Originally Posted by GUWonder

CBP employees on average tend to be at least much better educated than the average TSA employees. Not sure how great their job prospects are outside of the government, but the skillsets of those in these positions may not necessarily map over very well to a lot of higher skilled occupations in the non-governmental sector.



I have observed some of that happening to US citizens at US ports of entry. Sometimes it is a result of a misunderstanding, sometimes it's the result of a CBP employee trying to practice language skills, sometimes it's a result of CBP trying to catch someone about whom they may have a suspicion, and sometimes it's some combination of the previously mentioned. This far more frequently is attempted with US citizens who are ethnic minorities than with other US citizens.