<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by AAaLot:
My money was conted behind my suit case on the jetway.
If I told them it was less than $10,000 [and it was] could I have refused the search?</font>
You probably could have but refusal would probably make your day a lot longer.
The currency laws are there to thwart drug runners since they tend to carry larger amounts of cash. Any amount of money that can be carried is legal to leave and enter the US as the US has no currency controls, but they'd at least like some reason (buying foreign real estate, donations, family remittance) and proof that you have or can legally acquire the money and not involved in a smuggling or laundering scheme.
There was a documentary on US customs on the Discovery Channel and they were talking about doing currency searches for people leaving the country and they were searching a fella who had like $4500 on him. A dog cought the sent of a lot of money, ask the guy if they could search his bag, and he had a wad of $100s and they counted it out, thanked him for cooperating and let him on his way. The agent said right after that nothing was noted or recorded since he was not breaking any laws.