If I have a warrant for my arrest in Florida will I get caught leaving/entering the Miami airport?

Question

4 years ago I received a violation for underage possession of alcohol in Florida. I never paid the fine and therefore received a warrant for my arrest.

Now, I will be flying back to Florida on route to Aruba for my honeymoon and have a 9 hr. delay in Miami. Do I have to worry about getting caught? Does it matter if I stay in the airport or can I leave for a few hours and re-enter without any issues?

What If I never leave the airport in Miami, but just stay in the terminal area to wait for my connecting flight? Would I be correct to assume that nobody would check my passport during that time?

And, then on the way back, Aruban security would check my passport but not Miami secuity correct? I dont mind staying INSIDE the airport as long as nobody does checks on me, so this is basically what I need to figure out!

Answer 1

Dude unless you do something to attract the attention of the police enough to have them run a warrant check on you, you'll be fine.

You can show your ID to a police officer all day long but unless he/she asks their dispatch to run a want's/warrant check specifically on you, they'll never know you have a warrant.  Everyone coming/going from an airport are not checked for warrants.

Stay out of any type of law enforcement trouble and you're fine.

That being said I'd contact the court for which you had the MIP by telephone and tell them you want to clear up that old fine/court appearance.  Most of the time they'll probably just let you send a check or whatever.  You maybe have to do something about the Failure to Appear charge but a judge could just drop that on the recommendation of the prosecutor if you work out a fine payment.

Answer 2

you are going to get caught.

Why would you even risk this for something as important as a Honeymoon?

You are stupid for doing this anyway. I hope you get caught, just for being such an *** about it and trying to evade them so blatently.

Do you really think that when they scan your passport they won't see on the computer that you have/had an arrest? With the terrorism threat, you can bet America will be paying attention.

Answer 3

Your problem lies in the fact you will have to clear US Customs, you better believe your warrant will come up then; to wit, is Miami the place where you will be clearing US customs when you come back? If so very easy for Miami Dade police to pick you up  

Answer 4

Since you're about to take the grown up step of getting married, why don't you deal with this?? Just hire an attorney and have them pay or whatever and get it off your record. It's so retarded to be walking around with a warrant left over from adolescent stupidity. How would your fiancée feel if you DID get arrested? That mental picture ought to be enough to convince you to take care of this warrant. Also, who the h**l knows what the Department of Homeland Security is up to on enforcing warrants?

Answer 5

Generally speaking, the airlines do not have access to state records.  Unless you get picked up for something else, or there is a passport issue that requires a deeper records check you should be fine.  

If you left the airport and were tagged for smoking in a non-smoking area, for example, then yes, you might have an issue.

If you contact the Miami courts, you could pay the fine and not worry as they will usually drop the warrant (the fine will be higher of course)