The “Border Patrol” Operates Everywhere!

In “Newly Released FOIA Documents Shed Light on Border Patrol’s Seemingly Limitless Authority,” Max Rivlin-Nadler on the Intercept reminds us that

“The Border Patrol’s authority doesn’t only apply to remote stretches of the border. Agents also deploy in cities, searching for people they believe to have illegally entered the country; board buses and ask passengers to prove they are in the country legally; and conscript civilians to assist them with law enforcement activities under threat of arrest.

These details and others were revealed in more than 1,000 pages of previously unseen Customs and Border Protection training documents, which were obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union after a four-year legal battle and shared exclusively with The Intercept. The . . . 2014 Freedom of Information Act request that focused on the policies of Border Patrol’s `roving patrols’ — units that operate outside of ports of entry and checkpoints, often venturing far into the country’s interior. These roving patrols can question, detain, and arrest individuals they suspect of having illegally crossed the border or having smuggled drugs or other contraband into the country.

The documents include a copy of the agency’s 2012 Enforcement Law Course, which CBP has described in court filings as advice `on the legal authority of CBP’s law enforcement personnel and issues they would confront in investigations and prosecutions.’ . . . . In addition to the Enforcement Law Course is a series of PowerPoint presentations from November 2017 . . . .”

KJ