Originally Posted by
PTravel
Okay, time for a reality check:
1. Answering "New York" as a destination when flying into EWR is not lying to a federal officer and you won't be prosecuted for it, much less "turned into an Al Qaeda informant." That's just ridiculous. Far more likely is, if they're suspicious of you for some reason, they'll either hold you indefinitely without explanation or justification (and the does violate your Constitutional rights) or, more likely, if you are not a U.S. citizen, simply refuse to admit you to the country.)
Have a look at the Abdulallah Higazy case and others -- the tactic is to badger a suspect until they say something that can be used to charge them with "lying to a federal officer". They interrogate in tag-team fashion -- one will ask, "what time did you get up this morning?" You answer "six". Two hours later, another interrogator throws in a question, "so, you got up at seven, then what?" You: "I don't know, had a shower, got dressed" FBI: "Aha! Lying to the FBI!" You: "what?" FBI: "Bob, bring the tape in here". Then they play the tape of you earlier saying you got up at six, and then indict you for lying. But, they'll drop the charge, on one condition, you have to become an informant for them. Higazy got lucky because another witness has the courage to speak up and admit his original statement concerning the air traffic radio he found was false. Others have not been so fortunate, and are either serving long sentences, or were kidnapped and taken to Guanatanamo, like Bisher al-Rawi, who was held there for five years because he refused to be an informant, although they knew all along he hadn't done anything wrong himself. If you refuse to answer ANY questions, there is no possibility of being slapped with a trumped up "lying to the FBI" charge.
Originally Posted by
PTravel
2. The right against self-incrimination under the 5th Amendment applies to non-citizens as well as citizens. You do not have to answer anything. However, DHS also doesn't have to admit you to the country if you are a non-citizen. TSOs are not law enforcement officers (though DHS Immigration are). However, any admission made to anyone can always be used against you. U.S. citizens do have an absolute right to be re-admitted to the U.S. I had an interesting run-in once with an Immigration officer who threatened (in a light, joking but certainly serious way) to refuse to re-admit me unless I answered a question which, as a matter of law, I was bound not to answer (He asked me the name of the client I had gone to visit in Toronto).
It is clear anything you say to a TSO could be used against you, but I am not clear about whether making a false statement to one is in and of itself considered a crime the way making a false statement to an FBI officer is. In any case, it's still wise not to answer anything you are not legally obliged to. Yes, you could be denied entry, but that's better than being charged with a crime and facing the possibility of spending thousands of dollars disproving the allegation, if you even get to a trial.