I’ll be flying to the States this summer and stories of people being detained at US customs are starting to emerge. Apparently, Europeans and even Americans living abroad are not exempt from possibly being detained.
What have you heard or experienced?
Colleague of mine went this week. No issues at all.
Have your ESTA ready, a hotel or family/friends address and a flight back and you are ok.
There are something like 13-14,000 international flights a day to US airports. The media has reported on a very small handful of people who have encountered problems entering the US. The odds of something happening to you are very very slim. But be prudent, don’t go there with the intention of working (without proper visa), have at least your first night’s accommodation arranged, and don’t try to test their sense of humour.
I’m not going there because I disagree with the current US government, not because I expect problems crossing the border.
If you are concerned consider flying via Canada or an airport where you pre-clearUS Customs before your flight takes off. While they can refuse you entry at these airports they cannot detain you. Dublin, for example.
Thanks for your feedback. I’m visiting family and have dual citizenship but under the current administration, it sounds as if anyone can be targetted.
Leave those worries to the Mexicans 
More seriously, avoid bringing food. Even chocolates. The rules about weight, sugar content, and other stuff are quite cumbersome. If customs officer is bored, there’s an open door for stupid questions. If you’re in a good mood, prepare yourself by reading all the relevant regulations and be ready to be assertive. And that’s something easy as candy, meat or cheese are a magnet for idiocy. I wouldn’t put myself in the position to explain to customs officer that certain cheese is aged and not fresh.
With that said, in some travels I’m ready and willing to recite the laws and have a nice sparring with customs. In others I just don’t bring anything along and fly without worries.
I assume that your US passport would skip any check of social media…right?
One should never assume when it comes to US customs. I have been reprimanded twice due to a piece of fruit I had forgotten to toss out before which led to a search of all my belongings. Those sniffing dogs have expert noses.
you are describing travels to the US after January 20th, 2025 right?
That is the thing, noboady can say how it will work out for you. Everone here could tell you they had no problems and you could have problems or vice versa.
All you can do is be prepared with all your documentation etc…
Every single time I go to the UK, I get ‘statistically selected’ for a body search. I know exactly why and it’s not stats!
Before. It seems the only change since January 20 2025 is that the standards applied to less desired visitors now apply to every traveler.
Isn’t that security rather than Customs?
My friends, who have visited US in the last months, haven´t had any problems.
Went in March - no change from the usual unfriendly TSA agents from pre-2025…
Make sure you don’t have fruits or food in your bag and are willing to hand over your passwords, and all good.
What do you mean by “you are willing to hand over my passwords?” Hoping that was just a joke.
Edit: Thanks Komsomolez: I am gobsmacked. This is not the US I know.
This isn’t something new - it’s since… uhmmm, I want to say 2007 or 2008 that it was formalised in law.
It’s not that common (I used to travel a lot for work - and only had it happen once that they asked to power up and unlock my laptop) but it does happen.
My previous employer (who sent me to the US from the UK) mandated clean laptops - so if you flew to USA, Russia, China, or another high risk country, they would give you a laptop with no data on it and a special VPN profile that would only connect “home” after you got to client site, and even then had restricted access. You then returned the laptop after the trip, which would be weighed and disapear into some IT room…
Maybe so. But I think you are confusing the risk of industrial espionage with the risk of having your devices searched for “politically inappropriate” content. The latter is new for US travel, I believe. There have been cases where people have been denied entry because they had “anti-Trump content” on their phones.
@Olygirl I wouldn’t worry too much, but do allow extra time at whatever airport you’re departing from on the flight that will land in the USA. I am getting the dreaded SSSS on my boarding pass more and more often. It’s no big deal, just extra screening at the gate. But it takes time. Last time, I was nearly the last passenger to board!
If you have a tendency to be forgetful, just do not take or eat any fruit on the trip. Even tossing it in the trash before you go through immigration is technically not allowed. I always declare the few bars of chocolate I take as gifts, and if I have leftover snacks from the plane I declare those too just in case. Know and declare the address of where you’lll stay and how long you’ll be there. Have a printout of your itinerary so they can see when you plan to leave. Even as a dual citizen, I figure having as much info as possible will make things smoother.
PS - Wearing a MAGA hat could help?
Very true - but the impact for me (who has no political content saved anywhere) is pretty much the same; being prepared to hand over my accounts (which is something I particularly dislike).
But you are totally right, there has been a change if you tend to save or post anti-trump memes…
So you are prepared to give them your EFUK handle and password? The anti-trump and anti-US rhetoric can be pretty high at times.
I think (hope?) that there is no way to map handles here to IRL names. I seem to recall, back in the day of EF, that this was the justification given to bypass GDPR. (not totally valid imo, as GDPR is quite clear about IP addresses and nicknames/handles being PII, but still).
In the context of borders, I somehow expect them to want/need just your laptop and phone authentication…