Increasing paranoia?

We saw an informative 15 minute television report the other night on difficulties some Germans had recently entering the US. The problems they faced were incredible. One was a sixty year old or so guy who was born in Syria but is a German citizen. He flew to visit his daughter in Las Vegas for a short trip and was handcuffed and arrested when he left the plane. He was held in jail for three days and was never given an explanation for his arrest. On the third day he was finally interviewed and the person interviewing him said they would let him in the country if he agreed to spy for the US. He demurred and left the country instead.

The second was a German forty year old or so man who lives in Japan. He wanted to visit Vancouver and bought a round trip ticket to fly from Japan through San Francisco to Vancouver and back. At the gate of the American airline in Japan he was told he could not fly through the US because he had no proof he would not leave the SF airport and try to stay in the US. He kept saying his intention was to go to Canada and that he had to simply change planes in SF. The personnel constantly responded by saying that Vancouver was part of the continental US and that he simply would not be able to board the flight.

The third was a German woman in her mid Thirties who is married to an American. They have one child and live in NYC. When she attempted to return to the US after a visit home she was handcuffed and kept in detention for hours. She was told that her documentation forms were not filled out correctly. Finally, she was released and was able to join her family.