Is it normal for a customs inspector to look at your passport?
 

Cleared DTW immigration/customs today after coming back from AMS.

Cleared immigration, walked over to customs and surprise, a huge mess of a line filled with arrivals from some Asian flight.

Anyhow, I noticed the customs inspectors looking thru most people's passport. Do they have the right to do that? I mean, their role is simply a tax collector (a la IRS). I gave mine, the guy thumbed thru it, asked some stupid questions, and gave it back to me.

I guess I'm not sure what they would even learn from the passport at that point, given how many countries don't stamp passports it seems.

DHS/CBP does have a right to examine your passport. They even have a right to determine how to harass you based on travel patterns, including as indicated by the passport use.

I am not a fan of the situation, but our government has given DHS a lot of power to hassle persons (re-)entering/exiting the US, and it's also for reasons that go beyond just collecting taxes/import duties.

Yes, of course CBP officers can ask to see your passport when you are entering the United States, and you are required to surrender it for inspection.

Remember that CBP officers have been cross-trained to perform passport control AND customs functions (and sometimes agriculture inspections too). So a CBP officer asking for your passport at the customs exit carries just as much weight as the CBP officer asking for your passport at the passport control counter.


I have GlobalEntry membership, and in the past year, 50% of the time the CBP officer at the customs exit has wanted to glance at my passport to compare with the name on the GE receipt. Once, I gave him a curious look as I dug out my passport, and he said, "just to make sure you didn't find somebody else's receipt on the floor upstairs." Since that occasion, I keep my passport in my hand until I exit customs.

Cross-training really has nothing to do with this. This approach by the US Government has been going on long before there was CBP clerks being cross-trained.

True, I was just referring to the cross-training that happened after 9/11 with the consolidation of INS and US Customs Service into a single new agency, CBP, under DHS.

I used to get stopped for further inspection every time I cane through customs in Detroit. I guess I fit the profile. (a single male traveling alone from "suspect" places like Mexico and Thailand.) Then one time the customs agent asked for me to place my bags on the table and ran my passport. He then smiled and jokingly said to me, "We do this to you every time don't we?" He waved me through and I haven't had them stop me since. This happened about 9-10 years ago.

DTW is known for having especially draconian customs inspections....perhaps it's the historical legacy of all of those NW flights coming in from AMS over the years! ;)

According to reports, the same happens at LAX for single male travelers arriving from Asia, particularly Thailand. (although in this case, the profile pretty strongly suggests what they are looking for)

Actually, it's probably more likely to be the legacy of all the NW flights from Asia coming in. As a veteran of those flights, you would be amazed at what Asians try to bring in--in particular, prohibited food and agricultural products. On just about every incoming flight, Customs inspections were producing a bounty of no-no's. I suspect that far outweighs instances of finding contraband coming from AMS. ;-)

Customs does have the right to check out your passport and often are looking for confirmation of where you went (which should match the line you filled in your Declaration form)...maybe in some cases, for travel "patterns". In past years, I've been approached in the baggage claim area (while waiting for luggage to appear) by roving agents who check passport and declaration, then make a mark on the form and tell you when luggage is in hand, to either go to the exit line or the inspection lines. So I guess you could call this "Customs profiling" which I don't have a problem with, as it's the sensible approach.

This year, Global Entry has been great at speeding up/streamlining the entire US entry process--though so far, I have not received an X receipt from the kiosk that would force an inspection stop rather than a quick dash for the exit.

It's not unusual - coming through DFW this week Customs was checking all passports in the Global Entry & Crew line, and it appears they were doing so in the regular lines, too. Same with Miami - just a quick glance. When I came through JFK in October, there was no passport check.

They do have the right to do the check, and generally it's not a big deal.

A GE member who lost his receipt would trigger an event. He'd be unable to get another receipt from the kiosk, and when he tried to clear immigration without his GE receipt, the CBP officer would notice the GE member had used the kiosk.

At that point, the CBP officers in rest of the arrivals hall would be alerted.

Of course this is all assuming that GE is designed the way it should be.

Anyway, I had the same thing happen to me at LAX after I handed in my GE receipt, but not only that the customs guy asked me various questions about purpose of journey, had I purchased anything, etc. Very annoying.

I had a customs function CBP guy at IAH back in late December have mini-fit over the fact I only had a leather over the shoulder, strap briefcase with me. He couldn't believe I didn't have more luggage (I never travel with big bags unless my children are with me). I'm thinking, well there are various reasons: I have homes in Europe and here so I don't need to carry things, I was only gone a short time, and I pack efficientlyy...but before I could answer he started on the what kind of work do you do questions. I replied, don't you have that already with the GE application. I gave you everything. He looked at me and then waived me on. A tad annoying but still under a minute in the GE exit line.

Ciao,
FH

I'll remember that the next time.

If the kiosk printed an X, then I could see the justification for 20 questions. But otherwise, a successful receipt should be the golden ticket. CBP should use the "nothing to declare" exits like most other countries.

But those countries just seem to take your word for it, most of the time. The EU airports I've visited have not had any officers "sizing you up" as you walk out of the Green (nothing to declare) line. How do they know you're telling the truth if they're not even trying actively to catch smugglers?

:rolleyes: Like the US.

Apparently then one would have to conclude that you must not have flown from the US to any EU airports at any point in the past ten years. That, or you have made a blanket claim that is inaccurate despite flying to the same airports where actions take place despite some passengers being unaware of the customs actions being taken in this regard at those airports.

:rolleyes: They are actively trying to catch smugglers and do catch them -- and they catch them at every airport that is a hub for an EU airline that has commercial passenger flights to the US and is part of one of the three big global airline alliances. And every EU airport with scheduled passenger flights from the US or elsewhere in the Americas also have customs doing that which your "if" statement suggests they are not doing.

Do these guys go through the same mind-reading training programme that SPOTs do? I bet those CBP agents catch as many smugglers as BDOs do terrorists.