amejr999

Random question... what happens if you refuse to fill out the Customs Declaration form?

PTravel

I'm sure some nice customs officers will be happy to detain you for a day or so while they fill it out for you.

ESpen36

You cannot refuse to fill it out if you want to enter the USA by air. It says right there on the form that your response is required in order for the US Government to administer its customs laws.

If you have a documented condition that prevents you from filling out the form yourself, I'm sure the officers would be glad to accept oral answers to the questions.

Another option would be to ask one of the airline staff or volunteers to assist you in completing the form.


Now....if you object in principle to the idea of filling out a customs form, I can't help you. Remember, when you're at a port of entry, you're not yet in the United States, so you cannot use the 4th Amendment.

thegeneral

"As a fairly new US citizen, I was "annoyed" when returning to the US recently."

The other long time US Citizens should point out that you should expect to be annoyed by your government and then sit back and be amused by the annoyance on the Daily Show on a nightly basis.

The officers can ask questions to prove your identity. Once they know you are a USC, then they have to let you in regardless. With that said, some people do use false passports, so it's not a magic document. Just answer their questions. I doubt it will happen again.

Trollkiller

Where do you draw the line? If someone asked me what kind of car I drove and if I owned a gun I would think they are out to do me harm.

Just because they are a Government official we should just acquiesce to all their demands.

stupidhead

How bout it's none of the government's business what I put in my own ....ing body? If I want to put poison in my body, that's my prerogative. I'm sick and tired of this puritan fascism nonsense.

How bout this? we legalize all drugs and then there's no profit motive to smuggle. Then nobody smuggles. Then GDP gets a huge boost.

stupidhead

You should have gone further and insisted that the subordinate be fired on the spot in the most embarrassing of ways, in your presence, and not moved an inch until the supervisor handed out the pink slip. Something like five minutes of yelling at the top of his lungs, throwing stuff, and general cursing and swearing in multiple languages followed by the subordinate being physically thrown out of the cubicle* followed by a "You're fired" yelled into the PA system would suffice. I would have (and if I were the supervisor I wouldn't think twice about firing on the spot). I wouldn't have been satisfied until the supervisor assured me that "speaking to him" meant "firing him." (and if I were the supervisor, that's exactly what I would have meant).

*Okay, I don't need to see this, but the rest, I would have loved to see. Would have made for great theater.

Jenbel

Depends.

As a government person, using my government id card to pass an airport security check, the other government person asked me what the initials of my department stood for....

I had been giving her attitude because the whole thing was a waste of time, since I was travelling domestically, so didn't have a passport to produce, so insisted on holding up the queue while I found just the right photo id. As retaliation (I think) she got smart and asked me 'What does D*** stand for?' at which point, in a tone like I was speaking to an idiot, replied 'Department for...' and that's about as far as I got before I got waved on while she looked very embarrassed.

I think I won that one!

halls120

As long as I don't try to use my position to harass or intimidate, there is nothing wrong with me exercizing my rights when confronted by an arrogant or pushy ICE officer. Which means I don't have to answer their inappropriate questions.

Most of the time I find them to be very nice and pleasant. A couple of times I've run into some A-holes, and all it usually takes is for me to flash my creds and they tone it down.

FliesWay2Much

Exactly... You can be firm and draw a line in the sand without being arrogant. I usually try to be collegial whenever possible. I remember coming back from Europe about a day before landfall of Hurricane Gustav. I walked up to the DHS immigration guy, handed him my official passport, and, before he said anything, I said, "Wow...Gustav looks pretty bad. Have you guys deployed down there yet?" He said, "Yeah...a whole bunch of us on the rescue and recovery teams left this morning. I really wanted to go, but they needed some people to stay behind and keep this airport running."

If asked particulars about what I did and with whom I did it, either at home or by the security interviewers at the point of departure overseas, I usually just state, "I was in meetings with foreign government officials and I'm not at liberty to discuss the details." If I'm overseas and get asked this question, I substitute "foreign" with "your" and I've not had a problem to date.

ralfp

I would think that US immigration officers have access to US passport files (numbers, names, photos, etc.) such that a fake passport would be immediately caught.

Or maybe I'm expecting too much intelligence from our government.

mre5765

Note to self: convert hand written notes to electronic form, email them to myself, and dispose of notepad before encountering CBP.


There are examples of naturalized U.S. citizens who have been denied entry indefinitely.

So to get to OP's question, if a naturalized U.S. citizen refuses to answer questions, that citizen can be refused entry, on the apparent theory that the citizen is a dual citizen, and so the U.S. doesn't have to worry about deportation back to the U.S.

Rogi

[QUOTE=mre5765;11273033]Note to self: convert hand written notes to electronic form, email them to myself, and dispose of notepad before encountering CBP.


Exactly the conclusion I came to. Luckily a lot of the stuff was badly scribbled with lots of technical jargon. I think I would have drawn the line at the laptop. Didn't seem to interested in it. Truecrypt all the way

While flipping through it he asked me if I was selling a house
Then I remembered I made notes in the pad about putting in a offer in and closing costs. "No, but I'm trying to buy one." I think he lost interest in that.

Next time I'll be shipping/emaling everything.

PhlyingRPh

Actually, with pretty good, used laptops available for $100-200 or so, it might be an idea to just start taking one of those on trips and keeping all the data encrypted on SD cards hidden in various places. If ice or whatever those * * * * * s call themselves these days want to go through your laptop, just drop it on the floor really hard so they have to confiscate it. Let them have at it! I'd rather they make fools of themselves wasting time over my laptop than catch some poor fellow trying to smuggle in valuable pharmaceuticals anyway.

mre5765

No need to get violent; if CBP observes you deliberately destroying your laptop, expect to be detained. Before you land, just change the laptop so that it won't boot. Remove some critical files or change the bios so it won't boot from the hard drive.