Currency seizures at Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport are on the rise, and CBP has been publicizing the numbers. A recent CBP release covers five weeks of enforcement activity at BWI — $80,388 in unreported currency seized from five travelers, plus marijuana-related penalties assessed against additional passengers:
During the past five weeks, CBP officers have seized a combined $80,388 in unreported currency from five travelers and assessed a combined $4,000 in Zero Tolerance penalties to eight travelers for marijuana possession. Officers seized marijuana from two additional couples but did not assess civil penalties in those cases. Officers continue to see an alarming trend in passengers traveling with marijuana and underreporting their currency.
The Currency Numbers
Five travelers, $80,388, five weeks. That works out to an average of roughly $16,000 per seizure — consistent with what we see at other East Coast airports handling Jamaica, West Africa, and Caribbean route traffic. BWI is not Dulles in terms of volume or international route diversity, but it handles regular direct service to Montego Bay and other destinations where outbound currency enforcement is a consistent focus. As BWI’s international traffic has grown, so has CBP’s enforcement presence there.
CBP’s characterization of the trend as “alarming” and the release’s framing of travelers as people who “deliberately ignore our nation’s laws” is worth noting — though worth taking with some skepticism. In my experience, the majority of people who have cash seized at airports are not deliberate violators. They are people who genuinely did not know about the FinCEN 105 reporting requirement, or who misunderstood it — believed they could not legally carry more than $10,000, thought reporting triggered a tax, or assumed that staying under $10,000 per person was sufficient when traveling as a family. CBP’s enforcement statistics do not distinguish between deliberate evasion and innocent misunderstanding, and neither does the seizure itself.
The “Underreporting” Pattern
CBP specifically flags “underreporting” as the pattern officers are seeing — not complete failure to report, but reporting less than the actual amount. This is the scenario where a traveler declares $9,000 or $9,500 while actually carrying $15,000 or $20,000. As I have noted in other posts, this is in some ways a more serious position than simply not filing at all, because it demonstrates awareness of the reporting threshold combined with a deliberate choice to declare below it. CBP treats the declared amount as evidence of intent — if you reported $9,500, you knew the requirement existed, and the question becomes why you reported exactly $9,500 rather than the full amount.
Under 31 U.S.C. § 5316, the obligation is to report the full amount accurately. There is no partial credit for filing a form with an incorrect number, and the entire seized amount — not just the unreported difference — is subject to forfeiture. Whether the unreport was intentional or the result of a genuine miscount is something that can and should be addressed in the petition for remission or mitigation, but it does not change the initial seizure outcome.
The Marijuana Seizures — A Separate but Related Issue
The release bundles currency seizures with marijuana seizures, which is common in BWI enforcement releases. These are legally distinct issues — the currency violations fall under Title 31 of the U.S. Code and are handled by CBP’s FP&F office, while marijuana possession at an international checkpoint is a separate enforcement matter. However, the two can interact badly for travelers who are caught with both. If CBP finds marijuana alongside unreported currency, the presence of the marijuana gives CBP additional grounds to characterize the currency violation as connected to drug activity, which affects both the civil penalty exposure and how receptive FP&F will be to a petition arguing the cash had a legitimate purpose.
The Zero Tolerance penalty assessed here — $500 per traveler for marijuana possession — is a civil penalty separate from any criminal charges. It can be mitigated through the same petition process as currency penalties, but it adds complexity to an already complicated situation.
What CBP’s Port Director Said — and What It Actually Means
The BWI Port Director’s statement is worth reading carefully: “We want travelers to be assured that they may carry as much currency as they wish into and out of the United States, and Customs and Border Protection officers will help them to complete the necessary Treasury form if required, but travelers should also know any actions less than truthful could result in them missing their departure flight.”
There are two things worth unpacking here. First, the offer to help travelers complete the FinCEN 105 at the checkpoint is genuine — CBP officers will provide the paper form and assist with completing it. But waiting until you are at the checkpoint to ask for help is already too late to be in the best possible position. The reporting obligation is ideally satisfied before you are ever approached, either by filing the FinCEN 105 online in advance or by proactively approaching a CBP officer before any inspection begins.
Second, “missing their departure flight” is a significant understatement of the consequences. A currency seizure means your money is gone for the duration of the forfeiture process — potentially months. You face a 30-day deadline to respond to the Notice of Seizure and Election of Proceedings or risk permanent forfeiture. You may face civil penalties on top of the forfeiture. And the long-term consequences — effects on Global Entry status, future CBP scrutiny, and your enforcement record — can follow you for years. Missing a flight is the least of it.
Have You Had Cash Seized at BWI?
If CBP at Baltimore Washington International Airport seized your cash, you need a customs lawyer. Read our customs money seizure legal guide or watch the video series, and contact us for a free consultation using the buttons on this page.