Posted on 05/09/2018 8:29:15 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
Anthonia Nwaorie spent years saving up thousands of dollars to open a medical clinic in Nigeria, where she was born. Finally, last October, she walked down a jet bridge at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport to board the plane to get there.
The 59-year-old registered nurse had more than $37,000 in her carry-on bag and $4,000 in her purse. It was all cash, stowed in separate envelopes, some of it earmarked to help ill or aging family members. In her checked luggage she packed medical supplies and over-the-counter medication, which she planned to use to provide free basic care and checkups to anyone who needed it.
~snip~
The questioning threw her off guard. She explained she had legally earned the money and she was alone. Nwaorie, who lives in Katy, Tex., became a U.S. citizen since 1994. She showed her passport, thinking perhaps they were questioning her legal status. The agents took her to a room to search her and her luggage anyway.
Then they seized all $41,377 dollars.
~snip~
More than six months later, Customs and Border Protection still has not given back her money.
This, despite the fact that the U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of Texas did not bring a civil asset forfeiture case against her or charge her with any crime.
~snip~
The agency told her in April it would give back her money under one condition: that she give up her right to sue the federal government. It’s called a “hold-harmless agreement.” The condition, her attorney says, violates Nwaorie’s basic First Amendment rights to petition the government for grievances.
Nwaorie didn’t sign it, deciding to sue instead.
“This is just about as unconstitutional as it gets,” said Nwaorie’s attorney, Dan Alban of the Institute for Justice, which specializes in civil asset forfeiture.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Screw “the agencies.” They should name the jackboot thug that made the decision to confiscate private property.
No, per the article, she did not.
“Jeff Sessions has been AG for 1 year, 3 months.”
Taking stuff from people via asset forfeiture is one of Jeff’s pet projects isn’t it?
In the story it says she didn’t declare it. As I recall, it is well known and posted at the airport that you have to declare any amount over $10,000. She is lucky to get her money back and won’t get anything if she sues because she broke the law.
Government don't make mistakes /s find another sword to fall on.
Another FUBAR, engendered by that used “gentlemanly” ass wipe, “AG” Sessions - a totally useless putrid turd, who should be kicked so hard to the curb that his “southern roots” bust off. Man, do I hate that traitorous SOB. In his case, the “AG” stands for Absolutely Gutless.
He never met an asset seizure he didn’t like.
You are right. It is a sad story, but it is the law. How do the authorities know what cash would be used for? Many people have a need to transfer funds overseas, but there is a legal way to do it. Otherwise, one could put some cash in one envelope and label it Bob - church guy, and another Mary’s little orphanage, and yet the money could end up in Hama’s coffers. It has been done many times.
So you hope that she gets an extra few million from you and me and everyone else?
Jeff Sessions, hard at work doing exactly what he said he’d do.
“Jeff Sessions has been AG for 1 year, 3 months.
“
Tick-tock
Me either. A million emails from Nigerian princes would indicate otherwise.
You are judging a person who is from a completely different culture and mindset, as though she were born and raised in the U.S., and should think in the same terms or use the same logic as do we Americans. If her story is true, then her heart is in the right place, and I would cut her some slack. Of course, there will always be those who assert that she had bad motives ... But, until facts demonstrate otherwise, I give her the benefit of the doubt.
“How do the authorities know what cash would be used for?“
They don’t. It’s an old-fashioned value called freedom. Your world of “pre-crime” is an abomination.
The constitutional requirement is that the government prove your guilt before any taking. No matter what the current crop of Washington thieves say. Liberty has a cost. Safety is a siren’s song that is paid for in iron links.
What the hell is ANY part of what ANY citizen does with cash the business of the government?
I see nothing in the Constitution that gives the government the slightest authority to tell me where I can go with whatever amount of cash I please.
The very idea of there being the slightest control or tracking of what citizens do with their money is disgusting; the depredations of all the drug kingpins and terrorists combined to not harm the body politic as much as the CONCEPT that it is any business of any bureaucrat, cop or politician as to if I wish to enter, leave, or walk about with 1 dollar or a billion.
“How do the authorities know what cash would be used for?”
This in light of the obama cash deal with Iran ... ?
You may take out as much cash from the United States as you like, and bring in as much cash as you like, as long as you report any amount over $10,000.
And ignorance of the law is no excuse, but in a case like this it should result in a quick hearing and forgiveness. It's not like she's a drug lord or flesh peddler.
I would suspect that the Nigerian thugs would take it on that end if she had declared it at any stage of her trip.
Can’t blame her.
Dang. I am on the wrong lists. I get the ones from the brother of the Interior Minister.
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