Pg 18

Question 1

What is involved in the exception to a warrant for a border search?

Answer 1

Government officials can subject people that are crossing the border to search and seizure with no cause or individual justification in order to protect the sovereignty of the nation. They do not need probable cause. Routine searches of people and things can be made on entry without warrant, PC, or any suspicion.

Question 2

What are the different borders that the exception to a warrant for a border search includes?

Answer 2

Places where international things and people come into the States: mail, land entry, ships that are docking, planes that are landing. The functional equivalent of any border that is in land

Question 3

What is the test that applies to border searches that are an exception to requiring a warrant?

Answer 3

There’s a balancing test that applies because it is vital to the national interest to prevent illegal entry or smuggling and this is weighed against the limited invasion directed at a morally neutral class of people

Question 4

What is a border?

Answer 4

An international point of entry. So this could include an international airport

Question 5

What is required in order for police to do a non-routine border search?

Answer 5

There must be reasonable suspicion and this is done on a case by case basis.

Question 6

When can a strip search happen at a border?

Answer 6

If it requires disrobing to the state that would be offensive to the average person, this can only happen on real suspicion that is supported by objective, articulable facts that could reasonably lead an experienced prudent customs official to suspect that the person is hiding something on his body contrary to law

Question 7

What is the rule for when police want to search cavities such as a rectum or vagina or to use laxatives or emetics?

Answer 7

There must be a clear indication of smuggling

Question 8

When does an intrusion onto someone’s body not require a warrant?

Answer 8

If it is done by a medical professional in a medical surrounding using customary medical techniques

Question 9

Can border officials detain someone for alimentary canal contents?

Answer 9

Yes, if they reasonably suspect that a traveller is smuggling contraband in his anal cavity and detention is reasonably related in the scope and is necessary to verify or dispel the suspicion. If a person refuses to do an x-ray, the officials can detain him until a bowel movement happens

Question 10

Can border control search electronic files on a laptop without reasonable suspicion?

Answer 10

Yes, but this is only allowed to be a quick and non-intrusive search of these things. Exhaustive exploratory searches require particularized and objective basis to suspect the person of criminal activity

Question 11

Can border officials search or disassemble a car without justification?

Answer 11

Yes if they can put it back together, but if disassembly will destroy the item, it is considered to be a non-routine search that needs reasonable suspicion

Question 12

What is a roving patrol?

Answer 12

Border control units that stop and search vehicles on the highway or in the interior of the country looking for aliens.

Question 13

Are roving patrols legal?

Answer 13

Most cases say they are illegal if there isn’t a warrant and probable cause because this is at the discretion of the police. They need to have reasonable suspicion at least someone in the car is illegally in the United States, not just that someone is an alien.

Question 14

What are the factors that would provide reasonable suspicion for a roving border patrol official to stop a vehicle?

Answer 14

– characteristics of the area that the vehicle is in
– proximity to the border
– usual traffic patterns or prior experience with alien traffic
– vehicle characteristics like large compartments, fold down seats, spare tires, heavily loaded, lots of passengers, etc.
– information about recent illegal crossings in the area
– characteristic appearance of people who live in neighbouring countries including the dress, hairstyle, ethnicity, and race
– the driver’s erratic behaviour
- people trying to hide
– other facts in light of the experience of the officer

Question 15

Can roving border controls units do random stops to find illegal entrants?

Answer 15

No but they can have fixed checkpoints that stop all vehicles and question everyone

Question 16

What is the special-needs doctrine exception with regard to border searches?

Answer 16

Governments are allowed to do very limited seizures and searches when there’s a compelling public safety interest at stake

Question 17

What are some examples of things that would fall under the special-needs doctrine exception to a border search?

Answer 17

- DUI checkpoints
– counterterrorism searches
– finding escaped inmates
– violent felons
– drug testing pilots or train conductors

These things are allowed because the police are protecting the public from imminent danger that cannot be protected if the government needs reasonable suspicion or probable cause

Question 18

Can police do narcotics checkpoints?

Answer 18

No, this violates the fourth because the purpose is to search for evidence and not to protect the public from imminent danger.

Question 19

What are the rules if the police want to do checkpoints?

Answer 19

Individuals must be selected based on pre-established formulas [like to search every other car] so that the cop on the scene has no discretion

Question 20

What’s the test to find out if the special-needs doctrine exception applies for border searches?

Answer 20

Ask what the police are really hoping to find:
– SAFETY: if they are hoping to keep the public safe through deterrence, that is valid
– EVIDENCE: if they are looking for evidence, that is invalid.

Question 21

If a police officer is doing a bomb check and he ends up finding drugs, are those allowed to be put into evidence?

Answer 21

Yes, if police are within the lawful scope of an intrusion, any evidence that they find can be used even if it is unrelated to the threat

Question 22

What are things that are considered to be the functional equivalent of a border?

Answer 22

• airport in Kansas because that is the first place that the plane lands after flying internationally, so it is essentially a border
• a sailboat that is anchored 18 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico is also essentially a border because there’s no fixed checkpoint for border crossings on water

Question 23

Can immigration officials board and search any vehicle or vessel within a reasonable distance of the external boundary of the country?

Answer 23

Yes, within 100 miles