747FC

I don't know you, and you may be very honest and of high integrity. However, your claims are highly improbable. Those I know with high clearances would never call someone to get them out of a CPB or police stop. They simply have too much integrity, common sense and respect for others to even imagine the rubbish you suggest. Maybe you are In a witness protection program and you bother your case agent too much. Watch out or they will cut you loose.

Airbridge

Simples it includes all those that have adjusted their status over the years by marriage or by way of the various amnesties

You might find this an interesting read http://hubpages.com/hub/Irish-Blood-Genetic-Identity

Yoshi212

I do not call people to get out of these situations unless they escalated to detainment. What does happen is if my ID is run and I always hand over a govt ID that when processed will come up as searched ( not a drivers license) the department I work with gets notified and they reach out as a security protocol. They do not tell people to let me go. They investigate and this tends to scare off lesser officials.

FlyingHoustonian

I have read much of the census and ancestry claims of North Americans for classes in demographics, albeit back in the 90s-the Irish numbers have not changed much sense then from what I read now.

That does not make your initial claim about the number of illegal Irish correct but it can seem like there are that many

rwoman

Probably not something (security clearances, employment with gov't agencies that gets you out of possible trouble with LE) I'd brag about on a public forum.

747FC

You must attract a lot of negative attention wherever you go. Why?

GUWonder

When Robert Gates gets pulled over, even his ID checks didn't routinely set off alerts at his employer. As the stories go -- and I don't know if the story is absolutely true or just partially fictionalized -- back when he was a young novice at his three letter acronym federal employer, his CSO-type training exercise showed him to be a not-so-great amateur and he got picked up by local LEOs and had to cry "Uncle Sam" to get released. A lot has changed in the years since, but I'm hard pressed to believe that an automatic alert and release system has become perfectly reliable in the past decade. Even then current NSC staff and former NS Advisors wouldn't count on such a thing -- if it even exists in any meaningful sense in a country with a federal system that routinely creates bigger haystacks in which to lose needles when they couldn't even find needles in smaller haystacks.

Yoshi212

99% of the time I go through immigration and customs without a glance thanks to Global Entry and dual citizenship so No I don't attract a lot of attention, but when things do go south when someone decides to use their "Authoritah" I react and I don't act out of aggression. I wait for simple questions to confirm and if/when things go south I know what is required of myself and what the agent SHOULD do vs what they try to do.

Tonight I showed this thread to a friend who travels casually and they suggested that maybe I fall into a category that CBP may have come up with as "casual American" to make people feel more comfortable as not racist. I'm 32 years old, white(non-Latino by the ACA), a former rugby player so you can think of me physically and have held a Government contract of some sort since I was 18 years old (age isn't a requirement for office).

bertgolz

I was always wondering how other nations manage to protect their borders without interrogating their returning citizens.....

halls120

I've never had a problem with the UKBA. They are open and up front about what they do, and I never sense they are trying to play games when I visit the UK on business or pleasure.

Sorry, but if you start asking me what I was doing while abroad on behalf of the USG, you aren't going to get a response other than "on official business on behalf of the USG." And if you or your colleagues don't like that response, I ask for a supervisor, and that always seems to defuse the situation.

They haven't decided to use the threat of terrorism as an excuse to bully the populace.

FlyIgglesFly

[QUOTE=halls120;22963962]Sorry, but if you start asking me what I was doing while abroad on behalf of the USG, you aren't going to get a response other than "on official business on behalf of the USG." And if you or your colleagues don't like that response, I ask for a supervisor, and that always seems to defuse the situation.
QUOTE]

And you're not getting a response on what I was doing abroad while not working other than "vacation" or "personal." You get to know that I'm a US citizen and that I'm not carrying anything illegal. The end.

bertgolz

CBP used to ask (I'm talking about US citizens) exactly the same questions and with exactly same intensity before 9/11

And everybody on this board say that Israel is obsessed with threat of terrorism. However, Israeli border protection officers (not to be confused with Israeli analog of TSA) don't ask returning Israelis any question.

jphripjah

[QUOTE=FlyIgglesFly;22964937][QUOTE=FlyIgglesFly;22964937]
Do you successfully decline to answer all the other routine questions they like to ask, like what do you do for a living, who are you traveling with, were you there on a group tour, etc.? What treatment do you receive when you just say "personal"?

jphripjah

This reminds me that about 8 months ago I sent a query on this topic to the CBP web portal. Here is the exchange:


Customer By Web Form 08/21/2013 12:25 AM

I am a frequent international traveler and a U.S. citizen. I know that CBP officers often ask returning American travelers where they are coming from, what they were doing abroad, who they are traveling with, what they do for a living, etc. My questions are these:


After submitting a truthful customs declaration (blue) form, may U.S. citizens choose not to answer further questions from CBP officers at ports of entry?

What treatment should a U.S. citizen expect to receive if he or she declines to answer questions from a CBP officer?

Can U.S. citizens be arrested, deported or denied entry into the United States by CBP simply for declining to answer questions from CBP officers?

Thank you for your anticipated response.


From: "CBP INFO Center <[email protected]>" <[email protected]>
Date: September 26, 2013, 12:16:38 AM GMT+
Reply-To: "CBP INFO Center <[email protected]


Discussion Thread
Response Via Email (Complaints Officer *******) 09/25/2013 01:16 PM

Thank you *****, for your email inquiring about a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer's authority to ask questions of travelers.

A CBP Officer’s border search authority is derived from Federal statutes and regulations, including 19 C.F.R. 162.6, which states that, “All persons, baggage and merchandise arriving in the Customs territory of the United States from places outside thereof are liable to inspection by a CBP Officer.” Unless exempt by diplomatic status, all persons entering the United States, including U.S. citizens, are subject to examination and search by CBP Officers.

Speaking with travelers and examining merchandise coming into or leaving the United States are some of the ways we look for illegal or prohibited items, and to determine whether or not someone is trying to enter the U.S. for unlawful or under fraudulent purposes. Unless exempt by diplomatic status, all travelers entering the United States, including U.S. citizens, participate in routine customs processing. At times, people make the mistake of thinking their civil rights are being violated by being asked questions about their trip, personal background and history, etc. That is not the case. Supreme Court decisions have upheld the doctrine that CBP's search authority is unique and does not violate the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.

It is not the intent of CBP to subject travelers to unwarranted scrutiny. CBP Officers may, unfortunately, inconvenience law-abiding citizens in order to detect those involved in illicit activities. We are especially aware of how inconvenient and stressful the inspection process may be to those selected for inspection. In such cases we rely heavily on the patience, understanding, and cooperation of the traveler.

To answer your direct questions:

After submitting a truthful customs declaration (blue) form, may U.S. citizens choose not to answer further questions from CBP officers at ports of entry?

ANSWER: Travelers, no matter their nationality, must answer all questions truthfully and fully at Primary Inspection. Failure to answer questions asked by the CBP Officer can result in the traveler being sent to Secondary Inspection. The reason is that the traveler appears to have something to hide and warrants further scrutiny.

What treatment should a U.S. citizen expect to receive if he or she declines to answer questions from a CBP officer?

ANSWER: A traveler who refuses to answer the questions of a CBP Officer at Primary Inspection can expect to be sent to Secondary Inspection for further scrutiny.

Can U.S. citizens be arrested, deported or denied entry into the United States by CBP simply for declining to answer questions from CBP officers?

ANSWER: A USC cannot be denied entry to the United States or deported for refusing to answer questions. However, the refusal can result in being sent to Secondary Inspection for further scrutiny. A person may be held and their person and luggage searched and the person questioned until it is determined that they are not involved in illegal activity. This type of hostile action on the part of the traveler will likely result in being sent to Secondary every subsequent time they return to the U.S.

An additional problem with refusing to answer the basic Primary Inspection questions is that this type of person wastes precious time, money, and adversely affects security by taking the CBP Officers away from their duties to deal with a USC who may have nothing to hide, but chooses to be obstinate. Again, questioning travelers is how we detect people who are involved in illegal activity and the Supreme Court has upheld that the doctrine of CBP's search authority is unique and does not violate the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Travelers are highly advised to comply by answering the CBP Officer's questions. If a traveler is uncomfortable with a question, he/she can always ask to speak with the Chief Officer on duty or a CBP Passenger Service Manager (PSM) on-site. A supervisor is always available to address the concerns of travelers during their CBP processing.

Thank you again for contacting the CBP INFO Center Complaints Branch online.

Regards,

******
Senior Public Information Officer - Complaints Branch



Customer By Web Form 09/26/2013 07:58 AM

Thank you for your detailed and thoughtful response. I appreciate that CBP officers have wide authority to question travelers and search for evidence of illegal activity. Questioning and searching travelers is how CBP fulfills its important role in protecting the integrity of our borders.

I do have one additional question. Your answer focused on the consequences of a traveler's refusal to answer basic primary inspection questions, but in my initial inquiry I meant to cover secondary inspection as well.

As you may know, some of the questions asked in secondary inspection may be more probing any investigative than the ordinary basic primary inspection questions. For example, secondary inspection may involve pointed questions from CBP officers to a traveler about whether the traveler is involved in criminal activity. Moreover, it is my understanding that falsely answering such questions from a federal agent is a federal felony crime, so the "stakes" of choosing to answer the questions can be quite high.

Aside from your example of an obstinate or hostile traveler who refuses to answer any primary inspection questions at all, there may be good faith reasons why a US citizen may not to wish to answer certain probing questions during secondary inspection, including personal privacy concerns, fear of unwittingly incriminating oneself, feeling too tired to answer extensive law enforcement questions after a 14 hour flight, or the fear of prosecution if a traveler accidentally volunteers an incorrect or "false" answer.

If federal law enforcement officers knock on a US citizen's door at home, I believe that the citizen may decline to answer any questions posed. So my final question is this. If, for whatever reason, a US citizen is called into secondary inspection, does CBP recognize that US citizens are not required to answer CBP investigative questions during secondary inspection and may instead choose to remain silent?

Thank you for your anticipated response.

Response Via Email (Complaints Officer *******) 09/26/2013 09:29 AM

That is not the case with CBP. Travelers must answer all questions while in Secondary or be detained until the officer(s) have determined that there is no illegal activity. Knocking on someone's door in the U.S. is not the same as someone in a Federal Inspection Service area asking for entry to the United States. Although USC's cannot be denied entry, they can be detained until such a time that they are cleared from inspection. As you can imagine there are all sorts of reasons for detaining travelers which include; smuggling or abetting smuggling of narcotics, currency, fraudulent documents, controlled medications, child or snuff pornography, weapons and munitions, WMD's, other prohibited items, and human trafficking.

Please see some of the many articles on what we find in Secondary Inspections:

http://www.yumasun.com/articles/drug...-luis-san.html

http://www.kdbc.com/news/17-lbs-coca...-occupied-kids

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/l...219604181.html

http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Mill...934/story.html

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...clues/2383171/

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opi...,4435897.story

halls120

When I'm abroad on personal travel, the response CBP gets from me depends totally on the attitude and demeanor of the officer asking the questions. If they are polite, low key and friendly, I'll tell them who I work for, but not what I do for my employer, because it isn't any of their business. Heck, I'm in a really good mood, I'll tell them my itinerary if they are really that interested.

OTOH, if they are rude, officious and overbearing, they get nothing other than "I was in _______ on vacation." I've never had a problem with either response.

I would have fun with this one if some arrogant A hole tried it with me. Refusal to answer inappropriate questions is "hostile?"

No wonder an increasing number of people hate the US government.