General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I was stopped today at the Bus Stop by the TSA. [View all]grantcart
(53,061 posts)For that reason the courts have given the Border Patrol a geographical area in close proximity to the border (I believe that it is less than 100 miles) where they can legally conduct their operations.
If I was your friend I would call the sector office and make a complaint that the officers should have been able to conduct a visual inspection of the underside of the car (all of the stops have a little drive on lift) at the scondary inspection point at the highway check point.
Accepting that your friends version is accurate it would seem to me that there may need to be some strengthening of procedures because the trip to the imaging test wasn't really necessary. He should also write to the sector headquarters and keep a copy of the letter with him in the car so that if it happens again he can show it.
Again gvien that the cartels are now moving huge amounts of meth into the country and given that the dogs are the most effective (by far) way of finding hidden loads I think it is reasonable for the border patrol to make stops and do secondary inspections. If the imaging isn't available I think it is reasonable for the driver to insist that what ever secondary inspection needs to be done has to be done at the stop.
I am guessing that if your friend contacts the head of the sector (or the public relations officer) they will find that is the policy and the agents at this stop were in error.
If not then I would agree that a 57 mile to an imaging station is excessive unless there were signs of tampering, and that they should contact the congressperson for the areas and start a dialogue.
Didn't mean to cast asparagus on your friend but 95% of the stuff at DU about border security is simply not true.
For example I just posted this in reference to a charge that I know is not true about TSA (TSA employees don't even have arrest authority so the allegation is silly).
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=820305
Here is someone posting about the TSA going into bus stops and the link they provide is for a METRO police operation that some bus rider thought was a TSA operation http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=820290.
I would be interested in the reaction that your friend gets if he contacts that sector, I have the ability to confirm whether or not it was correct policy or an error by the agents in the field.
BTW the imaging is providing unbelievable results. It has gone mostly unreported but Customs has seized a huge amount of arms going back to Mexico by starting to do images on suspicious south bound traffic.