Pretend Border Enforcement As An Excuse For Ignoring The Need For Probable Cause
The more we let our civil liberties be yanked from us, the more they'll continue to be, especially as nifty new technologies for violating privacy are created.
Why do we let border agents run checkpoints 100 miles from the border? "8 out of 10 people arrested for drug possession at checkpoints" in Big Bend, Texas area between 2005 and 2011 "were Americans traveling through the state, not smuggling drugs from Mexico," notes the LA Times Editorial Board:
The relatively small number of undocumented migrants caught at the checkpoints, combined with the high number of American citizens being charged with drug possession in stops local police couldn't make on their own, raise significant questions about whether the "reasonable distance" standard enables what seem to be clear 4th Amendment violations. American citizens getting queried by Border Patrol agents scores of miles from the border should not be arrested for crimes the government otherwise would not have known about.In fact, this year a New Hampshire judge ruled that drugs confiscated from 16 people at a checkpoint 90 miles from the border could not be used as evidence. "While the stated purpose of the checkpoints in this matter was screening for immigration violations," Judge Thomas A. Rappa Jr. wrote, "the primary purpose of the action was detection and seizure of drugs." The balance of interests the courts have cited in allowing such checkpoints crumbles when comparing the number of valid immigration arrests against the number of drug arrests of American citizens.
Two out of 3 people in the U.S. live within the 100-mile zone, which extends from all boundaries, not just the land borders with Mexico and Canada. Oddly, Lake Michigan is considered a border even though its coast comprises three states and no foreign nations, which means the entire state of Michigan and sections of Indiana and Illinois are within the zone. Here in California, most of Interstate 5 lies within 100 miles of the coast. That's not what people typically think of as the border. Outrage by drivers stopped at mostly Southwest checkpoints has fueled a small cottage industry on YouTube.
So what is a "reasonable distance?" One mile? Ten miles? We're sure analysts can offer a more reasonable line than 100 miles. Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) have introduced a bill to limit checkpoints to within 25 miles of the border and confine warrantless entry to land within 10 miles. That seems like a reasonable starting point for discussion. But the current standard grants way too much power to the government to interfere in private lives -- something that should outrage civil libertarians regardless of political party.
More on this -- including your rights -- from the ACLU.
A Reason story from 2013 on civil libertarians fighting back against the feds demanding papers. Wes Kimball writes:
During a routine trip from San Diego to Phoenix in 2009, Pastor Steven Anderson was stopped at an internal immigration checkpoint about 70 miles from the Mexican border. A stern-looking Border Patrol agent asked Anderson to provide proof of citizenship and requested permission to search his car.The persistent pastor declined both, citing his Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. He then asked to be allowed to go on his way. The request was denied.
After a period of dithering, agents announced that a police dog had alerted to potential contraband in the vehicle. They instructed Anderson to pull over into a secondary inspection area. The pastor repeatedly refused, at which point a Border Patrol agent and a state police officer simultaneously broke both windows of his car and shot the pastor with Tasers from each side, delivering lengthy and repeated shocks while Anderson repeatedly screamed in agony.
The brutality was captured on video. Anderson's hand-held camera recorded events until moments after he was shocked, and CCTV footage captured much of what came afterward. In recorded testimony the following day, Anderson described how one of the agents involved with the incident shoved the pastor's head into the shards of broken window glass while dragging him from the car, and forced him to the ground. Other agents joined the action, with one repeatedly beating Anderson with a baton.
Lying helplessly on the ground, the pastor was again shocked with Tasers. After several minutes, the agents finally pulled up his bloodied body and took the broken man into custody.
Anderson is a hero to the members of a growing national cause. A decentralized movement of refuseniks is increasingly fighting back against the Border Patrol's shocking internal checkpoint system. Through civil disobedience, legal challenges, and generous helpings of YouTube, these ID scofflaws may be getting bloody, but they are actively challenging the constitutionality of a system most Americans don't realize exists.
What this ultimately is, as I noted in my own activism against the TSA, is obedience training to get Americans used to being docile in the face of having their rights yanked aay from them.
And finally, Terry Bressi's website covering these checkpoints.
Not to dilute your point in any manner, Amy, because I agree with you 100%, but Pastor Anderson turned out to be a real asshole. And not that assholes can't be right on certain subjects, but boy, what an asshole.
https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/tempe-pastor-hails-orlando-massacre-for-leaving-50-less-pedophiles-in-this-world-video-8372346
Tempe Pastor Hails Orlando Massacre for Leaving '50 Less Pedophiles in This World': Video
https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/christopher-broughtons-pastor-steven-anderson-prays-for-president-barack-obamas-death-6500993
Pastor Steven Anderson Prays for President Barack Obama's Death
And more of course available by teh googles
jerry at September 27, 2018 11:09 PM
That is at least doubtful. Unless you consider the borders to be right at the shoreline of the United States. I live less than a mile from the Gulf of Mexico. You might say I live within the 100 mile zone, but in actuality, I'd have to do quite a bit of swimming before I'm within 100 miles of the border of the Gulf of Mexico owned by the U.S.
Patrick at September 28, 2018 2:21 AM
No, Patrick the entire state of Florida is in that border zone. That is per FedGov definition.
I R A Darth Aggie at September 28, 2018 6:42 AM
I remember being surprised the first time I noticed marked Border Patrol vehicles SW of San Antonio. I had not realized until then how far inland (for lack of a better word) they patrolled. ICE, I would expect to see, but not Border Patrol.
But yeah, they gotta bust those longhairs with their peyote and 'shrooms camping in Big Bend, and the kids with their "party supplies" on South Padre.
ahw at September 28, 2018 7:34 AM
I can avoid going within 100 miles of the border.
I can't protect myself from the miscarriage of justice Kavanaugh is going through.
What man is safe from an angry lying woman?
So I am keeping my powder dry for that
FIDO at September 28, 2018 11:08 AM
"I can avoid going within 100 miles of the border." For now. Why 100 miles? Why not 1000?
Ben at September 28, 2018 12:51 PM
Because the greatest north–south distance in the 48 contiguous states is 1,650 miles.
Conan the Grammarian at September 28, 2018 2:05 PM
So, you are recommending the limit be set at 1,649 miles?
Ben at September 28, 2018 6:05 PM
Naw, 825 should cover it
lujlp at September 29, 2018 6:57 PM
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