TSA and fines.
 

how is the TSA even try to inforce fines with tourists? Stopping them to leave USA ? What if the tourists dont have the money up front. Forced to stay in USA for ever? I just dont undertsand this.:confused:

What fines?

Maybe the OP means CBP?

Probably so, though the TSA can assess civil penalties.

I am fairly certain that the civil penalties is the concern of the OP. She has family in Europe and if the TSA were to assess one of these penalties as she travels out of the US, would they detain her from travel, impose the penalty upon return or some other method? We know the fines are rare to the point of being almost nonexistent, but they are authorized (we think, SSI hides the exact nature of these) and it seems it is becoming much easier to get ensnared in a bureaucratic web in which people become trapped with little recourse except surrender.

No, that's not correct.

While the TSA's ridiculous threats of attempting to impose a civil penalty on someone are a pain, even an assessed penalty is nothing more than a civil judgment against the person. Its definitely not a reason someone can't come into the US or be detained from traveling.

I was not talking about me.
I am talking about tourists in general. Could be family members to me.. People who could just irritate TSA when it comes to screening.

How would TSA even try to fine tourists leaving USA? Like tourists have banks/ money/ assets here.

The fines are not assessed on the spot so not sure they would do anything.
Unlike many fines in Europe, for example, must be paid on the spot. The very, very, very small number of TSA fines should not really be a concern to them. For all my disdain of the feckless TSA and their inane policies. My non-US citizen family and friends who fly in and out of the US do not worry about it.

So if I jaywalk in say, Berlin, they walk me to an ATM? Or have credit card reader? This seems rife for abuse, w/ police being able to write a ticket then pocketing the cash

Depends on the country and "crime".

I have personally been with non- EU citizens pulled over in the Netherlands, for example, who did in fact have to pay a cash fine at that exact time or surrender a passport while they went to the nearest ATM, or in another instance get escorted to an ATM. Same for one popped for basically illegal use of a Coffee shop in Maastricht-paid cash on the spot and given a receipt for the ticket.

I have seen people have to pay airport customs fines on the spot in the UK, Italy and Australia several times. I also dealt with non-EU nationals who had to pay fines for offences in Germany, not same day but with a surrendered document.

I've seen transit fines needing to be paid on the spot in The Netherlands, Germany, Spain, and Austria.

There are others that is just a sampling.

And I am not talking the baksheesh or mordida or anything like that, I mean "real" offences, to them at least.

Paying on the spot fines is nothing new arond the world and not unique to the USA, and AFAIK the TSA actually does not do that though CBP often does.

I was stopped for speeding on Rugen Island, Germany, last August. My German is limited, and their English was worse, but their main concern was whether I could pay the 80 Euros right then, or would I have to go to an ATM. I was suspicious of their bona fides, so a asked to go to the station, and they agreed to let me drive there, following their patrol car. At the station, the officer in charge confirmed the fine, and when I admitted I could and would pay on the spot, the officers nodded to one another, "(Yes, he had the cash all along!").

A month later my car rental company sent me an additional charge for the fine. When I complained to Amex that I had a receipt for the payment, they just wrote it off for me, as if they had experience with it.

So back on topic, Europeans might be concerned about TSA fines, but right, they don't do that here.

All tjis is still scary What it a young person minor travelling. That does not mean that they can pay or their parents can pay.Or their grand parent ME have $ 11.000 (what I have heard) just to throw out to somtehing I dont belive in. The whole thing is scary.

what if the person who is walked to atm maschine does not have that kind of money? A lot of people have their tickets bougth by somebody else.

Plus me I never travel with cards at all. I dont have to . Just some cash.

only to you, evidently.

nobody has to travel with credit cards. But it would seem a very wise thing to do if you have them, just for emergencies.

Not something to worry about, particularly not any "maximum" penalties that might be indicated. Those are just there to "scare" people into following the rules. There are many people who post on FT about purposely antagonizing TSA employees and I've not heard of a fine yet.

This should be the least of your family's worries, in my opinion.

Back in April 2012, I made a Freedom of Information Act request for all fines levied at TSA checkpoints between 11/20/11 and 1/2/12 and the circumstances that gave rise to those fines.

A couple of weeks ago, TSA responded with a ~150 page document with 2-3 incidents per page. It contained not only the fines that were levied, but also situations where fines were considered but not levied.

Much to my surprise - they provided the information in both hard and soft copy, did not charge me for it, and the information was not heavily redacted.

I'm still perusing the information, but I can say that the minimum fine was $0, and the maximum that I've seen so far is $1,500. Most of them are in the $125-$500 range.