Rapid Travel Chai

In a few hours, a regime with a governing ethos of cruelty will assume control of the US executive branch for a period of a minimum of four years from January 20, 2025.

As with prior presidential transitions, recent weeks have seen an upsurge in optimistic takes of wishful thinking based on one’s own policy preferences rather than what the soon-to-be public official has publicly stated to intend to do.

Source: cbp.gov

My experiences with CBP as a US citizen and white man have been consistently positive. I am in the demographic where that may continue.

Over two decades of travel that has included visits to every country in the world, upon return to the US I have been sent to ‘secondary’ numerous times about my travel destinations; each time except one has been handled professionally, and generally courteously. I have also seen plenty of flight arrivals where arrivals are profiled by their ethnic background for agricultural inspection and extra questioning.

Starting today, January 20, 2025, we do not yet know how drastically US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will be weaponized against lawful travelers to the US, including US citizens.

There will be intense public pressure, top-down pressure, and peer pressure on CBP agents to ‘take the gloves off’. The commitment to uphold the laws and spirit of the US will be tested in every CBP agent, each who has tremendous latitude and subjective authority in their roles.

A hallmark of the authoritarian playbook is that orders often need not be formally issued from above. Those below get the implicit message and proactively strive, often to excess, to implement that will.

Each traveler will need to attempt to assess their risk level based on their US person status, their demographics, their political activities, etc.

Broad, Subjective Powers

US citizens may not generally be aware of how legally vulnerable they are when entering the US.

CBP agents have significant latitude compared to typical law enforcement in day-to-day life.

For instance, CBP officers can compel a traveler to enter their pin/password to unlock devices and then seize those devices and the data on them.

It is common practice for journalists and others carrying sensitive personal or corporate information to wipe their devices prior to entry to the US or to authoritarian regimes. If compelled to unlock and surrender a device, they are handing over a blank brick. Once back in the US, devices can be reinstalled from cloud backups.

Protecting Yourself

Here are some travel planning practices commonly used for travel to/from authoritarian regimes that may be prudent to adopt for travel to the US:

In advance of travel to the US:

• Have a designated, trusted person who can access originals of documents relating to your legal status (e.g. birth certificate, naturalization certificate)
• Brief trusted contacts on your travel plans with instructions for contacting legal assistance if you are detained
• Prepare hard copies of US legal status
• Prepare hard copies of your travel arrangements such as flights and hotels
• Keep receipts from your trip
• Carry nothing subject to discretion (e.g. food items)
• Avoid wearing/displaying political symbols, even those ideologically aligned with the current regime
• Wipe your electronic devices, if you deem it appropriate

Where to enter the US:

• Travel to the US from countries currently with good relations, if possible
• Keep tabs on traveler reports on US points of entry, such as the reputation of Miami International Airport and US Preclearance facilities in Canada
• Verify eligibility of your travel plans, and re-verify on day of travel, on TIMATIC (the system airlines use to determine travel eligibility)

Arriving in the US:

• Be sober
• Be coherent (don’t take sleeping pills or other impairing medications on the flight)
• Go to the bathroom before approaching CBP
• Prepare in advance to truthfully, clearly, and succinctly explain your travel and to answer only the questions asked; do not volunteer additional information that is not asked
• Do not re-pack or organize your luggage before passing immigration and customs
• Be courteous at all times in words, facial expressions, body language
• Speculative: consider not using Trusted Traveler Programs such as Global Entry kiosks since even a technical infraction can result in permanent removal from Trusted Traveler Programs (this is speculative since I don’t know that not using the program for entry on a specific occasion will be a shield to a ban from the program)

We can hope this is an overcaution, and that the CBP will maintain apolitical professionalism and respect for the Constitution and laws of the US.  We, travelers, should not be naive and dismissive of the rhetoric of those soon to have governing authority over us. We should take the ‘elections have consequences’ crew at their word, making prudent efforts to protect ourselves in our travel.