I had a physical altercation with DFW Customs agents
 

I am still enraged. I cannot believe how horrible they are. Arrived from LIR 4/14/29 at 8pm. Went strait to a completely empty Global Entry line. Nobody was there. They had 8 of those switchbacks that i had to walk back and forth through. Again there WAS NOBODY IN THE LINE AT ALL. At about the 7th switchback, i just ducked under the last one. Immediately i was told agressively by the Customs agent that that was not legal, that I must walk through the 8 switchbacks and walk back through the switchbacks. I immediately demanded a supervisor. One was not available, so i stood there in the empty line continually demanding one. I pulled out my phone to tell my wife i would be late and was having problems with customs. The agent jumped from behind his desk and ran toward me grabbed my rm and tried to grab my phone telling me it was illegal to have a phone out while in a customs line. I pulled back and another agent grabbed me and i pushed him off hard. The supervisor showed up and in the loud authoratative voice they are trained to use stated, "I would have had you walk back through just like the agent said". He asked me for my Global Entry card, and told me I must have it on me, and he could pull my GE for not having it. Look, i am an easy guy to deal with, but i am a big guy an spent lots of time in military law enforcement, i was not intimidated, and i know when BS is happening, and at that moment i drew a line in the sand and i would have died before i walked back through the switchbacks. I had lots of aggressive words with these people. i was surrounded and nobody was coming to my defense, (all the sheeple just thinking i was causing the issue) . I told the supervisor I want to go home now, he said we want you to go home also, so with that I grabbed my passport from his hands grabbed my bag, pushed through 2 agents and walked right through customs and exited, the whole time I thought they would stop me. As luck would have it, the DFW watch commander Krutzle was by the baggage claim. I told him what happened, and he confirmed that everything the agents and supervisor told me were not accurate. You can go under the rope, you can have your phone out, and you do not need your GE card when traveling. He assured me that nothing at all will be happening to my GE status, and telling him was the same thing as filing a formal complaint. Anything else i should do?

While what happened is maddening, pick your battles.

Having to walk through a zig-zagging line with nobody in it is annoying and a waste of effort, but it's just not worth high blood pressure or anger. Maybe file a complaint about any incorrect application of rules, but don't let things like this escalate in the future.

Over the years I have learnt to "obey" the Civil Servants, especially Police, Customs, Immigration, even the post office people....world over they have :justifiable" causes to make your life miserable. Logic I use is : Heck we are the only ones they can "yell" at, no one else ! BTW using the cell phones in Customs is a NO-No.

Meh. Much ado about nothing.

Yep, I agree.

So many sheep
 

It absolutely blows me away that people just comply. Even when you are not doing anything wrong, you still comply. For me, it would absolutely enrage me if somebody did that to my mother, my daughters, my wife. If they would do that to me why shouldn't they do that to anybody else? We pay these people not to be a** holes but to get us through customs. I'm not 2 years old, don't tell me to walk back through the direction I came in then walk back to your desk. Don't attempt to grab me and take my phone away. I'm not like all the other sheep in line. If I am not wrong I will deal with it in the way that I think it should be dealt with. And if they had a touch me again I would absolutely fought back. It was my line, it may not be your line but remember I paid just like you these people salaries to to a job. They are supposed to be DE escalators and these people escalated it it every single point. They are not safe to be around. I do not want them to do that to anybody's family into get power trips around anybody's family.

To the OP, I agree that it's annoying to walk through those empty lanes and the officer could have handled the situation better by using his common-sense. But I have to point out, you don't come across as having handled the situation well either. You admit to being aggressive. That only leads to escalation. Over a trivial annoyance. If this was such a huge deal, I wonder what your reaction would be if you were held up for a couple of hours, questioned, your phone inspected, you strip searched, etc., just because you're the wrong skin color or have a certain kind of name. These things happen more often than we'd like to admit, unfortunately. The world isn't a fair place for lots of people.

Buddy, when someone illegally, aggressively grabs you and attempts to take your stuff, it is always time to be aggressive. It is one of the few times to be aggressive.

It is silly at times to walk through extra empty switchbacks, but so what? A few extra steps are good for your health anyway, particularly after a long flight. I would have never even gotten to the point where anyone was even close to touching me. Why make a mountain out of a mole hill?

I am pretty sure nobody reading this understands my story. He wanted to watch me walk back all the way through and then walk back. that was the issue. what purpose does that serve? then i tried to text my wife and he grabbed me. Do you think i thought it would go that far?

OK, and then what? How do you think your physical fight with the CBP / police is going to end? Normally, it would be a rhetorical question, but seeing how serious you are, I really want to hear from you how you think fighting the law enforcement officers (regardless of who is wrong and who is right) is going to end for you.

I was OK getting arrested. I know the law well and my wife is an ATTY. He initiated illegal contact, if they arrested me, there was no doubt that there would be a settlement. I was OK with that. Just because they are law enforcement does not mean they can violate the law. Legally I have every right to defend myself from illegal physical aggression, even from police.

Opposite experience for me at at DTW (Detroit). Empty line, two officers by the exit door. One of them beckoned, "Over here!" and I zig-zagged toward him instead of walking directly. He turned to his colleague and snickered.

As for being aggressive, I'm a sucker by nature, and if I try to fake it and act aggressive, I'm going to get in trouble. Whether it's with law enforcement or just a random stranger, I avoid confrontations because I know I'm going to lose. So I "take it," as @HMPS suggests. I believe @CUSO has a point, however: if you're not a sucker, if you can deal with the blowback, then please do stand up against overreaches of power. Because you're not just standing up for yourself -- you're standing up for the suckers like me.

Moderator's Action
 

Per the forum's sticky post, the Practical Travel Safety and Security Issues is for asking questions and getting information to help our members travel safely and with minimal hassle; it is for sharing information that is needed before traveling.

This discussion has gone way past the informational stage or the need to know when traveling.

Please follow this thread as it moves to the Policy Debate forum.

TWA884
Travel Safety/Security co-moderator