At least at some airports you don't even go through primary anymore if you are willing to do facial recognition (at least with certain banks of flights, presumably assessed as lower risk countries). You just walk past a tablet-on-a-stand and they waive you through. Maybe one in ten people get stopped and asked a question or two.

The whole thing is a farce. With the removal of the 6059B and even the pre-screen kiosks they used to have, there is a massive burden of both (a) someone knowing what they are supposed to declare and (b) even knowing how to declare.

If you're an infrequent traveler and just get waived through primary after facial recognition, you would be deeply unsure who you are even supposed to go tell. Other than random checks in the baggage claim, there are no further interactions with an officer before leaving the airport.

The unfortunate reality is that this is the continuation of the pre-screen security state that is ripe for abuse. Not paying import duties is just a white collar crime that - like all others in the current administration in the US - are not enforced... unless you are targeted as a dissident... and then all of a sudden it becomes an issue that you failed to declare something proactively to an officer (when there are no instructions or clear guidance of when and how you are supposed to do so and even varies between large international airports).

In a way, a lot of this is good - the arduous screening for US citizens returning to their own country was ridiculous. On the flip side, I am deeply concerned about differential enforcement of laws based on ideology or other metrics. Even @gfunkdave is a great example of this... "wink wink, nod nod" right until you're targeted for whatever reason and then you get in trouble for not paying your import duties or failing to disclose (and in a he-said-she-said, the person with the uniform on is going to win).