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FEATURE ARTICLE |
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Border Patrol Agents Illegally Seize & Search Student's Car in Southern Arizona
Terry Bressi Website: Checkpoint USA Blog: Roadblock Revelations Date: 12-20-2009 Subject: Arizona's Top News In yet another example of illegal Homeland Security enforcement
activity inside the country, 18 year old Iris Cooper is one of the
latest victims of Border Patrol aggression against the traveling
public. Last month, Mz. Cooper was on her way to class at
the Pima Medical Institute in Tucson, AZ when she realized she had left
her school books at home. Northbound on I-19 in Southern Arizona, she
turned around to retrieve them only to be stopped, seized, detained and
searched by Border Patrol agents shortly after conducting a perfectly
legal about-face. In addition to seizing and searching her, the federal
agents added insult to injury by handcuffing her and forcing her to
wait thirty minutes for the arrival of a K-9 unit that proceeded to
search her vehicle upon its arrival absent consent. The u-turn took place several miles before an internal Border Patrol checkpoint
located along I-19. This is undoubtedly one of the reasons why the
Border Patrol was in a position to observe the u-turn in the first
place (Homeland Security also has cameras located up and down the I-19
corridor). Regardless of the proximity to the checkpoint however (which
is more than twenty-five miles North of the border), to conduct a
lawful traffic stop, agents need reasonable suspicion to believe the
vehicle is carrying individuals illegally inside the country. This is
especially true given the existence of several communities in Southern
Arizona located between the I-19 checkpoint and the border. This means
there is a lot of domestic traffic along the road at any given time
engaging in perfectly lawful and domestic activities. “Assuming
that Congress has the power to admit aliens on condition that they
submit to reasonable questioning about their right to be in the
country, such power cannot diminish the Fourth Amendment rights of
citizens who may be mistaken for aliens. The Fourth Amendment therefore
forbids stopping persons for questioning about their citizenship on
less than a reasonable suspicion that they may be aliens.” - U.S. v Brignoni-Ponce To conduct a search, as was done in this case, agents need probable cause or consent: “Because
of the important governmental interest in preventing the illegal entry
of aliens at the border, the minimal intrusion of a brief stop, and the
absence of practical alternatives for policing the border, an officer,
whose observations lead him reasonably to suspect that a particular
vehicle may contain aliens who are illegally in the country, may stop
the car briefly, question the driver and passengers about their
citizenship and immigration status, and ask them to explain suspicious
circumstances; but any further detention or search must be based on consent or probable cause.” Pp. 878-882. - U.S. v Brignoni-Ponce Since
agents had neither probable cause nor consent in this case, the search
of Mz. Cooper and her vehicle were illegal. Additionally, its unlikely
the stop itself was legal since conducting a lawful u-turn along a
public highway does not constitute reasonable suspicion to believe a
vehicle contains individuals illegally inside the country. While the Border Patrol claims to be conducting internal roving patrols and checkpoints to protect us from criminal aliens and terrorists, who's protecting us from the Border Patrol? The newspaper article highlighting Mz. Cooper's experience at the hands of overzealous Border Patrol agents appears below: Border Patrol went too far, woman says By JB Miller When
Patagonia resident Iris Cooper, 18, turned her car around two miles
before a Border Patrol checkpoint because she had forgotten her
schoolbooks, she knew there was a chance that agents might stop her.
What she didn’t foresee was being allegedly forced from her vehicle and
handcuffed for a half an hour while agents waited for a K-9 unit and
then searched her car without consent. “I was very polite and
explained that I had forgotten my backpack for school,” said Cooper of
the incident that occurred just west of Sonoita on the morning of Nov.
4. She was going to class at Pima Medical Institute in Tucson. Cooper
said that before she knew it, an agent had pulled her from the vehicle
and handcuffed her. “When I asked the agent why I needed to be in
handcuffs he said, ‘It is part of procedure.’” Cooper said she
waited in cuffs for 15 minutes while a K-9 unit was brought to the
scene in order to search her vehicle even though she had not given
agents permission to do so. “The K-9 unit went through my car, and
there was nothing,” she added. Agent David Jimarez, a
spokesperson for the Border Patrol, said agents more than likely
thought they had pulled over a smuggler and that Cooper was cuffed for
both their safety as well as her safety. He said that often smugglers
will try to run away if they think their vehicle is going to be
searched. “The handcuffing doesn’t necessarily mean that she is being
placed under arrest,” said Jimarez, referring to Cooper. However,
Dan Pochado, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) of Arizona told the Weekly Bulletin/Nogales International that
99.9 percent of the time such an act would indeed be considered an
arrest. “When you are handcuffed that is effectively an arrest
because you are unable to leave voluntarily,” Pochado said. “From the
information given, it appears that the level of force here would arise
to an unreasonable seizure and a violation, therefore, of the Fourth
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.” Pochado said that Fourth
Amendment rights protect citizens from unreasonable searches and
seizures no matter where they are. He said that while it appears the
vehicle had enough suspicion to warrant an investigative stop, agents
did not have probable cause for an arrest. “I hope that the
agents explained themselves as to why they did what they did,” said
Jimarez. He added that an apology is usually in order under such
circumstances. Cooper said agents did not apologize, but did tell her to, “Have a nice day.” |