Border Agents rude and difficult at Nogales

playaboy wrote:
Americans do not have any constitutional rights at the border. There was a major change in the law after 911 and the formation of Homeland Security.

http://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/fact-sheet-us-constitution-free-zone

That doesn't mean they will do anything on a whim. They still have procedures. But, they can search you, detain you, question you without an attorney and in general make your life hell.

ICE is on the front line of defense of our country, they are there to protect us. If they would accept it I would buy them a beer every time I crossed.

To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin "Those who would give up liberty to obtain safety deserve neither liberty or safety". Too many people do not stand up for the rights they do have, and when they don't they erode those rights they have, PATRIOT Act or no PATRIOT Act.

My point is this. If the agent is professional, asks questions politely, and treats me like a citizen, then we have no problems. On the other hand, if the agent tries to exert authority he does not have, or give the answer "you have no rights here" , then we will have problems. That's when the smartphone camera gets activated (legal, but they don't like it) and every word is documented.

Thankfully, the majority of agents I have run into ARE professional. Those who are not I have had no qualms about reporting.

My biggest peeve? TSA agents at airports who are so full of themselves because Uncle Sam gave them a uniform and a badge. Most folks do not know the TSA screeners are NOT law enforcement, DO NOT have arrest powers, and CANNOT detain you. They can only bar you from the sterile area of the terminal. Their training is minimal, and DHS recruited many of them with ads printed on pizza boxes.

But that is another subject altogether.