Originally Posted by
Negishi
The agent asked if I had anything to declare and i said no, which I didn't. He then became more specific, alcohol, tobacco, are you sure you don't have any alcohol or tobacco. He then wanted to know why I was in Tokyo. I told him a business trip, which it was. He then said business trip is vague, what were you doing in Tokyo. He's had an attitude the whole while but I'm thinking what the h**l, is this really information he's entitled to.
Of course he's entitled to this information. Asking why you were traveling and then wanting an answer more specific than "business" trip? What's the point of asking the question if one word answers are sufficient?
My question is the agent entitled to question me this way, as in "business trip is vague, what did you do in Tokyo?" It seemed to me this guy was acting more like immigrations office than customs office and a real pain of a customs office at that. Can I tell the guy that it was none of his business what i was doing in Tokyo?
Immigration is about whether you're permitted to enter the country. Once you are positively ID'd as a US citizen, that they don't want to speak to for some reason, immigration is done with you.
Customs is about what you're carrying. They are
more than entitled to ask where you were: to decide your risk of bringing in prohibited items, dutiable items, diseases, anything like that.
It's not a particularly intrusive question. And it is his business, as long as it's relevant to his job of preventing dangerous things coming in the country.
And clearly Global Entry signified nothing to him regarding my basic credibility.
The CBP officer isn't required to trust you simply because you're GE. If you seem like you don't want to answer the question, then he's going to doubt your answer. And it sure seems like you didn't want to answer, and he knew it.
How long was this customs interview anyway? 2 minutes? I would take the extra 15 seconds to answer their questions directly and be out of the door quicker.