Originally Posted by
IverTheCat
After clearing passport control and going through baggage reclaim, everyone then had to queue to surrender their customs form. Nothing new there.
What I found different was that instead of just simply surrendering it, you actually had to offer the form and passport to the customs officer, who then did a mini-interview.
Is this normal? At LAX you simply hand over the form and that's it - no mini-interview.
It's within the range of normal for CBP. It happens from time to time at many US airports of entry but most passengers don't notice it or get subjected to it. Less frequent than what you noted: being pulled to the side after handing in the customs form and then being subjected to a CBP interview where some of the details provided are recorded by hand.