Airline Forgets to Send Passengers to Customs, Tells Them to Return to JFK

Just another reminder that customs and immigration are just authoritarian controls with negligible positive value to society. Countries functioned fine with minimal border controls for hundreds of years. Let's put that wasted money and invest in helping homeless people or something else constructive.

Are the arrival gates not segregated so that international arrivals have no path to the outside without passing through immigration?

> The gate there can either direct passengers into the terminal, as though they were getting off of a domestic flight, or funnel them into customs. It seems that someone opened the wrong doors.

> The aircraft arrived at an international capable gate, but the feature wasn’t used properly. The passenger here had carry on luggage only,

I’m curious what would happen if they just didn’t go back. Would they get arrested the next time they tried to travel?