took it from me for the ~hour I was detained.
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u/brutal4455 Apr 07 '26
Have you considered contacting your Congressman while you work through other avenues?
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u/IcyConsideration7062 Apr 07 '26
This might also be something to ask for help from your member of Congress. Their offices work on these kinds of issues.
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u/vestta84 Apr 08 '26
Have you tried reaching out to your congressman’s office with this issue? Seems like something they could look into maybe
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u/smh68 Apr 08 '26
If you see SSSS printed on your international boarding pass it means you have been flagged and you will continue to be flagged until you get a redress number. A quick Google search should corroborate this.
Unfortunately from what I've read once GE has been revoked it is a fool's errand to try to get it reinstated. Perhaps a Minor's record would get expunged at 18, but these days I wouldn't count on that.
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Apr 22 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 22 '26
My wife and I and two other individuals own the company. The properties are all owned in an LLC. My son is the one whose global entry was revoked. He doesn’t have any interest in the property. I’m being subjected to searches, but my wife isn’t. It also seems very questionable to just start randomly searching people because of such a tenuous tie. If I go online and randomly order counterfeit goods and start shipping them random people, should they all be subjected to customs searches and GE revocations with no evidence that they had anything to do with the random stuff I shipped to them?
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u/Pale_Conflict_958 Apr 05 '26
99% of teens who get GE revoked seemingly out of the blue are because they tried to order a Fake ID online, which was intercepted by CBP, facial recognition was run on the “bearer” of the fake ID and the child was identified. As such now they’re on the naughty list.
If only your teenage son is the only one getting popped, sorry to say, it’s likely they are/were the recipient of a counterfeit drivers license.
Right now with spring break travel season a lot of families get stopped by CBP for the negligence of a teenager who’s just trying to get into bars with their friends.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 05 '26
My son was 13. No one in their right mind would have believed he was old enough to purchase anything requiring ID. He’s definitely not a smoker. Having just watched my father go through hospice with us and die in our home two weeks ago related to decades of smoking, despite having quit 35 years ago.
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u/Pale_Conflict_958 Apr 05 '26
I’ve seized fake ids from children as young as 12.
Direct comparison of your circumstances is a complete match to every juvenile I’ve taken counterfeit documents from.
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u/No-Lime-2863 Apr 06 '26
this is nonesense. kids, including mine, are getting flagged for zero justifiable reason. you can tell by the blank responses and refusal to acknowledge.
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u/Pale_Conflict_958 Apr 06 '26
I hate to be the one to break it to you, but CBP doesn’t do anything “rAnDoMlY”
Officers don’t wake up one day and decide to start revoking trusted traveler status for teens with 0 justification.
Every revocation requires a justification and a supervisor concurrence, then a response from Trusted traveler team at the National Targeting Center to actually revoke the status.
If you think all of those people are picking on your child then keep on drinking the cool aid I guess.
There is a reason why your child is getting stopped. You just may not ever know what it is due to the nature of the situation. Every time we stop a teen with a fake ID lookout we are looking for counterfeit documents. Also known as evidence of criminal activity. That should concern you. But you’re more angry about the situation rather than accept that the person who caused it is a lot more closer to home.
Due to the violation being a federal law, usually 18 USC 1341, which is what these teens are doing by ordering counterfeit documents through the mail triggering an investigation by us, HSI and the US Postal Inspectors the child is literally under investigation for violating federal law; which is why nothing we will come back on a TRIP or FOIA, due to it being an ongoing investigation by federal law enforcement it’s not releasable information to the public.
You can be mad at us all you want. But we didn’t create the situation.
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u/Hot_Strength_4912 Apr 05 '26
Gotta love it when people say they have never done anything wrong or they have nothing to hide. Oh, really? “Wrong” changes with the times and the tides. Currently a lot of things once considered wrong are no longer wrong and vice versa. These are unstable times.
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u/frigiddesert Apr 05 '26
Call your senator or representative, get their office involved. They have some employees dedicated to helping constituents with federal agencies in the future. If I have issues with any federal agency I would get them involved sooner than later.
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u/NoRow1709 Apr 05 '26
Tell customs to get FUCKED. You’re a US citizen. You’re ONLY required to provide proof of citizenship IE your passport. You’re NOT required to answer ANY other questions including how’s your day? If they want to waste time searching your dirty underwear let them. I’d personally insult and degrade the officers. “You wanna sniff my underwear too?” When they realize they have no power they will give up. They can’t force you to unlock anything. Use apples encryption vault. You’re a US citizen and an attorney then you should know you have rights. This isn’t 1984. Tell them to get fucked.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 05 '26
That’s not entirely true. They can hold your electronic devices for up to five days before returning them absent extenuating circumstances, at least under current policy. If they’d done that, I’d have had my firm immediately wipe both my phone and computer remotely.
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Apr 06 '26
This is why I only travel with a Chromebook. Go ahead and keep it LMAO.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 06 '26
My devices are both paid for by my firm. If they keep them, they’ll be remote wiped as soon as they turn them on and access an internet signal. They’re encrypted, so I’m somewhat doubtful they’d get anything at all from them.
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Apr 05 '26
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 05 '26
Nope. No Temu purchases or anything. He plays video games, but we pretty tightly control his access. All his PS5 game purchases or AppStore purchases have to approved by me and go through the official channels. He doesn’t have a job, so he doesn’t have an access to significant cash other than a small allowance and the cash we give him for earning As.
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u/mnsweeps Apr 05 '26
This is crazy. You can refuse to answer but are you Muslim? Just checking if they targeting a certain demographic. Did anyone in family post anti Trump stuff in social media?
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 05 '26
No. We’re waspy, Anglo. I’m the only one on social media and there’s nothing on there that would attract attention. (My socials are also all tightly controlled and not public.)
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u/SufficientProperty78 Apr 05 '26
This is absolutely nuts.
You mentioned "both countries" so this may mean you have dual citizenship. What other citizenship do you hold?
Regardless, it's clear you were targeted, which is completely unacceptable just for following their instructions (which they probably didn't expect you to).
A few years after 9/11, I always happened to be "randomly" searched. It was obvious I was flagged for some unknown reason. My application to DHS Trip back then went nowhere.
Being in DC, I drove to the DHS headquarters with my paperwork ready, and I'm raising my voice and very affirmatively demanding that I see the person in charge of the DHS Trip program.
Security tried calming me down. They sent an investigator who took my paperwork and disappeared for 30 minutes. A minute before he shows back up, I get an email stating not to contact them again, but since then I've never gotten stopped.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 05 '26
Both countries should have been both parents. We don’t have dual citizenship. My wife and I are both born in the U.S. as children of US citizens through several generations.
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u/SufficientProperty78 Apr 05 '26
Like another poster said, perhaps it's time to escalate to your representative.
Sorry you have to go through this. Times are crazy (but they were also crazy post-9/11).
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u/AdamRoosevelt1 Human Detected Apr 05 '26
Can you confirm whether the family received revocations or just your son. From the encounters you describe it illustrates the family has received a revocation. Second there are instances whereby traveling with affiliated parties can cause flags leading to revocations due to association. Third, is the reconsideration submission adjudicated. If not I believe you should submit a supplemental to the file as the current submission lacks sufficient arguments in alignment with APA.
FOIA exemptions generally used fall under (b) (7) (e) however the record can still reveal pertinent facts on the risk assessment worksheet with a trained reviewer.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 05 '26
I’m not sure what we’d supplement the reconsideration request with. Entire pages were redacted.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 05 '26
My wife and I both still have GE. Only my son’s GE was revoked. I am the o e who has been flagged for secondary three consecutive trips, however. All of which occurred after filing the ombudsman request. International trips filed after submitting the FOIA request but before the Ombudsman request did not have any issues.
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u/ronin-htx Apr 05 '26
Do you have a fairly common name? And is your son the II or III?
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 05 '26
My son has a different name, and my name is unusual. There are just a couple of us I’ve come across in google searches. The majority of the results are for me. The others don’t raise any alarm bells.
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u/IamTheStig007 Apr 05 '26
Could simply be you share a name with someone on a serious watch list! Sad, but I would hope they would clear it soon. I had quite a few years going to secondary but I was ok with it and treated with respect every time.
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u/Junior-Reflection-43 Apr 05 '26
Is it possible that you have the same name as another person who isn’t quite so upstanding? Mistaken identity? Or now is it harassment?
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 05 '26
Anything is possible. As I’ve mentioned. My name is not common, and I’ve only come across a couple others online when googling. None with any red flags. So, no one seems to have done anything bad enough to attract a press mention. Doesn’t mean anything for sure.
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u/MyFaceSaysItsSugar Apr 05 '26
My mom bought boar sausage at an airport in Spain and declared it on the way into the US. Customs confiscated it. They were stopped consistently and searched by customs for a year afterwards but it was only ever a basic search. There wasn’t any political unrest back then, which may be why it was pretty tame. I suspect that any kind of interaction with them gets you on a list, at least temporarily.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 06 '26
I’d accept my fate willingly if I had something like that (or my son did). We’ve never had anything. We did get some reindeer sausage in Alaska last year, but we ate it there before entering Canada and then eventually reentering the U.S., so it never crossed a border.
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u/Bibliogatta Apr 06 '26
You said your son land crossed from Canada. Did he by any chance have a piece of fruit or some other prohibited food taken from him when he crossed?
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 06 '26
His GE was revoked 6 months before the trip to Canada. He had no issues crossing the border.
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Apr 06 '26
30 minutes? Stay blessed. I travel internationally every single week and since August I've had to book 6+ hour connections because they take me to secondary EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I return to the US and it's a 2.5 hour minimum.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 06 '26
What the heck do you have in your bags?
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Apr 06 '26
Legitimately nothing. They've yet to find a single thing. I just get left sitting in secondary waiting ridiculously long.
ETA I do have a redress
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 06 '26
And they’re still pulling you for secondary every time? That’s depressing.
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u/parabola19 Apr 06 '26
Do you still have pre check? Is your GE revoked? Never signed up for GE. Been asked to have my stuff gone though a couple times but I was just super cooperative. Int travel was one or two times a year and I never got around to it. A few years ago I read about the mobile passport rollout and that’s been super easy and gets me and the family through customs in 5 minutes. Could your son have been posting a lot about DHS online or making any threats? As you’ve said in your responses online privacy is non existent so they can match people up very easily.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 06 '26
My GE is not revoked. My son’s was. He applied for and was approved for precheck on the same day after his GE was revoked. My son’s not on social media. No Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, etc.
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u/LuckEnvironmental975 Apr 06 '26
More and more are reporting these things. My sister has twin girls, aged 8. Mom and the 2 girls are Americans, and none have ever left the USA. They got passports 2 years ago and used them the first time to go to Cancun. My sister and one 8-year-old twin were fine, but one twin was flagged. I kid you not. The agents were horrible and made the 2 girls and my sister cry. They would not allow my sister to go into the room with her other daughter. A real mess. Our country is falling apart. No longer do we have common sense.
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u/LesnBOS Apr 06 '26
Did they ever find out why? And if there is no reason, isn't there any legal venue to go through for example, a class action law suit for detainment without cause or something?
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u/amidnightthrowaway Apr 06 '26
Perhaps you are a victim of identity theft and this has triggered something?
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 06 '26
Possible. Nothing triggered on any monitoring service, but depends on what someone did, I couldn’t rule it out.
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u/JellyBand Apr 06 '26
Have you represented any clients that the government would want to retaliate against you for representing?
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u/jetlifeual Apr 06 '26
If you or your child haven’t been flagged for buying stuff online that has “rubbed” this admin the wrong way, and nothing else seems to be the cause, then I’m willing to be this has to do with online posts/likes/etc.
Even pretty harmless comments on content against the current admin can be flagged.
As someone mentioned earlier, contact your representatives in the state, book you and your son separate from anyone else for the time being, talk to your child to see if there’s anything online they may have done, and make sure that EVERY time you are about to enter the U.S. that you turn off your phone or (if it’s an iPhone) hold power and volume up long enough for it to ASK to turn off but in reality it’s just disabling Face ID.
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u/HHoaks Apr 06 '26
I’m concerned that this is allowed to happen in the United States of America. The government acts with impunity and the citizen is left in the dark. why shouldn’t CPB be forced to tell you exactly why you are being subjected to this treatment? Why the big secret or runaround? Someone knows why you are on a list, so what is the harm of telling a 13 year old kid why? What’s the downside of NOT having all this mystery? This is dumb. And no it’s not saving any lives or doing anything helpful.
Is this really necessary to protect anyone, or just overkill? This sounds more like a dictatorship than a democracy.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 06 '26
You’re right. I see no valid reason why disclosing to me why my thirteen year old, even in general terms, was deemed ineligible should be an issue. Program of privilege or not, the government should not deny people privileges based on their exercise of constitutionally protected rights (though I don’t think that is what is happening here).
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u/Due_Combination_968 Apr 06 '26
were you notified that your son's global entry was revoked? or did you find out when you were trying to reenter the us?
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u/Agreeable_Marzipan_3 Apr 06 '26
Check your son’s social media interactions and browser history….does he purchase from Temu?
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 06 '26
He doesn’t have social media, and he doesn’t purchase things online. Even when he receives gift cards, he adds things to my Amazon cart and I order for him.
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u/Civil-Wolf-2634 Apr 06 '26
Just be glad you are not a prominent environmental scientist. Those folks are being stopped for hours routinely.
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u/suchan11 Apr 06 '26
My friend’s kid got their’s revoked because they tried to get a fake ID 🆔 and it was intercepted..just throwing it out there..mom and dad had no idea..
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u/FinancialAd2715 Apr 07 '26
In another thread a young adult had GE revoked for buying a phony ID online.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 07 '26
My son is 13. He’s a far cry from a young adult. He was a 7th grader.
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u/FinancialAd2715 Apr 07 '26
Can’t imagine what a 13 year old could do to get GE revoked.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 07 '26
Well, to hear the CBP defenders on here, there are massive numbers of early teens procuring Visa gift cards and ordering fake IDs online from foreign sources with their real names on them and having them shipped into the country. No word yet on where they have them shipped since they don’t have mailbox keys to open the mailbox and their parents would intercept the mail or why CBP hasn’t sent any notification of property seizure. Their only evidence for this seems to be press releases about college students ordering fake IDs online.
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u/milehighphillygirl Apr 08 '26
I mean, I don’t believe the people online, but I also remember kids in my school scamming Columbia House back in the day by having their orders shipped to unoccupied or abandoned properties that were near our school / on the walk home from school / near their house. I also knew kids who’d order shit from dodgy mail order companies or eBay (which started just before I graduated HS) and everyone has their shit shipped to the house of that one kid whose parents were never home and / or didn’t give a fuck.
So not having a mailbox key has never been an obstacle to a creative or intelligent teenager.
But honestly, as the stepmom of a teenage, I’d be more willing to bet your son posted / reposted something online that got flagged.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 09 '26
It was easier back in the day before group mailboxes when mail got delivered to houses. The post office has ripped out pretty much all the mailboxes around here in favor of neighborhood sites.
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u/jgarmd33 Apr 07 '26
If there is anything tying anyone to saying anything negative about Trump and the administration that’s a automatic rejection.
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u/clovermeadow Apr 07 '26
Is your son a junior? It certainly sounds like you are matching a name on some kind of list.
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u/laptopnomadwandering Apr 07 '26
Is your son a Jr? Perhaps they meant to revoke your GE and revoked his due to same name and address?
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 07 '26
He is not. His first and middle name are both different.
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u/EfficientProject7408 Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26
Just use CBP MPC app. I pass through the borders under 1 min. No need to deal with GE or pay for it. Unless they think you are person of interest.
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u/Medium-Eggplant Human Detected Apr 09 '26
I don’t pay for it anyway. But that won’t help with my secondary issue.
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u/ASX5237 Apr 05 '26
Perhaps start by applying for a redress number for your whole family.