Hello,
I am a natural born U.S. citizen with a valid U.S. passport, my common law partner is a naturalized U.S. citizen with a valid U.S. passport. We live in Canada now. Can someone explain why every time we cross the border into the U.S. we are grilled by CBP about whether we have ever been arrested, gone to court, had our fingerprints taken? Why is this relevant? We are U.S. citizens entering our own country. We cannot be denied entry due to prior criminal convictions (there are none of course) like a foreign national could. Can we refuse to answer these questions? Do we have the right to remain silent? This line of questioning seems inappropriate to me once our U.S. citizenship has been established. They should move on to the customs part of the interview (What are you bringing back, etc.) Someone will inevitably claim that prior criminal history could lead to suspicion that you are breaking customs laws, but prior bad acts cannot be considered the basis for reasonable suspicion of a new bad act. Seems like the whole intent is to try to catch you lying, just doesn't seem like a very productive use of their time. Maybe its a policy issue more than a legal one, but I just want to know if I have the right to remain silent when crossing the border once my U.S citizenship has been established? I recognize that probably isn't the most practical course of action, but I guess I am asking more out of curiosity than anything else.

