Originally Posted by
rbphilip
Strange. I travel on Canadian and American passports and I've never had a problem. Of course I always use my US passport when coming into the US. In fact, I believe I'm obligated to do so as a US citizen and resident.
Anyway - telling them to "sod off" is a great way to get extra scrutiny. It's just way easier to smile and answer the questions.
In the 1990's, on my first two trips back to the US after moving to Australia, I had "odd" encounters with CBP at LAX.
In one case the immigration officer put my passport details in the computer and said, "Oh, look, you're wanted by the FBI! ...... Ha ha ha. Just kidding, have a nice day."
In the other, a customs officer was asking questions to people lined up for the inspection and making marks on their form (presumably to prescreen people and speed up the process. ^) He asked how long I'd been out of the US; I said "18 months." He suddenly got confrontational and asked why I'd been "away" so long; I said (very calmly) that I had moved to Australia. He huffed and puffed, clearly offended that a natural-born US citizen would choose to move overseas, made some mysterious marks on my card, and when I got to the inspection desk they tore my luggage apart.
In both cases I was completely calm and passive (after 14 hrs in Y, I was half asleep). In all the countries I've visited, those two occasions of entering the US on a US passport are the only ones at all negative. Just because it hasn't happened to you doesn't mean it doesn't happen.