Posted on 08/11/2011 9:58:12 PM PDT by Nachum
Steinbergers Had Just Gotten Off Flight From Israel, Forgot About Kid's Snack
MONSEY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) — A family of four from Florida visiting relatives in New Jersey got an unwelcome surprise at the Customs gate — all because of some forgotten fruit and vegetables.
The oversight was an expensive one that has the family fuming, reports CBS 2’s Sean Hennessey.
“I don’t have to be traumatized like this. Nobody should have to be traumatized,” Suri Steinberger said.
Suri and Peter Steinberger are livid after what they call an over-reaction by customs agents at Newark Liberty Airport. They were told they had violated a federal crime — forgetting about an apple, a tomato and three cucumbers in their son’s backpack.
(Excerpt) Read more at newyork.cbslocal.com ...
Don’t try to drive in to California with any vegetation either.
Government common sense in action.
Suri sounds like quite the homemaker.
“Eh! They can eat a cucumber”
There are a lot of produce one cannot bring thru customs in th san diego area, dont know if these same items are the same with every area of entry, but some of these items are to prevent the spread of diseases to our crops here in the US one can get the list from the Dept of Ag.
Good!
Those stinkbugs that invaded the middle Atlantic didnt fly here by themselves!
Yeah, but were they foil-wrapped?
Vegetablists!
A family from Florida, visiting relatives in New Jersey, which would be a domestic flight, was on a flight from Israel and went through customs? The excerpt lacks a certain clarity. That was sure a long way around to go from Florida to Israel to New Jersey. It makes some of the round about flights to and from hubs in the States seem short :)
“Government common sense in action.”
Bringing in undeclared fruit is illegal and will be stopped, but if illegals are picking the fruit, well, there’s nothing we can do about that, sorry!/s;)
What a mistake by Bush to create a DHS in the first place. Why isn’t the FBI, CIA, NSA, ATF, NatGuard, etc. sufficient to protect the country? And why Federalize the TSA?
I guess it was the same reason he signed the NAU agreement without any Congressional debate or approval.
All these horror stories and nobody seems to want to answer even these basic questions. Not enough people love liberty.
I work for the govt as a contractor and I’m ashamed of the govt stupidity that is rampant out there. Guess I’m lucky to work with people who have common sense.
Meanwhile, if the Steinbergers had told Customs that the cucumber was for Barney Frank, it would have cleared in a second.
Pest infestation is not a joke, it has wasted billions in crop production. Idiots should think more carefully. I am sure they had to fill out customs and agricultural claims forms before landing. Maybe they were thinking they were some protected class?
Guess they found themselves in quite the pickle...
The same reason he called those who wanted secure borders vigilantes.
Sometimes you just honestly forget. Last time I travelled to Canada i forgot I had put an orange in the back where I had put my coat. Luckily I remembered as I was getting off the plane, so I was able to show it to the customs agent. Another time a member of my family had put some sort of fruit in a box for me, since I had no idea about the fruit, I declared no on my customs form for any fruits. Well, the customs agent found the fruit and i got fined. Sometimes it’s an honest mistake, travelling is such a hassle, that it’s easy to forget stuff like that.
I have absolutely no comment until I hear whom these rather unusual group voted for in the 2008 presidential elections.
Something about this story isn’t right. The woman says she packed 3 cucumbers, a tomato, and an apple as a snack for her kids. Except for the apple, you can’t eat those without the aid of a knife, which is forbidden on a plane. I guess you could just snack on a cucumber, whole, but I have never seen such a thing. And ever try to just bite into a tomato? On a plane? The kid would be covered in juice. I don’t believe her story.
it’s to stop the spread of insects and plant diseases.
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