When CBP Seizes Your Goods: Hire a US Customs Lawyer

The Call Nobody Wants to Get

Your freight forwarder calls. Your shipment has been detained at the port. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has flagged your goods — and depending on the situation, they may already be moving toward seizure.

This is one of the most disorienting moments a business owner or importer can face. You’ve done everything you thought was right. You filed the paperwork, paid the duties, worked with a broker you trusted. And now your inventory is sitting in a federal warehouse and you’re not entirely sure what happens next.

Here’s the honest truth: what happens next depends almost entirely on how quickly you act and who you have in your corner.

What CBP Seizures Actually Mean for Your Business

A customs seizure isn’t just an inconvenience. It’s a formal legal action — and it can carry consequences that go well beyond the immediate loss of your merchandise.

When CBP seizes goods, it typically means one of a few things: a suspected violation of import laws, issues with proper licensing or permits, questions about the country of origin or valuation, suspicion of intellectual property infringement, or ties to restricted parties or sanctioned countries. Some of these situations are administrative in nature and can be resolved relatively cleanly. Others carry the potential for significant civil penalties, loss of import privileges, or criminal referral.

The importers who come out of these situations in the best shape are the ones who don’t try to handle it alone. Working with a us customs lawyer from the moment the seizure happens isn’t just smart — in many cases, it’s the difference between recovering your goods and losing them permanently.

The Timeline Matters More Than Most People Realize

One of the first things experienced customs counsel will tell you is that CBP operates on strict timelines — and missing a deadline can forfeit your rights entirely.

After a seizure, you typically have 30 days to file a claim or petition. If you miss that window, CBP moves forward with administrative forfeiture. Your ability to challenge the action disappears. The goods are gone.

This is why the first conversation you have after a seizure shouldn’t be with your freight forwarder. It should be with a qualified attorney who understands how CBP operates and what your options actually are.

At Stein Shostak Shostak Pollack & O’Hara, this is precisely the kind of work the firm has built its reputation on. The team has extensive experience representing importers in CBP enforcement actions — navigating petitions for relief, mitigation requests, and when necessary, formal litigation in federal court.

The Mitigation Process: Your First Line of Defense

Most seizure cases don’t go straight to court. The first step is typically filing a petition with CBP asking for mitigation — a reduction in penalties or return of the merchandise, based on the circumstances of the violation and the good faith of the importer.

A well-prepared petition isn’t just a letter explaining what happened. It’s a strategic document that presents the facts in the most favorable light the law allows, anticipates CBP’s likely arguments, and demonstrates why the outcome you’re requesting is legally and factually justified.

This is where having a seasoned customs attorney makes a concrete, measurable difference. The framing, the evidence package, the legal citations — all of it matters. A petition filed by someone who doesn’t know this process intimately looks completely different from one filed by attorneys who have been doing this for decades.

What Happens When Petitions Fail

Not every case resolves at the administrative level. Sometimes CBP denies a petition. Sometimes the agency pursues penalty actions that go far beyond the initial seizure. And sometimes the amounts at stake are significant enough that accepting the outcome simply isn’t an option.

This is where litigation enters the picture. Most customs law firms will tell you they handle litigation — but very few actually have the track record to back that up in federal court. Stein Shostak is one of the exceptions. The firm has litigated customs and international trade disputes at the highest levels and has the court history to demonstrate results.

For importers facing six or seven-figure penalty exposure, or businesses whose import privileges are genuinely at risk, that litigation capability isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s essential.

Tariff Classification, Valuation, and Country of Origin Disputes

Not every customs problem involves a dramatic seizure. Some of the most significant financial exposure importers face comes from quieter, more technical disputes — and they’re no less serious.

Tariff classification determines the duty rate applied to your goods. A difference of a single tariff heading can mean a 0% duty rate or a 25% duty rate on the same product. At scale, that delta is not a rounding error — it’s a business-threatening liability.

Valuation disputes are similarly consequential. CBP has authority to challenge the declared value of imported merchandise and assess additional duties based on a higher valuation. These disputes can result in retroactive duty assessments going back years.

Country of origin determinations affect not just duty rates but eligibility for preferential trade programs, exposure to Section 301 tariffs, and compliance with Buy American requirements. Getting this wrong — even inadvertently — carries real penalties.

An experienced international trade lawyer who understands the HTS schedule, CBP’s valuation methodology, and the country of origin rules for your specific product category isn’t a luxury. In today’s enforcement environment, it’s a baseline requirement for any serious importer.

The Current Trade Climate Is Not Forgiving

The federal government has become significantly more aggressive in customs and trade enforcement over the past several years. CBP penalty actions are up. Section 301 tariff scrutiny is intensifying. The government is investing in trade enforcement infrastructure and personnel.

This is the environment you’re operating in as an importer right now. The question isn’t whether enforcement will touch your industry — it’s whether you’re positioned to respond effectively when it does.

Building a relationship with a qualified us customs lawyer before a problem hits is the smartest thing you can do. Having counsel who already understands your supply chain, your classification decisions, and your sourcing structure means that when CBP comes knocking, you’re not starting from zero.

Don’t Wait Until the Shipment Is Already in a Warehouse

The most expensive customs problems are almost always the ones that didn’t have to be expensive. They started small — a misclassification, an inaccurate valuation, a documentation gap — and escalated because nobody with the right expertise was involved early enough to course-correct.

Stein Shostak Shostak Pollack & O’Hara has been representing importers, exporters, and multinational businesses in customs and trade matters for decades. The firm’s attorneys have earned the respect of CBP officials and the international trade community — and they have the results to show for it.

If your goods have been seized, detained, or you’re facing a customs penalty — don’t wait. Contact Stein Shostak today at (213) 630-8888 or visit steinshostak.com to request a consultation and get the experienced legal team you need in your corner immediately.