Why does TSA/ Homeland security stamp US passports?

[Crazyirishman]

Hey Conquer Clubberz,
I have a question the popped into my head while going through customs today on my flight back from Chile, and was hoping one of you could answer it. If I am a US citizen returning to the US, why in the hell are they stamping my passport? I thought the stamp was for countries that you are not a citizen of and it just doesn't make sense the the US gov stamps the passports of their own citizens. To anybody with an answer, thank you.

[BigBallinStalin]

It shows completion of your trip.

The government likes knowing and signaling how long you've been away from the 'motherland'. This also seems to make it easier for them to pursue you on visa issues (e.g. staying abroad for too long without the proper paperwork).

[AndyDufresne]

Tangentially related, to quote Ellis Boyd Redding:

Rehabilitation Officer: Ellis Boyd Redding. Your file says you've served 40 years of a life sentence. Do you feel you've been rehabilitated?

Red: Rehabilitated?... Well, now, let me see. You know, I don't have any idea what that means.

Rehabilitation Officer: Well, it means that you're ready to rejoin society, to—

Red: I know what you think it means, sonny. To me it's just a made-up word. A politician's word, so that young fellas like yourself can wear a suit and a tie and have a job. What do you really wanna know? Am I sorry for what I did?

Rehabilitation Officer: Well, are you?

Red: There's not a day goes by that I don't feel regret. Not because I'm in here, or because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try to talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone and this old man is all that's left. I gotta live with that. Rehabilitated? It's just a bullshit word. So go ahead and stamp your forms, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don't give a damn.

--Andy

[tzor]

I'm more interested in the process they use in determining the page. It seems like they take a page at random and stamp it.

[jonesthecurl]

It's a code.

[notyou2]

There are tiny electronic transmitters in the ink.

[BigBallinStalin]

When you touch the ink, the tiny transmitters infiltrate your skin.

[Dukasaur]

Tangentially related, to quote Ellis Boyd Redding:

Rehabilitation Officer: Ellis Boyd Redding. Your file says you've served 40 years of a life sentence. Do you feel you've been rehabilitated?

Red: Rehabilitated?... Well, now, let me see. You know, I don't have any idea what that means.

Rehabilitation Officer: Well, it means that you're ready to rejoin society, to—

Red: I know what you think it means, sonny. To me it's just a made-up word. A politician's word, so that young fellas like yourself can wear a suit and a tie and have a job. What do you really wanna know? Am I sorry for what I did?

Rehabilitation Officer: Well, are you?

Red: There's not a day goes by that I don't feel regret. Not because I'm in here, or because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try to talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone and this old man is all that's left. I gotta live with that. Rehabilitated? It's just a bullshit word. So go ahead and stamp your forms, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don't give a damn.

--Andy

Related at an even more obscure tangent, Arlo Guthrie:

And I, I walked over to the, to the bench there, and there is, Group W's
Where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the army after
Committing your special crime, and there was all kinds of mean nasty ugly
Looking people on the bench there. Mother rapers. Father stabbers. Father
Rapers! Father rapers sitting right there on the bench next to me! And
They was mean and nasty and ugly and horrible crime-type guys sitting on the
Bench next to me. And the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one, the meanest
Father raper of them all, was coming over to me and he was mean 'n' ugly
'n' nasty 'n' horrible and all kind of things and he sat down next to me
And said, "Kid, whad'ya get?" I said, "I didn't get nothing, I had to pay
$50 and pick up the garbage." He said, "What were you arrested for, kid?"
And I said, "Littering." And they all moved away from me on the bench
There, and the hairy eyeball and all kinds of mean nasty things, till I
Said, "And creating a nuisance." And they all came back, shook my hand,
And we had a great time on the bench, talkin about crime, mother stabbing,
Father raping, all kinds of groovy things that we was talking about on the
Bench. And everything was fine, we was smoking cigarettes and all kinds of
Things, until the Sargeant came over, had some paper in his hand, held it
Up and said.

"Kids, this-piece-of-paper's-got-47-words-37-sentences-58-words-we-wanna-
Know-details-of-the-crime-time-of-the-crime-and-any-other-kind-of-thing-
You-gotta-say-pertaining-to-and-about-the-crime-I-want-to-know-arresting-
Officer's-name-and-any-other-kind-of-thing-you-gotta-say", and talked for
Forty-five minutes and nobody understood a word that he said, but we had
Fun filling out the forms and playing with the pencils on the bench there,
And I filled out the massacre with the four part harmony, and wrote it
Down there, just like it was, and everything was fine and I put down the
Pencil, and I turned over the piece of paper, and there, there on the
Other side, in the middle of the other side, away from everything else on
The other side, in parentheses, capital letters, quotated, read the
Following words:

("KID, HAVE YOU REHABILITATED YOURSELF?")

I went over to the sargent, said, "Sargeant, you got a lot a damn gall to
Ask me if I've rehabilitated myself, I mean, I mean, I mean that just, I'm
Sittin' here on the bench, I mean I'm sittin here on the Group W bench
'cause you want to know if I'm moral enough join the army, burn women,
Kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug." He looked at me and
Said, "Kid, we don't like your kind, and we're gonna send you fingerprints
Off to Washington."

And friends, somewhere in Washington enshrined in some little folder, is a
Study in black and white of my fingerprints. And the only reason I'm
Singing you this song now is cause you may know somebody in a similar
Situation, or you may be in a similar situation, and if your in a
Situation like that there's only one thing you can do and that's walk into
The shrink wherever you are ,just walk in say "Shrink, You can get
Anything you want, at Alice's restaurant.". And walk out.

[Crazyirishman]

But it fills up pages in my passport book. It seems like a waste.

[BigBallinStalin]

But it fills up pages in my passport book. It seems like a waste.

They don't care about your complaint.

Besides, the sooner they fill up your passport, the sooner they can charge you for another one.

[AndyDufresne]

But it fills up pages in my passport book. It seems like a waste.

They don't care about your complaint.

Besides, the sooner they fill up your passport, the sooner they can charge you for another one.

Passport based economics, eh?


--Andy

[BigBallinStalin]

Bureaucratic incentives ftw.

[notyou2]

That quote from Alice's Restaurant made me hungry.