W4RLR wrote:
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.
There are quite a few people who have a much better opportunity to stand up for their rights and those of others but don't like to rock the boat. What a shame.
Once they open my passport and start thumbing through the pages and see that I have stamps from Guatemala, Colombia, Peru, etc., you can see their eyebrows raise. Airports are the worst and I agree about the TSA agents. They've gone beyond their job too many times abusing the elderly, children, foreigners who may not speak "their" language.
My big beef is the checkpoints located north of the border. That is scary when someone can ask you your nationality within your own country. They did that in the late 30s and 40s, if you know what I mean. It will only be a few more years when people will be carrying national ID cards. Funny how people are about their social security number but not about proving their citizenship(phony driver's license are available everywhere). Funny thing is, these internal checkpoints are illegal. What does it say when you have to have immigration set up checkpoints within a country and not at the borders? The job isn't being done at the border and there is no control over a porous border. I don't care how much dope or contraband they catch at a border bridge, that's not the enemy. It's as if they are putting on a show. The real threat is the thousands of miles of border used everyday for human trafficking and drug transport. I know they know, but they're looking in the wrong place.
Living in Mexico and traveling for work via air, ground and rv, I have never been asked to prove my citizenship. I have been asked for an ID to board a plane. If I am ever asked by anyone other than an immigration official, I will politely refuse and ask for an immigration agent, call the embassy and CNDH (Mexican Human Rights). Fortunately, my rights here are respected and I have never had to confront this situation. I never show my passport to anyone except for international travel.
It took 28 years to come up with immigration reform. Too little to late. Now I want to see them undo the mess. They did it to themselves. Good luck!
