Subject: Re: [BoundaryPoint] Re: 1-10 Detroit News border story<br/>
Date: Jan 15, 2004 @ 02:05<br/>
Author: Lowell G. McManus (&quot;Lowell G. McManus&quot; &lt;mcmanus71496@...&gt;)<br/>
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<div id="ygrps-yiv-474865146">Michael Kaufman wrote:<br/>
<br/>
<blockquote><span title="ireply"> &gt; I&#39;ve had U.S.<br/>
 </span></blockquote>guards shine flashlights in my face, ask what hospital I was born at,<br/>
what I do for work and where and why, etc.<br/>
<br/>
All of those seemingly irrelevant questions are designed to get you to talk.<br/>
They want to hear you give more than one-word answers and even a complete<br/>
sentence or two if possible.  The purpose is to evaluate your accent to see if<br/>
it matches the part of the USA where you say you were born and/or live.  They<br/>
also want to see if you can answer unexpected questions, rather than give<br/>
memorized answers to the predictable ones.  Keep in mind that Americans are<br/>
typically allowed to enter the USA from our neighboring nations on our own word<br/>
that we are citizens.  If any documentation of citizenship is required, that<br/>
would be a flimsy birth certificate or voter registration card issued by some<br/>
state or local government and with no photograph.  Those strange questions are<br/>
about all our border authorities have!<br/>
<br/>
I agree that many of them could be nicer.<br/>
<br/>
Lowell G. McManus<br/>
Leesville, Louisiana, USA</div>