I've never seen anything like that -- perhaps I'm not flying to "exciting enough" destinations. I'm also not sure that you're compelled to respond to such questions. If you get stopped at one of their highway checkpoints in the south, you can tell them to f off and they have to let you go. The airport checks you've seen are likely more like the highway checkpoints than the port of entry checkpoints in terms of requirement of participation, but if Customs is also beginning to implement exit controls, we are just that more screwed.
Originally Posted by
König
On your blog site, you wrote
You are wrong about CBP not having a right to ask for your travel documents when you are leaving the country. By law, the CBP has the authority to check papers when somebody is leaving the country - they just choose not to do it on a regular basis. Sometimes, you can see CBP agents checking documents from departing public at airports and land borders - because they are given this authority by the US government.
--Jon