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I am a US citizen and was crossing a land border into the USA the other day. The border guard not only asked me where I was going and who I was going to see, but also seemed particularly curious and asked various follow-up questions.

The same scenario then repeated itself with another border guard after they decided to search my car.

I was in a huge rush, so needed to get out of there right away and didn't want to cause a scene. Nor am I 100% up to date on the rules. However, it most certainly rubbed me the very wrong way.

I was under the impression that the USA has no movement controls, and that a US citizen most certainly does not need to specify a reason to enter their own country. Is that incorrect?

Ruslan
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    Some good ACLU guidance: https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/what-do-when-encountering-law-enforcement-airports-and-other-ports-entry-us – Dimitri Vulis Jul 21 '23 at 16:58
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    A friend of mine (US citizen without a record) has been handcuffed, locked up in secondary, and questioned for hours by CBP only to be released because they had nothing on him. There were assumptions made I guess and they acted on them. CBP are federal agents, it's not just about letting you into the country – Midavalo Jul 21 '23 at 22:43
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    The title is misleading and should be changed to something like "Why do US border guards ask questions about where and why you're traveling, and how are you required to respond?" – smci Jul 23 '23 at 06:41
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    They can still ask you questions to irritate you if they feel like it. I think you say you were ''in a rush'', that may have triggered more questions. Looking even slightly agitated or concerned about something is a great way to invite more questions. – Tom Jul 23 '23 at 17:41
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    The simplest & most honest & probably most applicable response to such a question would be "returning home". – Fred Jul 24 '23 at 19:43

5 Answers5

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Is that incorrect?

No, you are correct. A US citizen cannot be denied entry to the US.

However, CBP (Customs & Border Protection) has the means for making this a miserable experience for you, if you don't play ball.

You can certainly refuse to answer any of these questions, but CBP can drag out the process forever, take you over to secondary inspection, do checks on your documents and maybe criminal records, look for outstanding warrants, etc.

While it's annoying, it's generally your best option to just stay relaxed, comply and go with the flow.

I've been to over 40 countries and found US immigration to be the most rude and condescending even to its own citizens and even more so to foreigners. I've seen CBP officers doing blatantly illegal stuff in secondary inspection but there is typically no recourse and very little oversight so they often can do whatever they feel like.

Hilmar
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    And someone looking to be nervous and in a rush is a sign they key in on. – Jon Custer Jul 21 '23 at 14:59
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    Many people are terrified of the of the CBP because they often abuse and harass abuse completely innocent people for no particular reason. Nervousness does not seem to be good indicator here. "in a rush" depends a lot on how long you had to wait and what your transport arrangements are or when your connecting flight departs. – Hilmar Jul 21 '23 at 18:20
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    It was a land border. But I agree with Jon, if someone who appears to have important business tries to hurry a border officer, they may well react badly. – Weather Vane Jul 21 '23 at 19:05
  • "there is typically no recourse and very little oversight": as a foreigner, I don't have a representative in the US legislation with influence over CBP rules and practices. US citizens have. – svavil Jul 22 '23 at 15:26
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    Anecdotally, re rudeness: I'm a Canadian who's been living in the US for 6 years now, go back to visit family often(only 3 hour drive away) and went to the US often before. Canadian border guards used to be polite and the US ones pretty rude, but the Canadians have gotten way worse and the US guards better, so now the US ones are politer. – Eugene Jul 22 '23 at 15:55
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    @Eugene It depends a lot on where you are crossing and the time of day. The two times I’ve crossed at land borders were nice, but I’ve never had a polite interaction with a CBP agent in a US airport (they usually aren’t truly rude either, but they’re a lot more impersonal and detached than most other border agents I’ve encountered), and it’s usually been worse when dealing with very early or very late crossings. – Austin Hemmelgarn Jul 22 '23 at 19:34
  • I'd guess this also depends on where you're coming from. The Mexican land border is where most of the general trafficking is, but presumably people try to bring something legal in Canada to the US where it is illegal and vice versa in their car. Similarly, I'd guess drug runners won't put their people on expensive long haul flights but you might get more scrutiny coming off a flight from Mexico or the Caribbean. – IllusiveBrian Jul 23 '23 at 11:53
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    I think it's not totally fair to say they are all rude. Once my brother got his bag pulled aside because of some metal object which turned out to be a drum pad, the guard was very nice and spoke to my brother about the types of drumming that he was interested in. But other times they have been incredibly rude, it really depends ''who you get''. They are just ''airport people'' with minor powers and people tend to abuse any power they can get, if you just nod along and do as they say you can be gone within a minute and never see them again. – Tom Jul 23 '23 at 17:35
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    @Eugene the absolute toughest border crossing I ever had was into Canada on the highway from Seattle to Vancouver (for just a day trip as I had never seen Vancouver and was visiting my brother in Seattle, and he was busy that day). The CA guard was incredulous that I was coming for a day and apparently did not believe I had a job, in Pennsylvania, that I would return to in a week. I had coworkers going to Canadian clients get deep questions at the border to assure they were not going to do actual work within Canada (just sales and planning meetings). – user662852 Jul 24 '23 at 03:44
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    @user662852 As a US citizen, the two toughest border crossings I've ever had were land crossings to Canada when driving by myself. (I've crossed with other people in the car multiple times, and those were always fine). I wouldn't call them rude but I did get delayed for quite a while both times as they questioned me. I've also been to 40ish countries and the only crossings I'd note as being exceptionally annoying are the Canadian land border and the Thailand-Cambodia land border at Poipet (because of the bribes for the border control officials and the general scamminess of the area). – ex-user3761894 Jul 24 '23 at 04:29
  • what if one particularly hates the CBP and wants CBP to waste both of their time as much as possible? – user253751 Jul 24 '23 at 09:44
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    @user253751. You can't really waste their time: they are on the clock when they are working and go home when their shift is done. What exactly they do when they are there probably doesn't matter much to most. If you take up a lot of their time, it just means that other passengers have to wait longer. – Hilmar Jul 24 '23 at 12:35
  • At the very worst, if you team up with many people over a long time, all it will achieve is delay other passengers and - perhaps - trigger the government to spend more of your tax dollars to hire more people in CBP. – spectras Jul 24 '23 at 12:44
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    I found Canada to be more picky as well when entering the country, but I remember an instance being with my Canadian ex where the border patrol asked me the reason of my visit and I said to visit her parents and leave as soon as possible afterward. I didn't feel like going there, and I guess it showed on my face because that stopped all questions right away :) – Thomas Jul 24 '23 at 14:55
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    My personal experience has been that US border control is one of the most lax/low-difficulty I've been through, though I'm sure it can vary in different situations. Japan in particular had a very laborious process and unhelpful officials (of course, not speaking Japanese probably did not help my case) – Ryan Jensen Jul 24 '23 at 16:42
  • @Hilmar wasting the time of an individual CBP officer is not the same as wasting the time of CBP – user253751 Jul 24 '23 at 17:51
  • I cannot take your experience at face value, since it conflicts with mine and other accounts I've heard. My immediate first thought, "Oh, you've never met the French." –  Jul 24 '23 at 20:40
  • @Tom that sounds like it would be TSA, not CBP. – Nick Matteo Jul 25 '23 at 03:07
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As the name implies, CBP (Customs and Border Protection) perform two roles:

  • Checking that only people who should be allowed in are allowed to do so (that’s the “border protection” part, what in other countries would be called immigration or border police);
  • Checking that no unauthorised goods are imported, or that any taxes and duties are paid, if relevant (that’s customs).

In some places like airports the two roles are apparently completely separate (passport control before baggage claim, customs after), but this is not really the case: if you meet an officer at passport control, they can already start evaluating you, and will pass a message to the customs line after baggage claim if they feel they may be something interesting.

At a land border the officer you’ll meet will likewise perform both functions: check paperwork (passports, visas…) and decide if you should be subjected to search.

So some of those questions are related to that: some screening to try to detect people who they think may have something of interest for customs. Customs apply to US citizens, PRs and visitors alike. If they want to unscrew every single bolt of your car before letting you go, there’s absolutely no “I am a US citizen you have to let me through” argument to be made. They’re not preventing you from entering the US, they are searching for contraband.

In addition to that, as others have written, they need to somehow verify that your documents are valid and that you are who you say you are. While a cursory check of your passport and matching your picture against the photo in there is what happens in most cases, sometimes they need to check a bit further. Also, when crossing a land border with a car or other vehicle, there’s always the possibility that there may be other people hidden in the vehicle.

Some questions are quite innocent, but they may reveal issues, often not so much in the answer (though if they ask for details which are written in your passport like your name or your date of birth and you get it wrong that could raise a few red flags), but rather in the way it is answered. Being nervous, trying to hurry things up, having inconsistent answers, all those sorts of things. Sometimes it’s a false positive and they press someone who really has no issues at all, sometimes it’s the start of interesting discoveries.

Border officers in the US, and this is true in many other places, actually have quite extensive powers, often much less limited or controlled than those of police officers.

If you are in a hurry, it’s definitely best not to be confrontational. They have all the time in the world, extensive powers, and they won’t let you go until they’re satisfied. Best to keep them happy.

Of course, there are actually limits to their powers (though some of those are subject to debate, I believe). Civil rights organisations have quite a few ongoing battles with them. If you have the time and energy you are welcome to make sure they obey laws and constitution. If you are in a hurry, better to let them do their thing.

jcaron
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    Everything in this answer is very reasonable. But most of it applies to every border official of every country, and American and Canadian officers are (sometimes) notoriously rude compared to others. My sample is that I've visited 60+ countries, and the only places where a border officer has raised their voice to me has been in Canada (where I'm a citizen) and the US. – Martin Argerami Jul 24 '23 at 04:48
  • But most of it applies to every border official of every country In many countries the roles of border security and customs are separate. It is a notable difference if you are used to this model. – MJeffryes Jul 25 '23 at 09:03
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As Hilmar says, you can't be denied entry, but you could certainly be arrested if they found something illegal. They're checking for money laundering, people or drug or animal or plant/food smuggling, knock-off clothes or shoes, etc. That doesn't excuse their overall terrible reputation, of course.

mkennedy
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In theory, US citizens may not be denied entry into the US. But in practice this theory needs an important qualifier:

"Persons who are believed by CBP to be US citizens may not be denied entry into the US."

Others may be denied entry for a time, even if later evaluation shows that the border officials were factually wrong at first. Passports get stolen, passports get forged, and so on. It is the job of CBP to do a check this, and part of the procedure is to quiz the passport holder and to gauge if the answers and the appearance match. If someone with surfboard-sized luggage answers "I've been on a business trip," there is probably something fishy.

o.m.
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    Someone might work in the surfing industry, or go surfing on their breaks in between business meetings if they work in another industry. – mlc Jul 21 '23 at 16:12
  • Also they can arrest US citizens. If there is reasonable suspicion of a crime, they are supposed to investigate. – phoog Jul 21 '23 at 16:17
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    @mlc, you have to admit that there would be more questions. – o.m. Jul 21 '23 at 16:54
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    As a UK citizen I was one re-entering UK and all went well at passport control, but it wasn't enough for the officer to check my passport. It was OK but I hadn't yet said anything, and he asked me a few questions, I think not because he particularly wanted to know the answers, but to engage with me and hear me speak – it really was me. – Weather Vane Jul 21 '23 at 18:20
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    In my opinion the questioning is mostly random and primarily dependent on the mood of the specific officer. – Hilmar Jul 21 '23 at 18:21
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    @mlc Of course, but that's irrelevant because all that matters is that the officer had "reasonable suspicion" which in practice means practically any suspicion at all that something isn't right. Heck, just having a surfboard might be reasonable suspicion if it's known that hollowed out surfboards are a method used to smuggle drugs. – eps Jul 22 '23 at 23:01
  • It's mostly random, it depends on the employee and how bad a mood they are in. – Tom Jul 23 '23 at 17:38
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Never mind the actual border, CBP (Customs & Border Protection) has enhanced powers extending up to 100 miles of any border. That's about 66% of the US population and almost all of the most major cities. So you being at the border isn't even really relevant for the sort of questioning you underwent -- it would be legal even if you weren't even close to the border, and at the actual border their powers are even greater / even less subject to scrutiny.

I was under the impression that the USA has no movement controls, and that a US citizen most certainly does not need to specify a reason to enter their own country. Is that incorrect?

https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/border-zone

That first part is incorrect, there are CBP checkpoints in numerous locations in the US and intentionally trying to avoid them (or at least flee from one intentionally) can be a felony. So never mind the actual border, you can be temporarily questioned and possibly detained up to a hundred miles away from any border.

It boils down to the fact that in general all they need to question you is reasonable suspicion. And at checkpoints they don't need any suspicion at all to stop you and have a dog sniff your car. You can search around for what exactly reasonable suspicion is and get a lot of technical legal definitions, but really what matters is that in practice this can basically be anything. "I smelled drugs" is reasonable suspicion and good luck proving the officer was lying.

So the reality is that not only can you be subjected to such questioning at the border, this sort of thing could have happened 2 hours away from the border and your best option by far would be to smile and answer the questions.

eps
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