DHS Checkpoint Blog Entry 9: 'Cruz' Control

The internal suspicionless Homeland Security checkpoint seizure depicted in this video took place on April 22, 2008 - over 40 miles North of the border along Southern Arizona's SR86 near mile marker 146.

Both agents working primary have also stopped me in the recent past. The videos of these previous stops can be viewed at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ8dothFvx8

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC1hXigi6xc

Unlike the previous stops however where I was waved through relatively quickly, this time around Agent's Cruz & Villa played tag team during the stop & illegally detained me absent reasonable suspicion for close to ten minutes. This despite the fact that both agents know who I am and that I'm not an illegal alien.

Instead this was merely another exercise in obedience training and dominance games absent reasonable suspicion along a public highway inside the country.

One of my goals in documenting these checkpoint encounters is to demonstrate their arbitrary nature and intrusiveness on the traveling public.

While such suspicionless enforcement tactics are commonplace in third world dictatorships, they have no place in a Constitutional Republic such as ours. Especially considering that more efficient enforcement alternatives are available to the Border Patrol if the agency is really interested in 'securing' the border. One such alternative being to actually patrol it - something these agents weren't doing because they were too busy interfering with the traveling rights of domestic travelers.

There's a reason why the 4th amendment prohibits unreasonable search & seizure. The increasing hostility being directed against individuals who object to these suspicionless enforcement tactics is one of them.

The 'writ of assistance' was supposed to have disappeared generations ago after the overthrow of the British government. Unfortunately, the spirit of the writ lives on within those who seek to dominate & control instead of serve & protect.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Border
• Patrol
• Immigration
• Police
• state
• Checkpoints

[jjcashin]

you are a real asshole ....... maybe if they were doing this before 911 our economy wouldnt be so bad off.... or maybe 911 wouldnt have happend.... and wouldnt have lost almost 3000 lives....

if you don't like then leave......

[CheckpointUSA]

And you're really clueless jjcashin. None of the hijackers from 911 snuck in across the Southern border. Just about all of them were welcomed into the country with open arms by the U.S. State Dept. that issued them entry visas. That means they were here legally & it was the federal gov't that allowed them in. In fact this same state dept. issued two more visas to two dead hijackers several months after they rammed jets into big buildings.

Try getting a clue before commenting again please.

[sammully0321]

Really? What are you 5 years old? Just because I didn't cite a case law before you did, that I can't use the same case law? Do you have a monopoly on it now that you used it first? Plus, I didn't reference the Exceptions tied to the Martinez-Fuente case you dipsh$#. You keep referring to these checkpoints as a Internal suspicionless, warrantless checkpoints...you are absolutely right they are indeed those things, which SCOTUS affirmed that they are constitutional...Bottomline.

[CheckpointUSA]

Really sammully0321, you appear to have a problem with reality. As I stated before & I'll state again, you've failed miserably in backing up your assertions that the border search exception applies at this checkpoint. It doesn't btw. You've also failed miserably in backing up your assertion that the border is 50-100 miles wide. I referenced Martinez-Fuerte to make it clear that up to that point you had failed to reference any independently verifiable source whatsoever for your assertions...

[CheckpointUSA]

...but you appeared to miss that as well sammully0321. You see border search exception applies to searches at the border or its functional equivalent. Martinez-Fuerte on the other hand made it clear that agents need consent or probable cause to either extend a detention or to search when away from the border.

I guess you're just not man enough to admit when you're wrong.

[sammully0321]

you wouldn't yell at the employee, you would get the manager or higher. Yelling at the employee would not change anything, the management can change things. Same thing here man.

[CheckpointUSA]

A voluntary interaction with a local business has nothing to do with an involuntary interaction under threat of force by armed federal agents who have seized you absent suspicion along a public highway inside the country sammully0321. You'd think someone who claims to have served in the military would have a better grasp of basic civics then you do.

Rights are meant to be exercised when they are being violated. If field agents don't understand that, they have no business wearing the uniform

[CheckpointUSA]

Just like I thought WRXGONE, You're just a foul-mouthed authoritarian punk who obviously doesn't have a coherent argument to make regarding why it's all right to stop, seize, detain, interrogate & search people absent suspicion inside the country so instead rely upon personal insults.

Thanks for making it obvious what the average mentality level is for those who support these inefficient, ineffective rights violating operations.

[BTJMO]

@jjcashin I find it interesting that you first state how 9/11 happening was bad for the economy, the money coming into America, rather than first mentioning the lives lost in that horrible event. Interesting, just interesting.

But that's just my opinion.

[BTJMO]

Ok... I take back my comment about the old man, that I posted in the previous video. Villa was trying to be manipulative in this video, not good. :(

[spraguedawley]

imagine living close to this and having to deal with this BS every day

[Okaruwazashi]

@furyofbongos I thought Villa seemed like a decent (if ignorant) guy who was doing his best (which wasn't very good) in a stressful situation. The problem in this situation looks like poor training of agents, not malicious games-playing - Villa clearly was not enjoying himself.

To be clear, I support the actions of the uploader.

[Okaruwazashi]

I'm not sure it's fair to call these "dominance games." These agents clearly were not enjoying the encounter. I don't think it's helpful to set them up as bad guys. This looks like a structural problem to me - maybe ignorance due to poor training. The most important thing is that you assert your rights (refuse to answer questions and so on), but I think if you can make it easier on the agents without waiving your rights, you should.

[furyofbongos]

Hey agent Villa - you are a fucking asshole.

[nenitoloco6]

!!! Hi is not Mexican .. Mexicans born in Mexico hi is a shame! Hi is cleaning the border his parents crose so sadly!!!

[gwizzle1]

lol,the US border patrol says ADIOS at the end,hilarious

[nintendo007]

This guy has a lot of balls and endurance for doing this. His confrontations last about 10 minutes and he has multiple ones on his channel

[Time2RebelNOW]

why do we have mexicans checking citizenship?? i wanna see there immigration papers neither of them spoke very good english