I will tell everybody a bit of the story, however.


Every time she goes to the UK and comes back by herself--which has been necessary a few times, she is indeed treated as a criminal.   

The alltime topper is the time she came back to Dulles--obviously did not have a US passport-- and was told to go wait in an office without her luggage.   She asked who would guard it and was told security would watch it.   She was in the office with others who didn't have US passports, including a Pakistani man and an older woman with an outdated passport. The man told various security officers that the woman was in turn: his aunt, his mother and his grandmother.   Despite this changing story, he and she were allowed to go--because "it was Friday" (i.e. the end of the week and the officers did not want to be bothered with a bunch of paperwork.)

When she was finally released, she found that her luggage was gone. When she asked about this, a person there told her the Pakistani man had taken her luggage. They had left their own luggage behind, a bag which judging from the weight was almost empty. She was told all she could do is file a report.   The Ethiopian woman who was wheeling her around through all of this--Jan was in a wheelchair due to health reasons--was herself scheduled to get off work already. But the Ethiopian woman despite this volunteered to check around and see what she could find. The woman stepped outside just in time to see the Pakistani and his "grandmother" getting into a taxi with Jan's luggage. Jan's Ethiopian helper persuaded them to give it up, and they drove away in the taxi without it.

So thanks to Jan's helper she got her luggage back. But two rather suspicious characters just vanished into the US.   Again, all Jan could do is tip her new friend, file a report--and write Dulles to report to higher-ups--also praising and thanking the Ethiopian woman and recommending some sort of recognition for her.

Variations on this theme--singled out and mistreated--have been her experience every time she comes back to the US from a trip by herself.

This is not including the joy we have had in with the INS in Baltimore.

And of course the UK is supposedly the #1 ally of the US. Rather amazing.