The Department of Homeland Security announced the seizure more than $70,000 over the weekend in “unreported currency,” an announcement that drew the ire of Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who accused the agency of outright “theft.”
On Saturday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection – an agency under DHS – announced that $70,749 in cash had been seized from a driver at the U.S.-Mexico border, in the Texas city of Brownsville on the state’s southern-most point.
The agency noted in its announcement that it’s not a criminal offense to carry large quantities of cash, but that federal law requires individuals entering or exiting the U.S. to disclose currency of more than $10,000 in their possession.
“It’s not a crime to carry over $10K, we just want to know about it,” a social media post from CBP reads. “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, however, CBP’s rationale for its money seizure wasn’t sufficient.
“If the person isn’t guilty, this is theft,” Massie wrote Monday in a social media post on X.
While registered as a Republican, Massie has aligned himself with libertarian lawmakers such as his GOP colleague Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), and tends to hold more skepticism of law enforcement overreach than most Republican lawmakers.
Massie’s also differentiated himself by being among a select-few Republican lawmakers to publicly break with President Donald Trump on key issues, notably the president’s budget reconciliation bill – the One Big Beautiful Bill Act – and on efforts to make public the Justice Department’s files on Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier who died in 2019 awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
If the person isn’t guilty, this is theft. https://t.co/AN7ROabXlw
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) November 24, 2025
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