Originally Posted by
HWGeeks
Every time I am on an international flight I get harrased by Customs Agents in the Jetway particularly when flying to the caribean.
On my last trip to Puerto Rico I was given the 3rd degree by two custom agents, they peppered me with questions as to why I am going to Puerto Rico, how can I afford a first class ticket, Who told me to dress the way I dressed, am I meeting anyone in Puerto Rico, what do I do for a living and how much money I make a year, once they even asked me how did I legally obtain a US passport.
What am I doing wrong?
According to FT member and claimed CBP agent Firebug84, this is a "consensual encounter" and you are not required to answer a thing. This is not a fixed citizenship checkpoint (where their questioning is legal as long as confined to citizenship and only brief in scope) but a public airport in the United States. You can basically walk right by and not talk to them.
Originally Posted by
FlyingUnderTheRadar
While travel through the 50 states does not have any additional ICE, for some odd reason traveling through an American territory does. During our trip to US Virgin Islands we cleared ICE on the island. I thought it odd. Perhaps some needs to do some digging as to why there are two different sets of rules.
This is almost certainly not ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). Its almost certainly a branch of CBP (Customs and Border Protection). Either the blue uniformed border agents or the green uniformed Border Patrol.