I have dual citizenship (Brazil and US) and recently entered the US, coming back from a trip to Europe.
I was with my 9yo son, my fiancé (not my son’s mother) and her 9yo nephew. All three of us have US passports.
We crossed the border into the US through Philly, and at no time we were asked for travel authorization for the kids, which was a big surprise to me.
My fiancé and her mother have crossed the US border multiple times with her nephew/grandson and were never asked for travel authorization.
Unless I’m missing something, this sounds like an enabler to human-trafficking. On this day and age, why would the border agents not ask for travel authorizations?
Although I had a notarized authorization from the Mom, I don’t think I should be able to cross a border without being properly checked.
The same happened when entering Portugal.
My mind was blown.
How come we were not checked for traveling with the kids?
In: Other
Travel authorization for children coming to the US is more of an issue for international travellers coming to the US than US passport holders. The child after all has every right to return to their home country.
In Europe, given the Schengen travel area, many countries don’t share the US’ paranoid culture of checks at the border and the passport is sufficient. So what if the parents don’t agree on whether the child can leave the country? One parent could easily take the child and cross the borders from Portugal all the way to Denmark without seeing a single border check.
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