Border checkpoints to consider in trip planning

[Kevin D Pem]

I was born and raised in El Paso.

I have gone through the check points spoken about many times and have never had a single issue. Especially those check points are looking for anything and everything. They are looking for explosives, nuclear devises, radioactive material and on and on.
Especially today it is very easy to smuggle anything into the US. These folks are one of the first points to catch only God knows what being smuggled into the US.

As a kid my family very regularly went to Juarez to shop, have lunch and so on. My dad was very specific every time we came back across we declared everything cigarettes, booze, food, clothes... When asked about our citizenship every time we said American. Being a smart ass would be a really bad idea then.

Those check points are there to protect you.

So one of my favorite quotes says it all!!! However sovereignty is the major talking point of constitutional law! You are therefore entitled to your opinion, as I am. We must agree to disagree!!!

This is one of my favorite quotes!

That famous quote by Benjamin Franklin that “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”

 

[RVThereYet]

Oh please, let me be the one behind to catch the action when Kevin D Pen tells the CBP...
"No!, if you don't have a warrant, you can't come in my motorhome!"
It has been awhile since I've seen someone hauled off in handcuffs!! LOL
They are just doing their job. Give them reason and they can go thru your stuff all day long!

 

[Jim]

He’s probably willing to dig a hole for them at the checkpoint

Neals got me booked. Something about making his pool a little deeper . . .

 

[AbdRahim]

Neals got me booked. Something about making his pool a little deeper . . .

You can pull a pool behind a Ventana? Wow! What a life that guy lives!

 

[CaptainGizmo]

The fact that border patrol can “Search” your “motor home” makes this a very disturbing and long, legal conversation. Gonna have to ask the question that applies to every “vehicle”; never allow a search and never allow anything to cause a visual reason for one. That’s the standard 2A training.

For a “border agent” to come INTO your RV, I still have to fall back onto your 4A Rights to protect you from illegal search and seizure. I wouldn’t expect a US agent to be corrupt as to breach that Right. Now…a Mexico agent? All bets are off the table…Along with your Rights.

Our friends were inspected (for over 2 hours) at the Canadian Border and ended up with a broken bay door that had to be Duct Taped closed!

They found out that the border entry rules can change by the hour, and ended up losing all the poultry and dairy products.

 

[Alan_Hepburn]

Now…a Mexico agent? All bets are off the table…Along with your Rights.

If you're being inspected by a Mexico agent it means that you are entering Mexico - you do know that Mexico follows Mexican law, and not US law, right?

 

[CaptainGizmo]

If you're being inspected by a Mexico agent it means that you are entering Mexico - you do know that Mexico follows Mexican law, and not US law, right?

Yes. That was my point for bringing up Mexico.

 

[newmarokie]

I just found a good article about what agents can and cannot do. I tried for several minutes to copy and paste on my tablet. No joy. Before everyone assumes I am totally techno illiterate, I am just moderately so. I can do it just fine on a desktop. Google "border agents right to inspect"

 

[CaptainGizmo]

Before we get a lot of conjecture here, I think it’s wise that we reference the law for Border Patrol and not a simple Agricultural check.

So I went right to the source, CBP Customer Service.
and immediately found this quotation:

“Border Patrol checkpoints do not give Border Patrol Agents carte blanche to automatically search persons and their vehicles, other than in the manner described above. To conduct a legal search under the Fourth Amendment, the agents must develop particularly probable cause to conduct a lawful search.”

 

[Rich W.]

Before we get a lot of conjecture here, I think it’s wise that we reference the law for Border Patrol and not a simple Agricultural check.

So I went right to the source, CBP Customer Service.
and immediately found this quotation:

“Border Patrol checkpoints do not give Border Patrol Agents carte blanche to automatically search persons and their vehicles, other than in the manner described above. To conduct a legal search under the Fourth Amendment, the agents must develop particularly probable cause to conduct a lawful search.”

but probable cause can be pretty easy to establish on the spot based on some fairly loose interpretations even if it might be overturned later.