Arrival in America

The moment I set foot on the tunnel from the plane to the main terminal I was nervous , I have a beard while my wife covers her head , what will happen to us , will they let us enter the US or will turn us away , how much time do we had to spend here , thinking about the horrors that await us I stood in front of the immigration officer in 15 min after we landed .
The questions asked were usual reason for visit , who I will live with and in a few min he stamped my wife and kids passports as cleared to proceed while politely told me that as I’m from Pakistan I had to go through a registration process known as NASSSER and put my passport in a yellow file and asked me to go to the side room , my wife and kids accompanied me to the office .
We were told to told to keep our luggage outside while we went in the office , time passed 9:15 am . I entered the office while hushing my kids feeling my knees going week , I put my folder in the stack and sat at the back of the office awaiting my name to be called . A number of people were already there many Pakistanis, some Indians and some of Spanish origins. The conversation I heard between TSA agents and some of the fellows was enough to make me further nervous . There was a guy in front of me who had a red file and was being deported as he has no previous history of travel , never been to US and was claiming his wife lives in NY while having no pics or detials , another NY resident was being asked about the domestic violence case he was involved in with his wife a couple of years back .and I was thinking about my Traffic ticket I recieved 10 years back . I overheard some of the conversation between the TSA agents and they were ordinary folks like us talking about their kids , soccer games ,and their growing up pains while they were stern with us , well they were honest fellows doing their job as I also overheard a woman who was to be deported also offered bribe to one of them  and then my name was called . With a lump in my throat , weak in the knees I stood before the agent , she looked through my passport , checked out the countries I have visited , asked for my reason of visit , where I will go , where I will stay , what I do in Pakistan and that’s it in 5 min I was cleared for the final step , creation of my database file and I left for another office accompanied by my family , local time 10 am .
This office was not an office at all , in a wide corridore computers were setup where datawa being collected , as soon as I arrived a friendly voice directed me to take a paper to fill in the questions and submit it and wait for my turn . A few other families were awaiting including one which I knew from Pakistan , we chatted a little while our names were called and after a while I was sitting with a friendly TSA / Homeland Security Officer giving him my details of usual questions . He was frindly enough o tell me to arrive atleast 4 hours earler before my flight departs when leaving the country to get an exit registration and here at 11 am I was all set to leave the airport and enter the US . As I had no change for the trolley , I dragged my two bags outside , was directed to a Taxi stand by the fellows at information and 45 min and 55 dollars including tips and tolls later I was at my hotel at Broadway.