Originally Posted by
Dovster
Fine, but how does someone actually leave the country on his American passport?
Perhaps it suffices that my passport information was given to Delta when I made the reservation (or, in the case of frequent flyers, is in our records).
I certainly have my American passport with me when I leave the US and perhaps that is enough -- even though nobody asks to see it.
There is a reason why my previous post included the following:
The applicability and power of that often referred to law is rather limited, although neither DHS nor State are willing to highlight the full extent of how its applicability and power is limited under law; its applicability and power is more a function of extralegal, administrative action taken by DHS than of DOJ action in court against a US citizen entering or exiting the country with or without a US passport unless the US citizen has been prohibited by court order or some other law.
It usually helps to present the US passport when a US government employee -- in person or on a US government form -- asks a US citizen for their passport/passport details. That is what is most commonly suggested for those in your kind of circumstances. Unless you are a US citizen using a non-US passport to try to abscond from the US or otherwise violating a law with explicitly stipulated penalties, not much to worry about 8 USC 1185(b).
Unless you get a CBP gate-area/jet-bridge check just prior to your international flight from the US, it's highly unlikely that any CBP employee will insist on seeing your passport(s) when departing the US. The chances of even such CBP employee making a fuss about 8 USC 1185(b) even if you only provided non-US passport details to the airline when departing the US is highly unlikely as long as you show your US passport to the CBP employees doing those checks. The chances of the DOJ making a fuss over you doing what you do with your passports on departure from the US? I'd bet on them being way lower than the chances of being struck and killed by lightning.