The beginning of President Trump’s second term includes a strict immigration policy and increased presence at the southern border. If you are undocumented or have undocumented parents, you may be wondering: will this change in attitude impact my ability to get my seized cash, car, or property back? The answer is no! Whether you are…
In Brownsville, Texas, U.S. Customs and Border Protection performed a secondary inspection on a 2020 Mitsubishi while crossing into the United States at the Brownsville and Matamoros International Bridge. Here, CBP discovered three live monkeys the driver concealed, leading them to seize the vehicle. In the CBP local media release below, Roderick Kise outlines the…
When your car is seized and impounded by U.S. Customs & Border Patrol because they detained you or your family for suspicion of alien smuggling, you will receive a letter in the mail. The Notice of Seizure and Information to Claimants will include an Election of Proceedings. How do you want to try getting your…
US Customs Seized Money Going Into Mexico for Failure to Report $10,000,00? The Customs Agent exclaimed “More Money for Overtime!” The U.S. Customs and Border has started to ask US citizens (and Visa holders) “how much money do you have on you today? In this case, my client was scheduled to have a surgical procedure,…
Governor Brown Signs Bill to Protect Californians from Civil Forfeiture Abuse California now has some of the most far reaching protection against law enforcement seizing property and money. Starting January 1, 2017, for there to be a civil forfeiture of property or money in most cases, the government will first have to obtain a criminal conviction before…
My client recently handed me a letter from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection. I read it and started to give some thought to what a “non-lawyer” would think about all the confusing legal terms, sometimes referred to as legalese. That is, I thought, “what if I got such a…
This is a phrase that, as a lawyer, I hear from my clients when their money, car, purses, mobile phones, and just about anything is seized at the border or a checkpoint by the Border Patrol or any police agency. It is confusing because the legal term is seized or confiscated by police ( Confiscacion…
If you had any of the items seized at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, you have only 30 days from the notice posted at www.forfeitures.gov to make a claim to get any of these cars and assorted items back. The challenge here is that in most forfeiture cases that are published through this new government website,…
Conficacion is the Spanish word you might hear at the Mexican Border, but the fact of the matter is that U.S. currency is being taken form individuals everyday under a variety of code sections. 19USC1595a(a), 49USC80302, 21USC952(a)/844, 18USC545 are often cited in the Notice of Seizure. Recently, my client had $8,700 (which is under the…
It seems like you have no rights these days and US Customs treats you like a drug dealer if they find that you have cash on you when you cross the border or a checkpoint. It is confusing, but here is a brief explanation of how the U.S. thinks when they confiscate money and sometimes…
CLICK TO CALL 24/7
