Originally Posted by
UALOneKPlus
That aside, I have a lot of sympathy for you. The CBP is known to be abusive, and alienate a lot of visitors to the US, on top of mistreating US citizens as well.
Unfortunately there's very little you can do, because the CBP has special powers to detain you for as long as they like, without much repercussions.
No, they can't. As a U.S. citizen, you have a right to travel which includes the right to return to your own country. If you refuse to answer their questions (which I did on one occasion) their recourse (lacking any other evidence that would warrant more intrusive measures) is limited to inspecting your belongs.
I just told the moron I've already answered that question, so inspect my bags and get it over with.
Originally Posted by
LessO2
They do it to others all the time....a mechanism to trip you up in the line of questioning.
Being a jerk day in & day out doesn't make it right, it just makes the CBP officers bigger jerks.
Originally Posted by
LessO2
They do it to others all the time....a mechanism to trip you up in the line of questioning.
I respect the job CBP does, because they actually are an essential government agency. And they are held much more accountable than the TSA.
I don't. Respect is something that is earned -- CBP doesn't reach that expectation.
Tourism to the U.S. is way down as a direct result of CBP's behavior. With the dollar as weak as it is, we should be swarming with foreign tourists. It isn't happening.
Foreigners, unfortunately, have no options when it comes to CBP. Americans do, and they'd quit cooperating with this B.S. it would quickly come to a halt because CBP simply doesn't have the manpower to inspect everyone's luggage (not that I doubt they're sufficient jerks to undertake it if they could).