200 dentists despite being turfed off the Island by Immigration officials.

The professor was turned back at the Civil Air Terminal last month when she arrived without proper travel documents.

Yesterday she told The Royal Gazette she was shocked by the behaviour of the Immigration officers. She described them as short-tempered, rigid, discourteous and unprofessional.

The complaint by the New Jersey resident, who asked to be referred to as Dr. A for personal reasons, followed two recent cases that have raised questions about the behaviour of airport Immigration officers.

"I actually stood there wondering if I was in Iran or Bermuda,'' Dr. A said.

"People just shouldn't be treated like this.'' Chief Immigration Officer Mr. Neville Smith said yesterday that his officers' primary concern was to enforce laws and regulations, and he believed their firmness was being misconstrued as aggressive behaviour.

An official statement on the recent complaints is to be issued by the Immigration Department today.

Immigration and Home Affairs Minister the Hon. Irving Pearman, declined to comment until a full investigation has been completed.

Dr. A said she chose Bermuda for her seminar because of its reputation as a friendly, clean and prosperous country, and its close proximity to New Jersey.

"I've heard Bermuda is absolutely gorgeous,'' she said during a telephone interview. "I'm looking forward to getting past the airport next time.'' Dr. A said she was contacted by Bermuda's Tourism Department shortly after the incident.

"They have been very helpful and pleasant,'' she said. Dr. A's troubles began when she boarded her flight in Newark and discovered that a wallet containing her voter registration card and other documents was missing. Positive that her 21-month-old son had removed it from her purse while playing earlier, she contacted her husband and asked him to fax copies of her documents to her at the Sonesta Beach Hotel.

With only her driver's licence as identification, she was taken to see the Immigration supervisor on duty as soon as the plane landed. Dr. A said she was not prepared for the supervisor's response.

"He was just screaming -- screaming at me, screaming at the Continental Airlines representative. He just didn't want to hear anything I had to say.

"I tried to tell him that my husband had faxed the documents to the hotel, but he didn't want to hear it. I was refused a phone call on the basis that since I didn't belong in Bermuda, I couldn't call from a Bermuda phone.''