I just returned to Phoenix from a week's vacation on the beach in San Diego. My all-too-brief holiday was very pleasant, with the exception of the time spent waiting in line at checkpoints manned by agents of the U.S. Border Patrol—five in all on Interstate 8 between Gila Bend, Arizona and San Diego.
I'm white as a ghost, and over 50, so I don't fit the profile of an illegal immigrant, terrorist, or drug smuggler. That allowed me to proceed unmolested after brief interrogations by hulking Border Patrol agents. But what shocked me was that at one checkpoint, agents brought out dogs to inspect each vehicle passing through. Presumably, if the dog had alerted to the presence of who-knows-what, I would have been subjected to a thorough search of my vehicle.
For decades, the Border Patrol has operated dozens of these interior traffic checkpoints. And in 1976, the Supreme Court ruled that warrantless stops and searches near the border don't violate the U.S. Constitution. But over the last decade the number of these checkpoints as proliferated.
Today, there are about 30 permanent checkpoints and numerous additional temporary or "roving" checkpoints along the Mexican border, and a few along the Canadian border. Apologists for the Border Patrol say warrantless searches of vehicles at these checkpoints is necessary to fight the War on Terrorism, the War on Illegal Immigration, and the War on (Some) Drugs.
However, organized criminal interests learned long ago to post lookouts near the permanent checkpoints. Whenever they're unmanned, they alert their colleagues that the coast is clear. In recent years, it appears from press reports that most arrests at these permanent checkpoints are tourists transporting small quantities of marijuana for recreational use.
Which brings us to the roving checkpoints, and the friendly dogs that inhabit them. These are more difficult for the professional smugglers to avoid, but hardly impossible. They simply send vehicles ahead of a major shipment of narcotics or illegal immigrants and then choose whatever route is unmanned at the time. Again, press reports indicate that most arrests appear to be of recreational drug users.
I personally think it's ridiculous for the government to prohibit anyone from indulging in their favorite libation, but there's also a much larger issue. What else are the dogs sniffing for?
It's my guess that it's cash, not drugs, immigrants, or anything else is what the Border Patrol dogs are after. Since more than 95% of circulating U.S. currency is contaminated with drug residues, it's a lead-pipe cinch for a dog to "alert" on any large quantity of cash you might be transporting in a border area. And that's backed up by numerous reports of cash seizures at these checkpoints, inevitably accompanied by a press release from the Border Patrol.
U.S. courts have repeatedly ruled that possession of a large sum of currency is "strong evidence" of a connection to trafficking in illegal drugs. Merely possessing currency provides the government with sufficient evidence to seize it, unless you can provide clear and credible evidence that it's NOT connected to illegal drugs. And even then, Border Patrol Agents—or any other law enforcement authority—can still seize it, and force you to sue in court to try to get it back.
The creeping militarization of our border areas gives me, well, the creeps. It's not effective at stopping illegal immigration or illegal drug trafficking. What it is effective at is establishing a de facto prohibition against moving any meaningful quantity of cash near a U.S. border.
Copyright © 2009 by Mark Nestmann
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