Customs and Border Protection (everyone calls it Customs and Border Patrol, even the nice guy who picked up the USCIS helpdesk line for me) offices are usually passed passports and other forms of important ID after the airlines have it for a while. I think that this is the case for this airport but I’m not sure if it’s the case for others.
The guy at the desk was super nice. He went back and riffled through everything for me. I could tell that he was really looking, and that my passport was not to be found there, because of how long it took. Again, that vaguely sinking feeling.
He came back and asked me, “you said you’re a green card holder? but you speak perfect English.” I responded, “it’s a long story.” I don’t know if I would ever respond that way again; it sounded like I had a better story to tell.