Got caught bringing alcohol back to the US as a minor
 

I was coming from a latin american country, and I brought back a bottle of some local brand of alcohol. The customs officer asked me if I was bringing any alcohol, and I said no. He could tell I was very nervous, so he sent me to secondary check. When I arrived there, I told the officer I lied, and that I was bringing in alcohol to the United States as a minor. He confiscated the bottle, had me sign a paper that stated I was voluntarily leaving the alcohol there, and let me go. What are the possible implications for me here? I will do an intership in the summer, and the company is running a background check on me. Will this appear there? Am I in trouble? Will I lose my job?

I'm no expert but I can't imagine this would show up on a background check as you were never charged with a crime.

Also not an expert, but I bet the CBP officer probably took the booze home, drank it, and nothing of value ever happened with that paper you signed. I wouldn't worry.

Entirely possible that the Officer does nothing with the Release in which case there is no record of what happened and nothing will ever come of it. If the Officer does enter the information and scan the Release, it may affect you in three ways:

First, more likelihood that you will be pulled into secondary the next few times you enter the country. So, be squeaky clean. A second go around won't be dealt with kindly.

Second, possible problems obtaining Global Entry. It's a "trusted traveler" program and you lied and broke the rules.

Third, in a full field investigation for certain clearances, someone may come across the incident and paperwork and ask you about it. Unlikely to amount to a hill of beans so long as you explain exactly what happened, e.g. you lied about a bottle of booze as a minor and then admitted it. The problems arise when you lie about incidents more than the incidents themselves.

If you are asking about a routine criminal background check to determine whether you have any arrests, convictions or outstanding warrants, the answer is almost certainly no. If it does arise, I have no idea what your internship is about, but unless it's with the WCTU, I wouldn't worry too much.

I second that -- I doubt it will affect your internship or haunt you down the road, because the question will almost certainly be along the lines of, "Have you ever been convicted of a crime?"

But read the question carefully, and if you are ever asked about attempting to bring anything into the country, answer truthfully and explain what happened. It could come up in a Pre-Check/Global Entry application, a government clearance, or a professional license (like to practice law). People generally forgive a stupid mistake that happened when you were 19 or 20, but are much more likely to have a problem if they feel like you're currently hiding something from them.

You were lucky, and I don't think there would be any further consequences. Were there no adults in the group who could have carried it for you through customs? Always make sure any alcohol entering the U.S. is in the custody of someone 21 or older. It's an easy mistake to make, since in most countries it was perfectly legal for you to buy alcohol, then you don't realize that even transporting into the country is not allowed in the U.S.

Actually the airports confiscate tons of liquor weekly. They have to store it and destroy it under OSHA and other guidelines.
Unless you go for some super high level security clearance it likely won't come up on a typical background check. Customs just needs the paperwork so they can destroy it. Otherwise you could appeal the process.

I got caught bringing a pair of pepperoni, a pair of sausages, smoked turkey breasts and 2 litres of rakija (Serbian local brandy) when entering into USA as a student. Everything would have been fine (as was half a dozen time before) had the officer not passed by me with the dog who smelled meat. The officer asked if I carried any meat and of course I said no since I didn't want to part with it :p I was promptly sent to secondary screening which I tried sneakily to bypass (unsuccessfully of course :td:).

When the second officer asked if I carried any meat, again I said no, so he had me put both my suitcases onto the scanner belt. Shock!!! It scanned meat :) after which he made a comment "there is definitely some meat in there". I simply said "impossible" :) As I was opening the bags for him to inspect it, he asked who packed my bags and I said it was me (when in fact my mum packed me). He had to dig through most of my staff to take out the meat and as he pulled it out, I smiled and said "mom must have put it in there in case I went hungry" :D

He rolled his eyes and threw the meat in some sort of a container bin. He missed the rakija though (some consolation at least ^).

Now, when my mom packs me, she strategically places each piece of clothing and it is virtually impossible to close the suitcase if you displace anything. Since from previous experience I knew that was going to be impossible, I had the customs officer repack everything since because of him I wouldn't be able to repack again. He refused and I refused to step out of the line. People behind me in the line were cursing me and mentioning my mum, dad, relatives both dead and alive... In the end he did pack me by putting the rest of staff he couldn't fit into a plastic bag!! I smiled, told him it wasn't that difficult and wished him well. That was probably a bit too far, but I couldn't help it :))

After that incident, I never bring any meat with me and I always have to go through the secondary screening.

Sorry if its a bit long a story but the memory still gives me chuckles and I just had to share it :D:p

That's it, but it's unlikely to even come up as an issue even if up for an NSC position. Just saying.

When I was 19 or 20 in China I bought a big bottle of a beverage called Three Snake and Red Spotted Lizard Wine (the kind that has grotesque dead reptiles floating in the bottle) to give as a joke to a family member who collects wine.

The bottle wasn't sealed perfectly, however, and on the flight home it seeped a little. Unzipping my bag after removing it from the overhead bin (this was before the stupid liquids ban) unleashed... an odor.

I got a little worried, not because I was under 21 (I had thought of it strictly as a gag gift and not an alcoholic beverage, so the underage thing hadn't even occurred to me), but because the thought suddenly crossed my mind that the corpses floating in the bottle might belong to endangered species or otherwise somehow be prohibited.

And of COURSE I was sent to secondary at Customs.

After rifling through the outside pockets of my bags, finding my little travel pill bottle with a few pills each of Sudafed, Tylenol, Imodium, etc., and giving me a brief lecture about the Importance of Transporting Pills in their Original Packaging, the agent asked if I had any alcohol.

"Yes, but just one bottle." [thinking about duty free allowances, not drinking ages]
"Are you 21?"
"Oh. [realizing why she was asking] No. But there's no way I'm drinking it. It's a weird Chinese wine I bought for a family member who collects wine." [the truth]
"Where is it?"
"It's in the main pocket of my carryon. But be warned. It leaked a little during the flight and it's pretty stinky."
[Agent starts to unzip bag, catches a whiff, immediately zips it back up and hands it back to me with a smile]
"Welcome home."

This. There is no question on the SF-86 or its electronic equivalent (eQIP) about such violations. No impact, thus, in getting a TS/SCI clearance via a SSBI.

If you need a full-scope polygraph, they may be able to tell you're lying when they ask questions about ever breaking the law, etc. (Polys are incredibly unreliable, but they will likely ask things about "Have you ever broken the law?" and if you conceal that, they may think you're evasive--after all, the CBP officer was able to spot your evasiveness easily!--and if you tell the truth, it's possible the fact you lied to begin with will be a strike against you.)

Everybody blames Mom or Grandma. Most common excuse ever. I had a co-worker who used to let people go unless they used that excuse, then he'd fine them.

And he didn't miss the rakija. He just didn't care.

Yep. Back in the day if for some reason we cared that a 20-year-old college student had a bottle of booze, we'd offer him a sink to pour it down. No paperwork for us, no record that the kid had ever tried to bring booze in while underage. I suspect CBP isn't that laid-back these days.

yeah, don't be so sure. I once had a secondary due to being over the exemption for booze. They ended up pulling all of it, including my emergency "stuck on tarmac" mini bottles out of my toiletries kit to calculate the duty. They even xrayed my bowling balls. But they missed the 25 banded habanos in the side pocket of the carryon.