I'm British. I visit the USA once a year and travel elsewhere quite frequently. I would rate the "welcome mat" as on a par with non-European countries but worse than Canada.

China and Ghana for instance require more tedious immigration application processes. In-airport procedure waiting time and hassles are no worse in the US. Hell: have you ever seen the non-EU nationals border control queue at Heathrow?

But the NYT argument is sound in that the States should lead the way in efficiency and technology, but they don't.