Matthew Klint who writes ‘Live and Let’s Fly’ writes about feeling belittled by an immigration officer at LAX airport, returning from a trip to Germany. He was powerless, having to ‘take it’, mostly because his wife has a Green Card but is not a citizen, and because he thought he might have his Global Entry revoked if he objected to being condescended to. And he concludes,
I was not rude nor was I impolite; I had my family with me and was just trying to get home after 16 hours of travel.
I wish there was a way to hold folks like that accountable without being fearful of being denied entry, losing your Global Entry, or being subjected to secondary screening.
Klint suspects “these thugs processing passports are so rude” to compensate for unusually small genetalia. I do not think this holds sufficient explanatory power. Instead, here’s what I think is going on.
- Near total authority. At ports of entry and within the 100-mile “border zone,” officers may search and question people without warrants or traditional Fourth-Amendment thresholds. The job starts from a position of near-total authority, not consensual service.
- Immunity/no recourse. They have near-immunity from civil suits. In Egbert v. Boule (2022) the Supreme Court closed almost all Bivens-type damage claims against CBP agents, removing a personal liability as a deterrent for bad behavior that exists for many other federal officers.
- CBP has a paramilitary, threat-hunting mindset. They wear niforms, side-arms, and go through drill-style briefings. Their chain-of-command ethos reward compliance and toughness, not customer interaction.
- Expanded too quickly. Over the past two decades they’ve more than doubled their workforce, diluting requisite training and also leading to quality dilution of supervisors.
- Incentives matter. Performance metrics incentivize seizures, arrests and “hits.” Officers receive commendations, overtime and promotion points for enforcement statistics. There is no equivalent metric for traveler satisfaction.
- No discipline. There’s very little internal discipline. 97% of complaints end in “No Action Taken.” According to the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, 47% of CBP employees don’t think misconduct is punished at any level.
- Union protections. The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents the ~ 30,000 CBP Office of Field Operations employees (including CBP Officers), negotiates “last-chance” and arbitration provisions that make removals for misconduct difficult – and given the litiation managers have to deal with they regualrly don’t bother.
- Power differential. Most people being inspected lack legal representation, time, or practical recourse while the officer controls entry. The power differential itself breeds an imperious dynamic unless an individual officer chooses otherwise.
- Personnel inclined to this behavior self-select intot he role. CBP’s structure and recruiting pipeline create self-selection effects. Jobs that promise wide discretionary power, symbols of authority, generous overtime, early retirement, and a quasi-military identity tend to pull in applicants who are more disposed to hierarchy, control, and confrontation. Additionally, more than one-third of CBP’s workforce is ex-military.
Hayek’s chapter 10 in The Road to Serfdom (“Why The Worst Get On Top”) argues that in areas of centralized political decision-making, advancement hinges on wielding coercion, systematically reward the most ruthless, unscrupulous, and manipulative individuals, while crowding out those with stronger moral scruples or respect for dissent. In short: concentrated power acts as a selection filter, so “the worst get on top.”
You might take the view that bad people try to get into the country, and that the most effective way to stop them is the kind of hiring, training, and incentives that lead to treating citizens poorly at the border alongside non-citizens. I don’t think that’s the case, and don’t believe it keeps out bad actors or goes further in stopping unauthorized entry.
There’s little question, though, that the incentives and structure of CBP attract and train people who are more likely to treat people badly, and there’s little recourse when they do, reinforcing the behavior.
That’s not to say every border interaction is negative! There are good people working in these roles. But their courtesy isn’t because of their leadership or rules, it’s because in spite of both of these they choose to treat people passing through checkpoints with dignity and respect. Unfortunately not everyone does.
I have never had anything but courtesy from officers, both when I had a green card and now with Global Entry (which is a great system). I had an old non-expiring green card, which agents sometimes tried to take away to force me to get a new expiring one. That was more of a game than serious I think.
I’ve seen travelers get treated far better than they deserve, to be clear – I had a Canadian employee in TN status who didn’t bring any paperwork with him when he traveled to Mexico and back. He was given an extension *beyond the validity of his passport*. And we figured out what happened. CBP was rotating staff across roles and this agent was used to inspecting cargo. He lucked out.
p.s. please don’t revoke my Global Entry
Matty Klint is a pompous, self-important windbag. Be polite, answer their questions and follow their instructions, and dispense with the manufactured outrage.
I mean, on the same day Congress passes a bill that 20x the budget of Immigration and Customs Enforcement… and is basically a reverse-Robin-Hood, taking from the poor to give to the super-rich… sure, I’d post about this if I wanted to be targeted and lose my Global Entry. Remember, international travel is a privilege… not a right (at least for the US.) Interstate travel is in the Constitution, if that document means anything anymore. Safe travels, everyone!
I disagree
I travel internationally a lot and find the officers friendly and sometimes fun
I also have Global and my wife green card and always treated great
If you’re friendly with them they will be to you
The non officers who manage the lines could use a little hospitality training
I have read allegations that some people go to work at TSA solely with the goal of moving on to CBP jobs. Be that as it may, I used to be so proud that this country didn’t have an “internal police” department like so many nations. But no more with the one that repulsively calls the good old USA a “homeland”. Unfortunately you are right, Gary. Even with the best of intentions and reasons unchecked power breeds contempt for those who are being “serviced”. And it attracts the worst.
As I mentioned in a comment on Matthew Klint’s post…
This is a great reason why the US desperately needs to do something like e-gates which so many other countries have. (In fact, some of those other countries even allow Americans to use e-gates – perhaps it’s time for those countries to start asking for reciprocity?)
I am being polite and respectful here – Let me refer him as the “coffee guy” or “UA kiss***” since this arrogant guy only talks about those two subjects. Being so arrogant, he thinks he’s the smartest guy in the planet. His blog became so boring that he only talks about how wonderful UA is (since they give him the extra, leftover meal). No wonder why the traffic of his blog was down significantly. However, if you love coffee and infatuate with UA, then join his club.
When people ask me what I think about CBP and CBSA as a frequent border crosser, I usually say “They have the same median, but CBP has a much wider variance.”
I’ve had a CBP officer just wave me through without showing a passport (I was digging it out of my bag and he decided I was fine) and had a CBP officer give me unsolicited local restaurant recommendations, but I’ve also had a CBP officer turn in the middle of doing something and shout “DID YOU EVER DO DRUGS?!” as if he would catch me off guard and trick me and had CBP officers try to drill into what they seemed to think were cover stories (“So you mean to tell me that you left the country? For a friend’s wedding? And this friend isn’t American? So his wedding was in another country? And you went to this friend’s wedding? Do I have that right?”).
Many CBP officers are friendly! Many are indifferent. Some seem to think they’re Matlock, or maybe Wiesler in The Lives of Others. The fact that my experiences vary so much, though, makes me think that this is an agency that probably has trouble creating a uniform culture through standards and accountability.
p.s. please don’t revoke my Global Entry, revoke Gary’s
I have had nothing but positive and polite interactions with CBP agents my entire life, and that’s really saying something considering just how many times I’ve been in and out of the country. You know where I’ve had the most consistently negative experiences across more than 30 countries visited? Canada. It’s not even a close call — they are some of the most hateful, paranoid, grandiose, power-tripping border force officials I’ve ever encountered bar none.
@Mike Hunt — With Global Entry, I’ve never had any issues in the USA or Canada. Which airports, YYZ, YUL, YVR, were the worst offenders, from your experience?
I’m with Mike Hunt on this one. My worst experiences have been at YHZ, YVR, and YYZ.
I have Pre-Check, Global Entry and Clear. I have been fingerprinted, photographed, interviewed. I am US-born, never been arrested and have the federal authority to prescribe narcotics. Yet, about 10% of the time I reenter the US I am treated like an enemy of the state.
My bags are searched. I am questioned aggressively. I am separated from my passport. And it’s always, ALWAYS some dude on a power trip. After 25 years of traveling internationally I’m over it…but sadly it’s getting worse.
You take people like this who can act with impunity; politicians drunk with a toxic cocktail of power, fear and hate; and a judiciary uninterested in intervening and you have America, 2025.
It’s probably the same ratio of bad people in law enforcement. It only takes 5% to make them all look bad.
I have been flying across borders for 35 years and though most CBP encounters have been positive about three of them were really bad and those three really put a lot of color on the lens through which all CBP interactions are judged.
Seriously, what are the backgrounds of these commentators who say CBP people are nice in general? Maybe you are white males but I have seen so many incidences people treated and talked down like criminals at the border. It is their tone and how you talk to people and I understand it is the system and culture that make them like that as the post says. The border is kept much better at most countries where visitors are treated better and just normally so threatening them doesn’t make your border safer. From my 20 years of travelling, the worst border control is always the US and they make you feel like a criminals even if you are well established person with extensive travel records. But hey you guys enjoy being in your little bubble and think that your CBP agents are nice and friendly.
Basically, another worthless government entity, much like almost every other one. All government, at its core, is a conspiracy against man. Its one permanent objective is to police him and cripple him.
I came back into Boston from London last month and the CBP guy I had was incredulous that I would actually go to the UK for vacation and asked me multiple times with increasingly annoyed tone what I did, where I stayed, and who I was with. I gave him the same answers every time and he kept me there long enough that the next guard over had let 3 people go through. This was with Global Entry.
@Mike P — Anarcho-libertarian, much? Not realistic, bud…
Many are on a power trip & with a maniac running the country they will get away with that behavior. Scary times right now.
Gary why didnt you quote the most Important part, “Officer: Where have you been?
Me: Germany.
Officer: Where in Germany?
Me: The southwest corner of the county.
Officer: The southwest corner of the country is not a place. I asked where you where.
Me: Lörrach.”
All Matt had to say was Lorrach (which is located in the SW corner of the Country). I wont repeat what I wrote on his post but I gave a truthful answer to a Swiss IMM officer and almost wasnt allowed in. By Matt saying in SW corner of the Country he didnt answer the question which he had to know was he was being asked where which City,Town etc in Germany did he stay, his answer was taken as a wiseguys answer So Matt got exactly what he had coming to him, most CBP agents at least when they are dealing with the Public arent the type you want to kid around with
As a follow-up to the comments in the article about Hayek and “The Road to Serfdom”, which is a great book, a quote by Ed Crane sums it up.
“There are two types of human beings: people who want to interfere in the way other people live their lives, and people who are content to mind their own business. Which type of people do you think go into politics?”
@Mike P — You and your quotes. Quick, give us some (Uncle Tom) Sowell!
I’ve never had anything but positive experiences with CPB personnel.
Is this because I’m a white male? I don’t know? I choose to believe it is because I am always respectful and friendly when interacting with any government employee and airline personnel for that matter.
Female solo travelers have been targeted in the past. They can be thugs about things they cannot comprehend. Now things are quite different. For years I’ve been involved with various charities that are at odds with the current administration and I fear that being a good citizen may not keep anyone from being a target.
@1990 – I know you think you are being cute but racist comments such as that are disgusting!
Behavior such as that would cause friction with CPB, police or most law enforcement entities.
@1990 – I know you think you are being cute but racist comments such as that are disgusting!
Behavior such as this would cause friction with CPB, police or most law enforcement entities.
I have not had any problems with CBP officers at LAX or any other airport. In fact, the ones at LAX lately have been friendly and brief, welcoming me back to the USA after one or two questions. Many years ago one asked in greater detail about the dried frog I was carrying but I pointed out it was not on the list of prohibited foods so he had no choice and let it go after trying to get me to throw it away. I told him that I would be in a lot of trouble if I didn’t have it for my wife.
You get what you voted for. Matt is Republican. They’ve been spewing hate for years.
Good point @747always. Republicans wanted a beefed up and mean CBP and when someone like Matt feels the consequences it’s sad to see him blame their egos and genitalia. Well… you get what you voted for.
” I know you think you are being cute but racist comments such as that are disgusting!”
It’s because he’s ignorant and unable to formulate a valid argument and is only capable of weak-minded ad hominems and childish character assassinations.