The Department of Homeland Security is facing sharp criticism after seizing nearly $80,000 in cash from a driver at the U.S.-Mexico border over the weekend. The announcement sparked outrage from Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who did not mince words, calling the move outright “theft.”
On Saturday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a DHS agency, reported confiscating $70,749 in cash from a vehicle in Brownsville, Texas, the southernmost point of the state. While carrying large sums of money isn’t a criminal offense, federal law does require travelers entering or leaving the U.S. to declare amounts over $10,000.
“It’s not a crime to carry over $10K, we just want to know about it,” CBP wrote on social media. “CBP officers in Texas seized over $70K of unreported U.S. currency. A driver was referred for secondary inspection, during which officers and a K9 unit found the money concealed in the vehicle.”
For Massie, CBP’s explanation didn’t cut it. “If the person isn’t guilty, this is theft,” he wrote Monday on X, making clear he sees the seizure as a blatant overreach.
Massie, though a Republican, has long aligned with libertarian lawmakers like Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and often challenges law enforcement authority where he sees overreach. He has also publicly broken with President Donald Trump on several high-profile issues, including the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and efforts to release Justice Department files on Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier who died in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
The incident adds to a growing list of controversies surrounding DHS and CBP’s handling of cash seizures, which critics argue often punish innocent travelers without due process.
