201–210 of 222 posts
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> Personally I rarely carry any ID at all I do usually carry ID, but (except for flying) I can't remember the last time I actually had to show it to anybody.
If you ever pass out and wake up in a hospital, its nice to have one on you.
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I did this every time I re-entered the US for several years. After a few times, they took to arresting me for 4-10 hours on EVERY ENTRY, sending busses without me, making me miss connecting flights, et c. One time I was locked in a room without food, water, or medication for 12 hours. (FWIW, I'm white, a US citizen, employed, and wealthy-by-most-standards-but-not-by-HNs.) They'd sometimes simply intimidate me, someti…
You definitely got put on the "probable drug smuggler" list. Luckily you seem to have fallen off of that list but if you went back to your old behavior I'm sure you could find your way back on it.
Fun fact: the passport gates at UK airports appear to be biometric, but aren't. You step into a little gate, place your passport photo page down onto a scanner, and look into a camera for a photograph. The thing which slows folks down at passport gates (and the reason the best passport control agents don't have a jocular welcoming patter) is the hello/goodbye/talking around the manual "look at your face, look at your…
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I think every time I enter the European Union as a citizen (crossing the border in Denmark, Germany, the UK, France, the Netherlands or Spain) I've either not interacted with anyone (electronic border gate), or said nothing more than "hello" and "thank you". Speaking to a customs official is very rare, I've only had that happen once. Do most Americans get questioned at their own border? I do, but I'd assumed that was…
As a Canadian, I get questioned on entry to Canada every time. I assume it is the same for Americans; the borders are configured very similarly.
also worth noting: as a US citizen re-entering the country you do not have to present anything more to a customs agent than your passport. You are not required to answer any questions at all. Where youre from, where you were, what you did, nothing, however it may result in an inspection of your bags, so it depends on whether your interpretation of liberty is based on personal convenience. Disclosure: ive done this op…
I was out of the U.S. for about 2 weeks (3 countries). Back in the U.S. for a week. Then back out of the U.S. for a month (4 different countries). Either the first or second trip I'd say would have been ordinary for me. But combined and also with the gap was unusual but I didn't think about it as being unusual at the time.
Entry to the U.S. the first time, I had no contact with an agent, all automated, the slip of paper from the Global Entry machine said exit customs.
In London for the flight back to the U.S. (2nd time around), the gate agent told me I was on some list and I needed to check-in with a man nearby at a separate counter. I'm almost certain he was U.S. CBP. Definitely American. I don't think he was TSA or FBI. He asked my address in the U.S., where I was, and whether it was personal or business but not more than that, and opined "I have no idea why they're asking me to do this." This conversation was about 2 minutes.
12 hours later in Denver, Global Entry machines are down, I use the regular machines which spit out a similar slip but I had to go to a Global Entry specific agent manned lane, that agent swiped my passport and immediately asked me to come with him. He hands me off to an agent in a separate room with a waiting area for 30 people, no other people are waiting, and says "he's flagged from blah blah flight". And I get asked all the same questions as before except two: he did fish for more about the sequence of travel and cities, not just countries. I brought up my previous trip and one week gap in the U.S., and he opined "ahh that makes sense now" or to that effect. And that was it, total time maybe 5 minutes.
The information I gave was consistent with Passport and Global entry application, and entry card information. I can't think of one question that was not mundane. I assume all the countries I visited immediately communicate my entry/exit with U.S. CBP the moment my passport is scanned. They already know these things. Except for the cities and sequence.
Looking back on it, I'd have liked to ask a bunch of questions myself about this experience.
I'm not sure if the first agent in London, had I opted out, can inform the airline I'm "not cooperating" and as a courtesy don't board me? But I'm still curious about what got me flagged, and why the London guy was confused thinking it was out of the ordinary or unnecessary. Was it random? Was it a combination of the travel and Global Entry like "oh he gets global entry and then the travel behavior changes, flagged!" sort of logic.
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What does it mean to be "digitally penetrated"? I'm not familiar with that.
In English digit comes from the latin word for finger (digitus)
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The last few times I've returned to the states I haven't even had to talk to a customs agent - but signing up for Global Entry might be too much of a violation of privacy by some standards.
I think every time I enter the European Union as a citizen (crossing the border in Denmark, Germany, the UK, France, the Netherlands or Spain) I've either not interacted with anyone (electronic border gate), or said nothing more than "hello" and "thank you". Speaking to a customs official is very rare, I've only had that happen once. Do most Americans get questioned at their own border? I do, but I'd assumed that was…
'Is this really you?'
'Yes'
'Okay, thanks.'
also worth noting: as a US citizen re-entering the country you do not have to present anything more to a customs agent than your passport. You are not required to answer any questions at all. Where youre from, where you were, what you did, nothing, however it may result in an inspection of your bags, so it depends on whether your interpretation of liberty is based on personal convenience. Disclosure: ive done this op…
The searches that even a U.S. Citizen could be subject to (without a warrant) are extremely broad[1]. > Legal precedents grant federal officers at ports of entry the power, without warrants, to require people to strip for a “visual inspection” of genitals and rectums, and to submit to a “monitored bowel movement” to check for secreted drugs.[1] We did a deep-dive on court settlements by CBP for invasive searches and…
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A 20s male is probably pretty high on the list of people to question. I would guess that if you're a US citizen, as they're only concerned with what you're bringing in rather than what you're planning to do or how long you're staying, not looking like a stereotypical foreign terrorist probably doesn't help much. As a 20s non-white guy I'm never bothered, so maybe I'm just off-base here.
I think the 'mostly asleep' might have a good bit to do with it, too - what kind of smuggler isn't at least slightly nervous when crossing customs?
Bringing a citrus fruit from most countries, various other fresh foods, counterfeit goods, etc.