Remember that you can still be pulled out of "In Transit". As I recently learned when I was yanked and subject to a body search in LAX, the airlines and US Customs and Immigration cooperate on monitoring who is on the flights and how they are flying. Nothing bad happened to me, as I hadn't done and wasn't doing anything wrong.

If they really want you, they can "grab" you. It has happened to others. There have been some high profile incidents in the news. If you can't afford to set foot on US soil, then I would suggest that "In Transit" in a US situation would not help.