Your customs experiences re-entering the US from Canada?

drenjoey wrote:
I have to comment on my comment:

First......Lemons and limes don't grow in Canada. They come from the States. Why do they confiscate things from their own country?

Second.....We didn't even buy those lemons and limes in Canada. We brought them with us and the agent at the Canadian border didn't even ask about fruits or veggies !!!!!!

I am sure the US Dep't of Agriculture has the complete regs on why US Customs tend to enforce such rules that are enacted to answer your questions....

One such reg that would pertain to what was mentioned here is the proven fact that any type of agricultural product subject to prohibited entry - was indeed "imported" to the United States from another country.... It does not matter where that very agricultural product had originated from as one example would be certain invasive species can still invade certain types of veggies or fruits from any location, or else importing original US agricultural products would not be enforced.


Yes I had a similar situation that was just plain silly when in Sep 2015 at the Dalton Post US port of entry (Haines Highway border crossing), the agent confiscated my orange bell peppers that I had all diced up and stored in a ziploc bag....as the agent stated to me that bell peppers from Canada are not allowed !....The $4 loss itself I can live with, if they were whole uncut bell peppers, sure I can live with that too....

But c'mon man - the 10 minutes of all the hard work I did by washing them, de-seeding them and dicing them all up in a refrigerated stored clear see thru SEALED bag where you can clearly inspect for any potential bugs I thought was a bit ludicrous confiscating them.

For the record, no I was unaware about bell peppers from Canada were prohibited entry at that very moment.

Three hours later when I entered the IGA store in Haines, I restocked up on orange bell peppers - same PLU code sticker on them marked "3121 - Canada".

Believe me, I was going to call US Customs and ask why the store has over 100 pounds of bell peppers from Canada when I was specifically told that bell peppers from Canada are NOT allowed !, as I certainly want to witness for myself a federal raid take place to confiscate all the bell peppers and cite that store a big fine.

However the three sites that did have payphones before were ripped out and no longer there (as I remembered upon my only visit in Haines in June 1994) when I asked the locals where any payphones were located as two confirmed to me that they removed them about 5 years or so ago (in 2010).

To Date : Out of the 31 total Canada entry crossings and 29 USA (from Canada) re-entry customs clearing border crossings, and 2 Mexico and 2 USA re-entry from Mexico border crossings that I endured...the bell peppers in 2015 was the only item that was ever confiscated.