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Homeland Security Seized $2 Billion in Cash From Travelers at U.S. Airports
Reason ^ | July 30th | C.J. CIARAMELLA

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 ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: armedrobbery; assetforfeiture; cbp; civilassetforfeiture; dhs; forfeiture; wod
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1 posted on 07/31/2020 8:15:03 AM PDT by RandFan
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To: RandFan

Yes... a childrens hospital in Nigeria.


2 posted on 07/31/2020 8:17:01 AM PDT by Mr. K (No consequence of repealing obamacare is worse than obamacare itself)
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To: RandFan

Why should Michael Chertoff have ALL the fun with corruption?


3 posted on 07/31/2020 8:17:28 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer)
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To: RandFan

I liked this country better when you were free to carry cash and a gun.


4 posted on 07/31/2020 8:17:49 AM PDT by mylife (Opinions: $1, Today's Special: Half baked: 50c)
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To: RandFan

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.


5 posted on 07/31/2020 8:20:54 AM PDT by taxcontrol (Stupid should hurt - Dad's wisdom)
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To: RandFan

Seized and redistributed to various members of the ruling class.


6 posted on 07/31/2020 8:21:04 AM PDT by Wilderness Conservative (Nature is the ultimate conservative)
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To: RandFan

Things like this are what make it difficult to support the Police.


7 posted on 07/31/2020 8:23:01 AM PDT by Seruzawa (TANSTAAFL!)
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To: RandFan

“””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.


8 posted on 07/31/2020 8:23:11 AM PDT by shelterguy
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To: RandFan

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.


9 posted on 07/31/2020 8:24:44 AM PDT by SMARTY (Freedom from effort in the present means effort has been stored up, in the past. T Roosevelt)
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To: taxcontrol

I would venture to say that most of this cash was confiscated because it was undeclared.


10 posted on 07/31/2020 8:25:27 AM PDT by eastforker (All in, I'm all Trump,what you got!)
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To: mylife

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.


11 posted on 07/31/2020 8:25:49 AM PDT by Gen.Blather (Wait! I said that out loud?)
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To: RandFan

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.


12 posted on 07/31/2020 8:25:56 AM PDT by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: taxcontrol

I am with you


13 posted on 07/31/2020 8:27:38 AM PDT by mpackard (Donald Trump broke the Democrats)
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To: shelterguy

To be fair, in some countries all that does is result in half or more of the money disappearing.


14 posted on 07/31/2020 8:32:25 AM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: RandFan

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.


15 posted on 07/31/2020 8:35:11 AM PDT by forgotten man
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To: taxcontrol

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.


16 posted on 07/31/2020 8:37:15 AM PDT by Lurkina.n.Learnin (The Revolution Will Not Be Televised but It Will Be Livestreamed)
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To: Seruzawa

> 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.


17 posted on 07/31/2020 8:39:27 AM PDT by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
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To: taxcontrol

Civil asset forfeiture is nothing but highway robbery. Until you are convicted by a jury of your peers...that’s YOUR money. Disgraceful.


18 posted on 07/31/2020 8:39:51 AM PDT by Persevero (I am afraid propriety has been set at naught. - Jane Austen)
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To: shelterguy

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.


19 posted on 07/31/2020 8:43:36 AM PDT by Darteaus94025 (Can't have a Liberal without a Lie)
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To: RandFan

That means they can give every citizen a million dollars right? :-)


20 posted on 07/31/2020 8:45:46 AM PDT by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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