I just got back to the states and cleared CBP at MIA. Arrived from SJO - fantastic trip I must add.

Came in at the upper D concourse and had to make quite a trek over to E for immigrations and customs. I don't think I've ever had to walk so far in my life to reach immigrations Once at Immigrations, the very far right lanes I found go quick as many people don't notice and queue in the middle.

I checked the "Have you been on a farm/ranch/etc" box - that got me the code "AO" written on my landing card at immigrations.

Immigrations was very efficient - just a quick question about where I was regarding the yes mark.

No checked luggage, I proceed to Customs. Customs asks a similar question and sends me to agriculture inspection (I was expecting this). Officer had some concerns about potential dirt on my footware.

Once at Agriculture, the officer there just has me place my luggage thru an x-ray machine and then a 2nd officer clears me - no further questions. I was expecting a follow-up with perhaps a cleaning or look at the shoes. Once my bags were thru the x-ray, I was waived into the US and out the door.

One last, unrelated comment: The war on water is going strong in SJO. All pax had to undergo a secondary in the jetway and the only concern seemed to be liquids purchased airside .. anything beyond "311" (duty free alcohol was in the jetway (after the great water check) for pickup).

Never be the first ones to approach the CBP if there has been a lull in incoming traffic. The first ones will automatically get flagged for Agri screening. Same goes for customs, if they are sitting around chatting, do not approach them you will be selected for a survey - aka extra screening.

On the entry I had posted above, I was sent to Agri because of the response on my landing card.

I believe the CBP officer sent me to Agri for a valid reason, but once at Agri there was really no follow-up; just an x-ray of my luggage.

To me it seems like there was a disconnect between the CBP officer that sent me to Agri with valid reason and the lack of any follow-up at Agri. With no actual follow-up at Agri, why even send me there in the first place?

Once USCS, INS and USDA got thrown together into CBP, there was a barely believable recognition that the non-USDA inspectors wouldn't be able to stand in for the legacy USDA inspectors because of the extensive knowledge required.

More than likely, everyone's been told to refer everyone who has checked "yes" and the actual "USDA inspector" reviews your declaration, asks a couple of questions and determines whether or not any soil existent on your shoes or belongings poses an actual threat.

It was my understanding that after the formation of CBP, all the inspectors from the existing agencies were going to be cross-trained to perform all three functions (passport control, customs, and agriculture), in order to achieve maximium personnel flexibility. Has this cross-training not actually happened?

I have some friends in CBP and they are only trained the immigration and customs parts of it. The agriculture inspector job remains separate because those officers have different educational requirements and attend a different training academy.

Once over at Agri, I wasn't asked a single question. An officer there just collected my card and had me place all luggage on an x-ray. Post x-ray I was waived out the door.

FWIW, I did give the footware a rinse once at my hotel in Miami.

I can only reach two conclusions:

(1) The system didn't work;

(2) The officer who collected my card was a USDA inspector, saw my country of origin and had no concern or felt there was no need to follow-up (aside from the x-ray everyone at Agri gets).

There has been limited cross training for the Ag oriented subjects. Ag officers have a very science intense training academy and the actual officers (not the Ag technicians) have science credentials out the wazoo.

Very well put.