My wife received a message from a friend last night from a friend returning from a driven bird hunt in Europe last night and told us of their experience with a CBP Officer at DFW. He demanded they declare everything they bought while outside of the USA, down to and including 2 magnets costing 3 Euros! Told our friend that "when", not if, he searched their bags if he had found them and they hadn't been declared that it was a federal offense.
The guy also lectured them on completing an AES on firearms they were taking out of the country in the future. They took the guy's name and possibly badge number and are going to file a complaint. We have a new congressman in our district and I'll be contacting his office tomorrow as well as contacting a congressman from another state that inquired about the AES requirements a year or so ago.
Hope this can be resolved once again.

*When we returned from Moz last month the CBP/Immigration guy got nasty with my wife because she didn't declare ammunition in our "one suitcase (since the bastards had destroyed our other bag). Rebecca looked him in the eye and said "it's not my ammo, you asked if I I had anything to declare, it belongs to my husband"...ended that inquisition.

That's so strange. When I returned from Tanzania this year, the customs folks in Houston didn't even ask for my customs form on what I had bought. Wouldn't have been an issue as it consisted of a couple of tshirts and a couple of books, but they didn't even ask. They did inspect the rifle, but didn't do the usual boot sanitizing either. The beagles were absent as well. But the lines were long.

Someone needs to reign in this CBP a--hole before it gets worse. Keep us updated on the outcome. Things like this have a tendency to spread like a cancer.

There's no need of any of this shit. You do not have to itemize small purchases and you don't need a f@#$%ing AES. I don't know about this particular agent but I think these guys think they know the regs and they absolutely don't. You can get a different story on this or that issue from any agent you might contact. It's tough to know what to do when one of these guys tell you positively you need to do this or that when you know it's BS.

Mark

On the form that I filled out before getting into NJ I believe that you only had to itemize spending over $100. I wasn't exactly sure how much I spent but I knew it was around $100 so that's what I put down, no questions asked except the bastards took my biltong which I was honest about having. I was pissed and made his eyes go wide but then I figured I better calm down to avoid arrest.

What the hell is going on at DFW??

I live in Commiefornia and flew back into LAX from Zim twice this year. After reading some of these stories I was prepared to get some of the same treatment. First time, no issues at all. Guy just asked if we were hunting, what we hunted, etc. Second time, another guy asked "What does a trip like that cost" but it was pretty conversational. I answered "Depends on what you're hunting, but a safari can cost way less than a guided elk hunt." And that was it.

You'd think we'd be getting that runaround HERE, not people in TX!

I still get challenged occasionally--probably 6 times over the last 10 years--about my Rolex Submariner, which I wear everywhere. I've had it for over 30 years. It's inscribed on the back with a dated, personalized note. When I first began international travel, I declared it on a 4457. It's clearly not a new watch. After years of no issues, I'm getting challenged. I'll probably go ahead and put on a more recent 4457 to avoid any future hassles. An agent @DFW, the land of the Rolex, for God's sake, threatened to impound it off my wrist until I could prove I owned it.

quote:

Originally posted by K Evans:
Rebecca looked him in the eye and said "it's not my ammo, you asked if I I had anything to declare, it belongs to my husband"...ended that inquisition.

I love it!

quote:

Originally posted by DCS Member:

quote:

Originally posted by K Evans:
Rebecca looked him in the eye and said "it's not my ammo, you asked if I I had anything to declare, it belongs to my husband"...ended that inquisition.

I love it!

Yep…not a good idea to mess with a red head after she’s been either on an airplane or in an airport for 34 hours.
To the officer’s credit he did admit that he had asked if “she” had anything to declare.

Thankfully, I came back via San Francisco. Arrived home yesterday from Tanzania. Clearing customs took less than a minute with Global Entry and when I walked up to customs officer, he waved me on. I tried to give him my entry form and he just said “Go, Global Entry passed you”.

I was literally through customs in under 2 minutes from walking into the room till out of the room.

It must be DFW.

I came through LAX in August and also three days ago. No issues and I was through customs in minutes in both cases. Firearms inspections were pretty fast and no customs forms in either case.

Dulles in August was slow. There were 2 CBP staff for 2 flights that arrived at the same time.

Came through ATL 2 weeks ago. Clearing CBP took 5 minutes. Took 25 minutes from touchdown to out the door with luggage in hand. Came from Rome via LHR. No Global Entry, no firearm, no problem………

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
There's no need of any of this shit. You do not have to itemize small purchases and you don't need a f@#$%ing AES. I don't know about this particular agent but I think these guys think they know the regs and they absolutely don't. You can get a different story on this or that issue from any agent you might contact. It's tough to know what to do when one of these guys tell you positively you need to do this or that when you know it's BS.

Mark

All goods acquired abroad, regardless of value are required to be declared. Any item not declared is subject to seizure. Any failure to declare a prohibited or restricted item may result in penalty.

quote:

Originally posted by Gojoe:

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
There's no need of any of this shit. You do not have to itemize small purchases and you don't need a f@#$%ing AES. I don't know about this particular agent but I think these guys think they know the regs and they absolutely don't. You can get a different story on this or that issue from any agent you might contact. It's tough to know what to do when one of these guys tell you positively you need to do this or that when you know it's BS.

Mark

All goods acquired abroad, regardless of value are required to be declared. Any item not declared is subject to seizure. Any failure to declare a prohibited or restricted item may result in penalty.

As for AES the area port director is the guardian of that mess. It depends on the port, and regional concerns dictate in regulatory maters.

quote:

Originally posted by Gojoe:

quote:

Originally posted by Gojoe:

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
There's no need of any of this shit. You do not have to itemize small purchases and you don't need a f@#$%ing AES. I don't know about this particular agent but I think these guys think they know the regs and they absolutely don't. You can get a different story on this or that issue from any agent you might contact. It's tough to know what to do when one of these guys tell you positively you need to do this or that when you know it's BS.

Mark

All goods acquired abroad, regardless of value are required to be declared. Any item not declared is subject to seizure. Any failure to declare a prohibited or restricted item may result in penalty.

As for AES the area port director is the guardian of that mess. It depends on the port, and regional concerns dictate in regulatory maters.

As for officer jerks is jerks, file the online comment card.

It sometimes helps if you keep your composure, and ask for whoever is in charge.

Came through DFW on return from 3 weeks in Africa in late June. This was our first time through DFW as we usually fly Delta through Atlanta. We had no issues and everyone was extremely cordial. In fact, the two CBP officers were expecting/waiting for me to declare/check my rifles and we chatted about guns and face masks while they typed the serial numbers into the system. They only question they had was if I had my original stamped 4457 as the CBP stamp is supposed to be in a different color, red? I told them the stamp is black in Pensacola and that looks like the original.

Off we went to check our bags into AA as we had flown Qatar, TSA had us re-open the gun case and swab again. Didn’t have to do this before in Atlanta. First thought was all Delta flights through to Atlanta but we originated in Bulawayo and checked everything straight through.