4 ms·

IANAL but AFAIK a US Citizen cannot be denied entry to the US under any circumstances. They can detain you, search you, seize property, and charge you with any

by bink 4y ago

IANAL but AFAIK a US Citizen cannot be denied entry to the US under any circumstances. They can detain you, search you, seize property, and charge you with any relevant crimes... but they can't simply deny entry.

kragen 4y ago
That is what the law says, but government officials, including Border Patrol officers, sometimes do break the law.
- rippercushions 4y ago
  Can you point to any cases of US citizens being denied entry? The closest I'm aware of is having US citizens overseas be put on the no-fly list, which in practice amounts to the same thing if they can't get to Canada/Mexico either. But hey, they won't be denied entry if they swim across!
  - jjulius 4y ago
    Not OP, and I can't answer yes to that, but they like to waive their proverbial dicks around as though they can. You used to be able to drive from Canada back into the US by showing just your US driver's license and birth certificate. About six months before that option went away, I drove across the border with exactly those documents. I hand them over, dude spends a few minutes huffing and puffing, kinda rolling his eyes. Asks me, "Is this all you have?". Few more minutes pass and he goes, "You know, you're lucky I let you through with this stuff now. In a few months I won't be able to and your butt would be hanging out in Canada tonight. Have a nice day."
    - Zak 4y ago
      I suspect that would be framed as a delay to adequately verify that you are, in fact a US citizen.
notacoward 4y ago
Being detained at the border is not legally denial of entry, but it effectively is. Or you can enter, but by doing so you'll forfeit any property you had with you. There are all sorts of loopholes like that, and CBP will happily exploit every one of them.
notch656a 4y ago
They can't but they can and will lie to you and tell you they will deny entry. They also can and will threaten to revoke your passport despite no legal basis to do so. They have made both statements to me. If you read above I said they would make "threats" to do so (of the sort a common citizen would probably believe), not that it would actually happen.

by bink 4y ago

kragen 4y ago

That is what the law says, but government officials, including Border Patrol officers, sometimes do break the law.

rippercushions 4y ago
Can you point to any cases of US citizens being denied entry? The closest I'm aware of is having US citizens overseas be put on the no-fly list, which in practice amounts to the same thing if they can't get to Canada/Mexico either. But hey, they won't be denied entry if they swim across!
- jjulius 4y ago
  Not OP, and I can't answer yes to that, but they like to waive their proverbial dicks around as though they can. You used to be able to drive from Canada back into the US by showing just your US driver's license and birth certificate. About six months before that option went away, I drove across the border with exactly those documents. I hand them over, dude spends a few minutes huffing and puffing, kinda rolling his eyes. Asks me, "Is this all you have?". Few more minutes pass and he goes, "You know, you're lucky I let you through with this stuff now. In a few months I won't be able to and your butt would be hanging out in Canada tonight. Have a nice day."
  - Zak 4y ago
    I suspect that would be framed as a delay to adequately verify that you are, in fact a US citizen.

notacoward 4y ago

Being detained at the border is not legally denial of entry, but it effectively is. Or you can enter, but by doing so you'll forfeit any property you had with you. There are all sorts of loopholes like that, and CBP will happily exploit every one of them.

notch656a 4y ago

They can't but they can and will lie to you and tell you they will deny entry. They also can and will threaten to revoke your passport despite no legal basis to do so. They have made both statements to me. If you read above I said they would make "threats" to do so (of the sort a common citizen would probably believe), not that it would actually happen.