U.S. Customs And Border Protection Handcuffs Traveler’s Mother In Rare ID Mix-Up After Canada Trip

A family trip to Canada and back to the U.S. took an unexpected turn when U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers handcuffed a traveler’s mother over an apparent case of mistaken identity.

According to the traveler’s account, they had no issues crossing into Canada, but things went south upon going back to the U.S., after CBP found his mother’s name was a match with a murder suspect they were on the lookout for. However, he said his mother’s name is so rare that it can only be found in one of thousands of people, even in his culture, making the striking mix-up even more unusual.

U.S. Customs And Border Protection Handcuffs Traveler Over Mistaken Identity

Posting on Reddit, the traveler recounted how the CBP officers handcuffed his mom over a shared name with a murder suspect, but eventually let them through after verifying she was not the person in the lookout bulletin.

The officer told them his mother was flagged in the system, but they will place a “PLOR” (Primary Lookout Override) on her passport so she doesn’t have to go through the same incident again in her future travels. However, the poster said the real suspect was a man and didn’t even share the same name as his mother, and is “unlikely to be her gender and age.”

“I also think they said the suspect was a guy, which brings me to my questions. For a government system, it should be very advanced and not easily flag someone or something without any connections. They should look for at least age, gender, race, and name that match,” reads the traveler’s post on Reddit.

The poster also wondered if placing a “PLOR” on his mother’s passport (which he mistook as “port”) was real, especially since he feels the CBP officers lied to them for “whatever reason.”

“It was an awful way to end a trip like that because it left us all shocked and scared. Of course, America is always known to do too much,” he added.

Now, the family is left with questions not only about how an identification error occurred at the border, but also whether the quick detention could follow her into future travels across the U.S. border. TheTravel reached out to CBP and Ken Scott, a Senior U.S. Immigration Law Intelligence Analyst, for comment.

Understanding CBP’s Primary Lookout Override (PLOR)

Many people share similar biographical details, such as names, just as happened to the poster’s mother at the U.S.-Canada border, and a Primary Lookout Override is the best fix for mistaken identities when traveling across the border (and even internationally).

CBP’s PLOR is designed to help travelers who are mistaken for someone else who is on the lookout record. It is under CBP’s TECS, an updated and modified version of the former Treasury Enforcement Communications System under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which also oversees CBP.

TECS is an information-sharing platform and the name of a system of records that includes temporary and permanent enforcement, inspection, and operational records relevant to CBP’s antiterrorism and law enforcement mission.

Under TECS, CBP officers will find some records that may contain conflicting information, meaning they may show a false-positive match, and this is where PLOR functions. It was designed to help travelers with similar characteristics or biographical details to a person of interest.

PLOR allows CBP to override these TECS records where similar biographical details exist between the traveler and another person that authorities are on the lookout for, “provided that the non-subject traveler can provide a unique characteristic that differentiates him or her from the person of interest.”

“The PLOR procedures require supervisory approval before a PLOR record may become active. All such amended transactions are logged by TECS and attributed to the authorized user performing the correction. This includes any required supervisory approval,” reads DHS’s assessment for the TECS System.

CBP has described it as an automated function that can suppress a particular false hit during encounters at ports of entry, unless “new derogatory information becomes available.” As a result, CBP does not have to solve the false match each time the person (who shares the same biographical details with the subject of the TECS record) travels.

What The Mistaken Identity At The U.S.-Canada Border Means For Travelers

U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s increasing scrutiny of ports of entry has been evident since the previous year, and many travelers have been caught off guard, particularly in such mistaken identity incidents or inaccurate information.

The mother’s brief detention due to a similar name was just one of the many issues travelers experienced at the U.S.-Canada border. In July, CBP also detained Canadian travelers after discovering their second passport, or their country of birth was Tunisia, one of the countries for which the Trump administration indefinitely suspended visa processing.

In June, CBP denied a Canadian-Iranian traveler entry after taking fingerprints, and another traveler of the same descent was questioned about his possible military service in Iran.

Travelers who are repeatedly affected by a false match or inaccurate information can find these situations frustrating, but these incidents also serve as a reminder that CBP’s border inspections can involve more than just checking a passport or a travel document.

What To Do When Travelers Face Mistaken Identity At The Border

While a mistaken-identity incident does not necessarily mean a traveler has been flagged as a criminal or placed on a watchlist, repeated false-positive hits at the border not only frustrate travelers but also delay trips, especially during emergencies.

Travelers who experience mistaken identities should do the following:

Travelers should be prepared for additional questioning or secondary inspection if CBP systems generate a potential match, and if an apparent identity error continues, consider seeking an official correction to avoid the same issue in future trips.