What's up fellas,
I'm not sure how many of you out there might find this useful, but I just wanted to drop some intel about your rights with respect to reentering your own country when returning from a trip abroad.
I travel internationally several times a year; and ever since I returned from a trip to the Middle East several months ago, I sometimes get questioned, unnecessarily, by US customs agents about my travels from that trip, even ahead or in place of my more recent travels. Most recently, I was questioned extensively about my Middle Eastern travels when I returned from Canada back into the US on 9/11 (oh, the irony).
Being well-versed in constitutional law, I'm informed of my rights with respect to law enforcement officials.
I want to stress for those of you who may not know that no American citizen can be denied reentry into his own country merely for refusing to answer questions. Once you've presented bona fide proof of citizenship, like burnishing a passport, you may not be disallowed from reentering. Now, with respect to travel to other countries where you don't harbor citizenship, that's an entirely different matter. Any country where you don't have citizenship may choose not to allow you entry.
I get a kick out of seeing the look on the agent's face when I arrogantly respond to their facist line of questioning with a remark like, "none of your business." I usually get delayed for about 20 minutes before I'm free to return to my country.
For a very interesting anecdote full of insights about this issue, please look no further than this article from The Nomad Lawyer, Paul Lukacs: http://nomadlaw.com/2010/04/i-am-detaine...questions/
Paul is a gangster for that. By the way, he also happens to write about other interesting topics related to travel, like the pros and cons of being a digital nomad.
Anyway, I hope you guys find this tip helpful the next time you return from an overseas trip. It feels like the US government is increasingly treading on the slippery slope of totalitarianism, so I find it's always worth reminding those thugs who's in charge and who they work for. Good luck!
I'm not sure how many of you out there might find this useful, but I just wanted to drop some intel about your rights with respect to reentering your own country when returning from a trip abroad.
I travel internationally several times a year; and ever since I returned from a trip to the Middle East several months ago, I sometimes get questioned, unnecessarily, by US customs agents about my travels from that trip, even ahead or in place of my more recent travels. Most recently, I was questioned extensively about my Middle Eastern travels when I returned from Canada back into the US on 9/11 (oh, the irony).
Being well-versed in constitutional law, I'm informed of my rights with respect to law enforcement officials.
I want to stress for those of you who may not know that no American citizen can be denied reentry into his own country merely for refusing to answer questions. Once you've presented bona fide proof of citizenship, like burnishing a passport, you may not be disallowed from reentering. Now, with respect to travel to other countries where you don't harbor citizenship, that's an entirely different matter. Any country where you don't have citizenship may choose not to allow you entry.
I get a kick out of seeing the look on the agent's face when I arrogantly respond to their facist line of questioning with a remark like, "none of your business." I usually get delayed for about 20 minutes before I'm free to return to my country.
For a very interesting anecdote full of insights about this issue, please look no further than this article from The Nomad Lawyer, Paul Lukacs: http://nomadlaw.com/2010/04/i-am-detaine...questions/
Paul is a gangster for that. By the way, he also happens to write about other interesting topics related to travel, like the pros and cons of being a digital nomad.
Anyway, I hope you guys find this tip helpful the next time you return from an overseas trip. It feels like the US government is increasingly treading on the slippery slope of totalitarianism, so I find it's always worth reminding those thugs who's in charge and who they work for. Good luck!