Recently I was detained, harassed, and searched illegally at a US Border Patrol checkpoint / roadblock. This infuriating experience lead me on a search for more info / a listing of my rights for such occasions. In my search I came across this site: Road Block Registry. I encourage everyone to contribute to the registry, and to educate themselves on their rights.
At an international border crossing? You don't have the same rights there as you would if you were stopped at a domestic checkpoint. Searches are basically considered per se reasonable at the border. "Routine searches of the persons and effects of entrants are not subject to any requirement of reasonable suspicion, probable cause, or warrant." (United States v. Montoya de Hernandez). Domesic checkpoints are another matter.
^ That's true, but the "border" seems to be creeping farther and farther inland--in 2006 I went through one that was a good 10 miles into US territory in Northern Vermont. I wouldn't be surprised if the feds were to try justifying a "border patrol checkpoint" at the Mason-Dixon if The People don't draw their own line somewhere...
I read about these some time ago but I had no idea they were still commonly used. There is a lot of excellent information at the Road Block Registry web link you posted. Unfortunately, this is another one of those situations where there is such a heavy extralegal presumption in favor of law enforcement that these things take many years and many lawsuits to change. Still, it's a pretty gross violation of the Fourth Amendment and making people aware of the situation always helps. The "immigration check" is just pretext for conducting a warrantless suspicionless search. I seem to recall seeing a good video of an informed citizen asserting his rights at one of these. I'll see if I can find it...
^ here's a more chilling vid of the same guy.
apparently he's well known publicly for making some hostile political statements but i'm not sure if the agents were even aware of his agenda.
but regardless, IME, they will treat you this way no matter who you are, if you try to assert your rights or rub them the wrong way.
An extralegal note on the situation in the videos: perhaps unsuprisingly, the guy involved with this is a bit of a head case. That shouldn't be relevant to his immediate case or the civil rights violations which took place, but it's another way of saying that even though you can and should assert your rights, there is a better way of going about it than the way in which this guy did. For instance, it is always best to comply with a law enforcement request, proper or improper, rather than barricade yourself inside a car.
i've done checkpoints and security before, and unfortunately i have to side with the Border Patrol on this one.
it was suspicious that he didnt roll down his window to discuss things clearly with the officer upon arrival, which is very unusual in comparison to the other thousands of people who go through the checkpoint, and suggests he has something to hide; this is the "mere suspicion" needed to put him into secondary. he cites the officer brandishing a weapon as his reason to not roll down his window, but he refused to roll down his window long before the weapon was brandished.
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
