ls17031

So all the criminals who ever existed or shall ever exist in the future are already known and included in a database?

Where may I procure for myself such an incredible piece of software?

greentips

No. Only those who have been charged, tried and found guilty by a jury of their peers, pleaded guilty, or found guilty by a judge after waiver of jury trial, by a court of competent jurisdiction will be included in the database. The United States is not permitted to speculate on future criminal activity, nor may it include those in such a database whom it thinks might be criminals in the future. That is the way it works here. (or rather the way the founders envisioned it).

Beyond that, Customs has no further business than to allow or deny entry and to ensure that customs duties and obligations (including the obligation to not bring home banned stuff) are met.

ESpen36

Exactly. (emphasis mine)

But to ensure these things, CBP officers must make on-the-spot judgments about whether somebody (regardless of citizenship) might be hiding something that could be a violation. CBP lacks the resources to search EVERY arriving traveler, and so it must have strategies in place to screen passengers and determine whom to spend resources/time searching. One of those strategies is questioning. Whereas most law enforcement officers can spend hours, days, weeks, months, or even years developing cases against potential criminals, CBP officers have less than a MINUTE (sometimes only a few seconds!) to make a determination about whether somebody is attempting to hide something. Many times, they don't really care about the answers themselves...rather, they are watching your body language to see if you hesitate, look nervous, or start to sweat as they ask you a basic question like "purpose of your trip?" or "where are you staying?" (if a visitor).

If you are a non-citizen, refusal to answer questions could result in a denial of admission and/or deportation. If you are a US Citizen, refusal to answer questions could result in a lengthy wait for a lengthy warrantless search procedure to determine if you might be trying to hide prohibited items in your luggage and/or on your person.

ls17031

Respectfully, the rather simplistic view expressed above glosses over some rather important facets of the "business" of the CPB or any other border enforcement agency.

You, sir, understand.

greentips

Ok, beyond determining admissability of persons and goods, including to the extent necessary, verification of passports/visas and the type and nature of accompanied possessions, assessing duties and collecting same, are there any other important facets of the business of the US CBP with respect to the border?

This is the stated mission, according to Commissioner Alan Bersin found here. He is admittedly somewhat more verbose.

ls17031

Read the post that I initially quoted and compare that to what Espen36 said. Which can be seen as a more effective means of achieving the objectives of the mission statement?

ESpen36

It is also worth noting that CBP officers have the responsibility to enforce literally hundreds of federal laws relating to immigration, customs, agriculture, public health, and more! That is not an easy task to start with, and it becomes even harder when you get only a minute or less to investigate each traveler and make a snap judgment about whether that person needs further processing.

IMHO, the vast majority of CBP officers are professionals who take their jobs seriously and treat passengers with respect.

Ari

With a few exceptions, LPRs are in the same boat as Citizens when it comes to answering questions. There is some legal complexity here, but LPRs are not inspected for admission absent five or six possible circumstances; unless one of those circumstances is present, LPRs are examined for entry the same way Citizens are examined for entry (though US Visit applies) and answering questions is not required.

If one of those five or six circumstances is present, then the LPR is inspected for admission (like other aliens) and refusal to answer questions might influence the result of the process.

bertgolz

And CBP-like agencies in other countries don't?
Why don't they interrogate their citizens upon return?

haggisattack

Make that CBP officers enforcing potentially thousands federal laws and regulations. If you throw in the Lacey Act (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacey_Act) where the US Government can prosecute you for violation of non-US laws, then there are potentially thousands of more laws that the CBP can nab you for.

CBP officers are also Federal agents which means that 18 USC 1001 applies, and lying to them is a very serious crime (this is why Martha Stewart went to jail).

Given the above why on earth would you want to talk to the CBP about anything? If you are a US Citizen you cannot be denied entrance to the US (for the most part) and at lease one citizen did not answer questions, was delayed, but got through (http://nomadlaw.com/2010/04/i-am-det...ing-questions/). I don't know if a non US citizen could get away with this, and trial and error is probably not the best approach to find out.

This is all well covered in James Duane's oft linked video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8z7NC5sgik).

Cheers

Start123

I talked to one CBP officers while I was in detention, I guess he felt telling me about his work,anyway, he said there is about one-two people a day that do not answer any questions. They always send them to secondary and search their person and luggage.
I believe this is highly illegal, because exercising your constitutional right should not be a reason for probable cause.
Anyone knows a good lawyer who can take a case like that? Also, is it legal to record your conversation with a CBP officer at POE?

König

The CBP does not need a probable cause to search you when you are entering the country. They do not need any reason at all. By the way, this is not unique to the USA - travellers can be searched upon crossing the borders worldwide.

kshitijnt

But they can not retaliate either.

kshitijnt

I am a citizen of India and LPR in US. I have been to India 11-12 times now from the US. Never ever asked any questions in India. They just ask to see US green card while departing to make sure I have visa for the destination and thats reasonable. No questions have ever been asked by Indian immigration on arrival. Indian customs - well they are a different entity. They used to harass back in 2000-2002, but not since then.

US immigration - I just don't want to deal with them because not only are they intrusive and rude they are also very slow and inefficient. I have been to 10 countries by now and I haven't faced such a rude border crossing except canada. The canadian immigration officers are equally rude or perhaps more rude. I just don't really understand what is the need for them to ask further questions, when fingerprints have matched, DHS has approved visa petitions and I am in possession of such a petition. What I have noticed though, if you change visa/employers, either DOS will grill you at the consulate or DHS will do at the port but not both of them.