On a daily basis at various airports in the US, US government officials (namely, CBP) demand that even US citizens present their (US) passport to them, and, of course, US citizens are not in the country on (US) visas.

When does the CBP demand to see the passport of an American leaving the country?

I have never even seen anyone from the CBP when flying out.

But was the experience more pleasant than say driving from US -> Canada or Canada -> US?

When DHS wants. Passengers flying on ORD-AMS flights can often expect to see DHS/CBP demanding to see passports of even Americans leaving the US -- it's quite ordinary for frequent passengers on that flight for a real example. And the government demand to see passports of all departing the US on that flight is an operation whose objective is to try to catch even random US persons transporting more than $10,000 (or its equivalent in relevant financial instruments).

Then you must not be flying out of the US as much or on the same routes as those of us here who are witnesses to the CBP demanding to see the passport of those -- Americans included -- leaving the US on the flights where CBP is doing as mentioned.

Here is another report of CBP doing its thing demanding passports of persons departing the US, including US citizens.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...-boarding.html

I find that the experience when entering countries/jurisdictions that operate this way to be more pleasant.

This is how they do it in places like Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Japan, UAE, UK, Europe etc.

However, when entering countries where the first officer you interact with at the counter performs both immigration and customs tasks (Canada, US, Australia etc.), the experience is usually worse as the officer would ask a lot of questions even to their own citizens returning to their own country.

What the OP experienced when entering the US as a US Citizen and being asked by the officer at the entry point for the purpose of his trip to China was actually a customs and NOT an immigration related question (the officer would have already established the fact the OP is allowed to enter the US, and therefore started to ask customs related questions).

Had the US CBP seperated the functions of immigration and customs, the OP's experience would have been a lot more pleasant. The exchange would occur as follows:

OP gets off international flight, approaches "IMMIGRATION" counter and presents his US passport. The Immigration officer sees that the OP is a US Citizen and he remembles picture in his passport. The OP is waved through without any questions asked.

The OP goes to the baggage claim and gets his bags.

After the OP gets his bags, four situations can occur:

1) OP has nothing to declare and goes through the "green" channel. He walks past the "CUSTOMS" officers, and they wave him through. (This should happen in most cases).

2) OP has nothing to declare and goes through the "green" channel. As he walks past the "CUSTOMS" officers, he gets pulled aside for interrogation. He gets asked questions like "what was the purpose of your trip to China?" Depending on the OP's answer he may or may not have his bags searched.

3) OP has stuff to declare and goes through the "red" channel. He pays the cashier the duties on the purchases he made abroad and can then go home.

4) OP has stuff to declare and goes through the "red" channel. His bags get throughly searched, and he gets interrogated extensively about his trip.

WAY too cerebral for this thread. Doesn't matter if the CBP person wanted to find out the OP's favorite brand of cereal, the OP wasn't going to talk to anyone...period.

When I fly out of the US I am generally heading to MXP, FCO, FRA, TLV, CDG, or, in the past, BRU. Are these particularly unusual destinations for Americans?

I have seen US officials in the jetway checking people on flights from the US to ZRH and IST, possibly others.

In addition to US to ZRH and US to IST flights, I've seen this at the gates for flights from the US to LHR and from the US to every airport mentioned in posts in this thread.

Likewise. Including BRU, CDG, and FRA.

You are correct - the answer did not match the originally posed scenario.

In addition to non-citizens being required to report to a government official on departure, I would estimate, based on my personal experiences, that on any given day about 5% of departing US citizens are stopped and required to show their passport to a CBP or other US Government official. Additionally, perhaps another 5% of departing US citizens are asked by a smurf to show their passport at security checkpoints.

+1! ^
Yesterday, I was reentering the United States after a trip to Japan. Since I had several hours before my connecting flight (and was in no rush in general), I was prepared to decline to answer any questions asked of me by CBP. Similar to other posters experiences, I either get a bunch of questions or none at all. Unfortunately, this time, I was only asked how long I was gone (which I answered). In the past, I've been asked everything from had I ever been arrested to what I do for work. It annoys me that I receive more of an interrogation coming HOME than entering most foreign countries.

I'd like to know how a CBP agent would respond to someone replying to their questions with politely worded questions of their own around why they need to know this information and what specific laws give them the authority to ask them. (The latter one would be trickier to word without sounding scornful toward them, but I'm sure someone can figure out how to ask it.)

I know that others have stated that part of the reason for asking these questions is to gauge reaction and try to use Jedi mind powers to catch someone committing a crime. In the case above, though, I'm less interested in the real reason behind the questioning and more interested in how the CBP agent tries to spin things (or if s/he spins things) in their favor.

Dare I pose a hypothesis that a significant number of those in authority over us might consider telling passengers a little white lie (or a really big one)? I'm not the gambling sort, but I'd probably be willing to risk a week's salary over the answer to that question being "yes". ;)

From everything I've seen, it's perfectly legal for LEOs to lie when conducting an interview. I base most of this understanding from the now-famous video by Officer George Bruch from the Virginia Beach PD. You can view it here.

NB: It's part two of James Duane's lecture, on the same subject.

And you're entitled to your opinion, of course.

As others have stated, every person makes a decision (consciously or not) when approaching a CBP checkpoint. Sometimes, the decision to assert one's rights under the law requires paying a cost --- in time, in convenience, in privacy, and perhaps other matters, both to oneself and to one's traveling companions. Different people choose to weight the costs vs. the benefits in different ways --- sometimes, even from flight to flight. I'm not about to judge how another person makes those decisions.

Besides, sometimes all it takes is one person doing the right thing in order to get the precedent set. Ask Steve Bierfeldt. Ask Rosa Parks.

(As for me ... well, I'm not a good choice to answer the question, considering the interval between international flights for me is typically measured in years.)