No probable cause is need per USSC.

Great post Amy... living up near Canada, it used to be a breeze crossing over the border to golf or spend a weekend. Now it's too much of a hassle, and all those tourism dollars I used to spend have disappeared for Canada.

I think "ParatrooperJJ" meant United States Supreme Court. http://www.supremecourt.gov/

Although I don't think their decisions say quite what he thinks they say.

No probable cause is need per USSC.

That's the case when you're pulling over everyone, like at a DUI check point and you smell booze, now you have probable cause.

I liked the trucker who invoked his 5th Amendment rights, why, do you have something to hide? No, I just have a right to not answer your questions, no matter how innocent sounding they are. This is what you do for a living, and I do not. You have arrest authority, therefore I want my legal representation present.

If you don't want to go thru that hassle, then, am I under arrest? am I being detained? no? well, then, good day, sir and I'll be on my way.

The last straw for me was when, as often before, I had my dog in the car with me. I had his papers and his license showing he had his shots, but the Canadian border guards said that was not sufficient, and that I needed to turn around because there was no way he would let my dog into the country without quarantine. I turned around, and the American border guard said the exact same thing- no entrance into America without some certificate showing he went through a recent medical checkup and quarantine! Caught 100 yards between two countries.

After an hour or so of Orwellian panic, a supervisor finally let us back into America. I still don't know what my dog has to do with drugs or terrorism.

This video inspires me.

Thanks for posting it.

Fascinating! That guy's got balls. If anyone tells me I've got balls, I'll say, "Yes, but that guy? He's got BALLS."

It's called the border search exception. United States Code 8 USC 1357 (3) allows for these searches. Supreme Court rulings have limited the distance to 100 miles from an international border.

So much fun to watch, and the interesting thing -- the thing that actually gives me some hope -- is that so many of the Border Patrol officers finally acknowledge the legal limits of their authority. You're a citizen in you choose to be, or a subject if you choose to be.

The code section mentioned by ParatrooperJJ also has this section . . .

"(c) Search without warrant
Any officer or employee of the Service authorized and designated under regulations prescribed by the Attorney General, whether individually or as one of a class, shall have power to conduct a search, without warrant, of the person, and of the personal effects in the possession of any person seeking admission to the United States, concerning whom such officer or employee may have reasonable cause to suspect that grounds exist for denial of admission to the United States under this chapter which would be disclosed by such search."

They still need probable cause (or reasonable cause as they state) for a warrantless search of a person seeking entry into the USA. Driving down the road is not seeking entry to the USA. But, answering the first question they asked, "Are you a Citizen" might be enough to give them RC, so don't answer any question if asked. Don't drive a car with a good paint job though, as the BP workers would end up scratching the paint.

Listening to the accent of several of the Border Patrol officers, I'm glad the one driver asked the BP officer if he was a Citizen.

If the BP stopped the illegals at the border we wouldn't have to deal with this BS.

Let's see, border with Mexico 2000 miles, 1760 yards in a mile, put one Army soldier/BP officer/NG soldier every 176 yards (easy shot on a moving target at that distance) along the border, for a total of 20000 people to make the border secure.

Hilarious... the question is ridiculous! Is someone going to answer this "NO????"

"It's called the border search exception. United States Code 8 USC 1357 (3) allows for these searches. Supreme Court rulings have limited the distance to 100 miles from an international border."

To repeat someone: Are you stoned or just stupid?

You just named the ENTIRE state of Florida.

It must be fun cherry-picking the stuff that lets you imagine you tell others what to do.

Radwaste,

The problem with claiming the entire state of Florida is inside the 100 mile limit, is that technically, the territorial limit (aka border) the U.S. claims is 100 miles from any coastline, and the international territorial limit is recognized as 12 miles off of a coastline. Therefore, going with the 100 mile mark, the DHS has no standing to investigate anything inside the state of Florida.

"Supreme Court rulings have limited the distance to 100 miles from an international border."

Hence the "Constitution-free zone" that Amy has written about previously.

Oh, yeah. WATER isn't a border, even though the Bahamas is inside that 100-mile line --- SO IS 100 MILES OF MEXICAN AND CANADIAN COASTLINE.

More bullshit: if you paint a line on a map, it's golden. And you draw straight lines perpendicular to the shore to get that "limit".

Going to try and show this to my Israeli coworkers.

There is a slow movement here to anchor basic rights in a Constitution of some sort - right now the Israeli government still has some scary powers because we are officially under "emergency war" laws dating back to the British Mandate.