Posted on 07/31/2020 8:15:03 AM PDT by RandFan
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other Department of Homeland Security agents seized more than $2 billion in cash from travelers in U.S. airports between 2000 and 2016, according to a new report by the Institute for Justice, a libertarian public interest law firm.
The institute's report is the first to comprehensively analyze the use of civil asset forfeiture by federal law enforcement in airports, where multiple news investigations have revealed horror stories of passengers having their money taken even though they weren't ever charged with a crime.
Take a case that Reason covered: Rustem Kazazi, a U.S. citizen who tried in 2018 to get on a plane to return to his native Albania from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Kazazi had roughly $58,000 in cash in his luggage, money he said he was taking to repair a house he owned and possibly to buy another. Kazazi was strip-searched by CBP agents, who also seized his life savings. The agency claimed the cash was "involved in a smuggling/drug trafficking/money laundering operation," despite there being no proof of that.
CBP failed to file a claim against Kazazi's money within the 90-day deadline, and then failed to return his money after the deadline passed. Last year, the U.S. government agreed to return nearly all of the cash, although Kazazi says it seized $770 more than it admitted.
Then there's the case of Anthonia Nwaorie, a Houston woman who had $41,000 in cash seized by CBP at an airport in 2018. The money was earmarked for a children's hospital in Nigeria. Kazazi and and Nwaorie's cases are just two of 30,000 cash seizures at airports across the country, according to the report.
More....
(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...
Yes... a childrens hospital in Nigeria.
Why should Michael Chertoff have ALL the fun with corruption?
I liked this country better when you were free to carry cash and a gun.
I am of the opinion that Civil asset forfeiture should only be executed as part of a sentence and only after the conviction of a crime.
Seized and redistributed to various members of the ruling class.
Things like this are what make it difficult to support the Police.
“””a Houston woman who had $41,000 in cash seized by CBP at an airport in 2018. The money was earmarked for a children’s hospital in Nigeria.”””
Boy, it’s too bad someone doesn’t invent a thingy where you could go to your bank and then somehow have them send the money to a bank in another country so you would have access to it once you got there.
There is a story around here about a BM who was busted and he told his friends what the police took from him, during the ‘raid’.
He said he watched them stuffing their pockets....literally!!
The newspaper reported something much less than half the figure.
I would venture to say that most of this cash was confiscated because it was undeclared.
If you are carrying cash to buy a car from a private seller and you get stopped, it can be seized. It’s hell to get it back, assuming you can. Last car I bought I arranged to have it counted into the seller’s hand at a bank. But given travel distance and days available that isn’t always possible.
End civil asset forfeiture entirely at all levels of government. End any sense that private persons have any responsibility in reporting large cash transactions or being in any way liable for skirting reporting. Prevent law enforcement from being able to assume cash could be dirty.
Frankly, the only fines and penalties paid should be those already defined in statute, not whatever they’ve got.
If bad people keep stuff that’s just what it will take since CAF is inescapably abused and the oversight over and harassment of ordinary people unpreventable.
I am with you
To be fair, in some countries all that does is result in half or more of the money disappearing.
The Fourth Amendment does not apply when you are on U.S. Port property; or on a boat, ship, or yacht on the water. If you don’t want to get searched don’t go there. There are signs posted prominently at the entrance to the port property. You can argue all that you want, but those are the rules that have been upheld by the courts. If you are searched and you have over $10,000 cash you are in trouble. If you are on a boat and the Coast Guard boards and finds one gram of marijuana you are in trouble.
Some people stay out of trouble and some people find trouble to get into. That is why I am very careful about who I travel abroad with.
At the very least it should go into an escrow account and the authorities should have to show cause within seven days. No legitimate claim it should be released with prejudice.
> Things like this are what make it difficult to support the Police. <
Well, yes. There was an episode of one of those reality TV shows where some lady was pulled over for a traffic violation. Drugs were found in her car. So she was arrested. Fair enough.
But then the cop said, “We are going to seize your car. It now belongs to us.” I get that the lady caused her own problems. And she should pay for it with jail time and/or a fine. But to just casually take her car? Nope, that doesn’t sit right with me.
Civil asset forfeiture is nothing but highway robbery. Until you are convicted by a jury of your peers...that’s YOUR money. Disgraceful.
If you’re dealing with a bank in Western Europe, that’s all well and good. My buddy supports a charity in Kenya, and if he puts too much money in the account, it’s suddenly not there. And nobody knows anything. What do you do then?
My buddy does puts money into an account that the guy over there has ATM access to. He lets him know that X amount is in the account and the guy immediately withdraws through the ATM. That’s the only way to securely transfer money through a foreign bank in some countries.
That means they can give every citizen a million dollars right? :-)
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