Indian-origin American author and entrepreneur Neal Bakshi has alleged that he was detained for questioning by US border officers upon his return from a vacation. In an Instagram video posted three days ago, Bakshi said he was stopped after landing in the US from Greenland. Despite using Global Entry, he claimed he was pulled aside for additional screening, with officials telling him it was a random check.
Bakshi, the son of Indian immigrants, was born and raised in the US and is an American citizen. He said that while being randomly selected for additional screening was not new to him, this particular encounter felt “drastically different”.
“The agents would not reveal to me why I was being taken to the back for processing until the very end of the encounter. They took me to a large waiting area where other people, only of colour, were waiting to be processed. The windowless room was lit with a sallow yellow light,” he explained in the video.
Watch the video here:
The author claied he was later taken to a smaller room, where officers asked for extensive personal information and questioned him about his affiliations with certain groups. “The cushions on the benches were ripped, and there was no lock on the bathroom door. In a smaller room, I was asked for every piece of personal information, interrogated about my affiliations to certain groups, and ultimately told that this was for my own safety,” he added.
Bakshi also described witnessing an interaction between an officer and an elderly Hispanic woman who did not speak English. He alleged that the officer told the woman to sit down and think about “what lie she would tell him next.”
While acknowledging that border authorities may need to stop people who pose a genuine security threat, Bakshi said the experience left him questioning whether certain groups of Americans are subjected to greater scrutiny than others.
“While I’m sure some nefarious people are stopped with these tactics, it’s hard to dismiss the assumption of guilt placed on a clear subset of the population. This encounter reminds me of the question, are all Americans being treated fairly, or is this just part of the price some have to pay for their own freedom?” he added.
Tighter Immigration Scrutiny
The incident comes amid heightened immigration enforcement under the Donald Trump administration. The US government has introduced and pursued several changes affecting immigration, visas and entry procedures, while the broader crackdown on illegal immigration has also fuelled debate over how travellers and immigrants are treated at US borders.
Officials have said the measures are aimed at bolstering national security and curbing illegal immigration, while immigration advocacy groups argue that even legal travellers, including US citizens and Green Card holders, have reported facing longer questioning and random checks at airports.In recent months, several travellers have shared similar accounts of being pulled aside for additional screening despite holding valid documents or trusted-traveller status like Global Entry.
