ACLU of Arizona and the Border Action Network have put together a clever way to respond and teach folks their rights when stopped at a Border Patrol checkpoint.
The project, Border Reality, is Wednesday, July 9, from 7:39 to 10:30 a.m. at Armory Park, 221 S. 6th Ave.:
Communities border-wide, report feeling treated with suspicion by CBP and subjected to unjustified detention, invasive questioning and searches, verbal and physical abuse, excessive force and profiling. We’re here to remind individuals of their rights in the border region and listen to concerns of abuse. This effort to educate people to know their rights will be taking place in California, Texas and New Mexico border towns on July 9th as well.
Join this movement by volunteering with us July 9th from 730AM-1030AM, if interested in participating please contact Dulce Juarez at djuarez@acluaz.org or call 602-773-6016.
P.S. for more info about BP Checkpoints check out this New York Times article, it’s a great piece leading up to our day of action on July 9th!
This article appears in Jul 3-9, 2014.
Right on. BP checkpoints are un-American. I’ve heard Americans with a browner tint of skin are constantly harassed at these checkpoints. It needs to stop.
Birds of a feather….
These checkpoints are constitutional. They were held up by the USSC over 30 years ago.
The only thing that is required by a person going through these checkpoints is they have to stop at the stop sign and wait for the agent to allow them to proceed down the road. The person does not have to answer questions. They do not have to allow them to search their vehicle. They do not even have to acknowledge the agent. However, make no mistake; you are being detained and can not leave until the agent allows it.
However, the agent can order you to pull over to the side of the road based on mere suspicion of a immigration violation. “Mere Suspicion” is basically a hunch and does not require to be based on any articulate facts. You still do not have to answer questions.
If the agent develops reasonable suspicion (RS) that you are involved in any other federal crime. They can order you do pull over to the side of the road. RS does need articuable facts to support it. Again you still do not have to answer any questions. He can also ask for for you name and birth date. Most states allow officers/agents to ask for ID if they have RS.
If the agent develops probable cause such as if the K-9 alerts to your vehicle, they see something illegal in your car (plain-view doctrine), or they find out something illegal by running your license plate or information. Then they can arrest you and search you vehicle.
Some (not all) of what agents can do during these stops (even with mere suspicion).
-have you pull over to the side of the road
-ask you to step out of the vehicle (that has to have some articulate facts to allow)
-run your license plate
-have the K-9 walk around the vehicle
Some of what a person can do during these stops
-not answer any questions during the entire detention
-film the agents
However, you can do what I do at these checkpoints or during any contact with law enforcement. I answer their questions. I allow them to search my car. I give them my ID and generally be nice and professional. Just because you have the right to sit there and not answer any questions does not mean it is wrong to answer them. I am exercising my civil rights by cooperating. I know I do not have to. However, I choose to.
I would leave with one other piece of advice. If you are going to not answer questions, do not be a prick about it.
This is a decent video on how to act towards law enforcement. I do not agree with all of it. However, every action the actors take is legal. Also the biggest point they make is be respectful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4nQ_mFJV4I
You have the right to be deported, you have the right to be deported you have the right to spend 2 years in jail, what more do they need to know?
Thanks for some actual information, Mike! Now I don’t have to go to some ACLU event. 😛
If they actually did the job they should be doing ON THE BORDER this shouldn’t be a problem that exists within the U.S. How do we allow our border security to continue to be so weak?
@Mike: Thanks for the very articuate post. Very well put. Like you, I am more than willing to cooperate with border agents. They have a thankless and difficult job to do. If a person has nothing to hide, there should be no problem respectfully answering questions and letting agents search the car. The more who do this, the less the agents have to worry about until the next vehicle. As to the comments by byslap above, since many hispanic peoples have a brown tinted skin (your words) and since the people trying to cross illegally or smuggle drugs are of mostly of hispanic origin, it is logical that border agents would focus on those people more than those with fairer skin and western European features. It isn’t nice, but it fits the profile of illegal activity.
There are many issues facing the Congress and the President in the ongoing debate of what to do about south of the border crossings and immigration, but border agents are supposed to follow and carry out the laws that are currently on the books. And that means detaining and returning those who enter the US illegally. What is most at issue right now is that only 4 states are bearing the weight of this problem and not the other 46 states who often ignore this problem because it is not on their doorstep. And Washington DC is very far geographically from it as well, so it seems academic to them.
It might help if all 535 members of Congress had to live on the border for a year, maybe then they might finally sit down and come to some equitable solution to worker visas and a legal way for those south of us to gain a path to entry. Until then, this will be a persistent problem. Helping ILLEGALS stay here is not the answer. It only encourages more of the behavior we have seen lately.
Brian, it is probably a lot bigger issue having almost 40% of the Border Patrol Agents doing processing duties because of the surge of illegal entries than the few agents that work these checkpoints. These checkpoints are part of a defense in depth strategy. Having all the agents “on the border” would be like having all soccer players at the middle of the field including the goalie.
Like I wrote in another post. Their elephant in the room. The main reason why people are resistant to this huge influx of immigrants into the country. The US does not have enough unskilled or quickly learned middle class labor jobs to handle these new immigrants. Most of these new immigrants will have to go onto a social programs to survive, which are already broken systems. When we allowed influx of immigrants in the early 20th Century, we had a HUGE manufacturing base that allowed immigrants to get jobs. Seasonal jobs like in agriculture and the service industry can not absorb the thousands of illegal aliens pouring into our country.
Because if we addressed this issue, we would have to acknowledge that the economic polices for the last 30 years that both parties supported (supply-side, trickle down, free trade, economic polices) is what created this mess. This mess did not only effect our country but helped cause some of the dire situations in Central America that causing millions of risk their life to come here. That the fault does not only line with the Democrats and Republicans but all of us that helped them stay in power.
Cynthia, you had some great points about finding a solution to work visas and better immigration police to gain a path to entry.