cannabisnews.com: Random Stops Begin Today in Michigan Random Stops Begin Today in Michigan Posted by CN Staff on November 12, 2002 at 09:32:39 PT By Tamara Audi, Free Press Staff Writer Source: Detroit Free Press Federal agents will begin randomly stopping traffic today, looking for illegal immigrants, terrorists and drug or weapon smugglers. Cars will be stopped at unannounced, rotating checkpoints within Michigan, including metro Detroit. U.S. Border Patrol agents at the checkpoints will ask passengers their citizenship and will have leeway to ask a host of follow-up questions. The effort is part of President George W. Bush's attempt to increase security along the northern border, said Immigration and Naturalization spokeswoman Karen Kraushaar. According to an obscure but long-standing federal law, the government can conduct searches and surveillance within 25 miles of any international border. The practice of internal checkpoints is common in Texas and California, states along the southwest border. Michigan is among the first of the northern border states to be included in the program. Though agents will focus on finding undocumented immigrants, the checkpoints on the southern border have helped net drugs and weapons, patrol agents and officials said. "Those checkpoints would yield quite a few arrests," said Robert Lindemann, vice president of Michigan's border patrol union and a patrol agent in Detroit. Lindemann used to work checkpoints near the southern border. "We got drugs, we got aliens, we got convicts. The checkpoints on the southwest border are critical." In Michigan, federal officials hope the checkpoints will also help them catch terrorists. "The terrorism component cannot be ignored in addressing border security," Kraushaar said. Lindemann and other agents said it's too soon to tell how successful the checkpoints will be. One feature that is bound to carry over from the southern border is traffic, they said. Checkpoints cause back-ups. Federal officials would not say Monday how many checkpoints there will be, or how often Michigan drivers can expect to be stopped. More details on the program are to be released at a news conference in Kimball Township today. Meanwhile, civil liberty groups raised concerns. "We believe it's going to be very hard for them to do this without violating people's civil rights, or profiling people based on their ethnicity or accent," said Kary Moss, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Michigan. U.S. citizens are not required to carry proof of identification with them while traveling in the country. Alien residents are required to carry some paperwork.Complete Title: Traffic Checks: Random Stops Begin Today in Michigan Newshawk: Nicholas Thimmesch -- http://www.norml.orgSource: Detroit Free Press (MI)Author: Tamara Audi, Free Press Staff WriterPublished: November 12, 2002Copyright: 2002 Detroit Free PressContact: letters freepress.comWebsite: http://www.freep.com/Related Articles & Web Site:ACLUhttp://www.aclu.org/Drug Czar's Visit Will Include Pot Issuehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14092.shtmlWindsor Could Be Spot for Legal Pot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14020.shtmlU.S. Plans Stronger Border Security http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11467.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #5 posted by Nicholas Thimmesch on November 13, 2002 at 10:03:55 PT: "It's common-sense immigration enforcement," Right you are Ethan:"It's common-sense immigration enforcement," he said.http://www.freep.com/news/mich/checks13_20021113.htmTIGHTENING MICHIGAN'S BORDERS: Illegal immigrants sought during traffic spot checks November 13, 2002 BY TAMARA AUDI AND PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERSFor the first time in Michigan, federal agents stopped traffic Tuesday at checkpoints designed as part of a new strategy to boost security along the northern border. U.S. Border Patrol agents questioned drivers and passengers one-by-one at unannounced stops around Port Huron and Trenton, seeking illegal immigrants, drug runners, weapons and terrorists. "Our primary objective is illegal aliens. Our primary objective is not contraband," said Loretta Lopez-Mossman, acting chief Border Patrol agent in Detroit. At a stop on 26 Mile Road near New Baltimore on Tuesday, cars lined up for about a half mile. When the line of cars grew longer, the Border Patrol agents allowed several cars to go unchecked. Agents stopped the cars and questioned the occupants. It was only when they spotted something suspicious that the car was pulled over for a search. Border agents may also ask those in the car to provide documents proving they are legally in the United States. None of the stops are to be on interstate highways, and none will last more than two hours at any one place. For the time being, no checkpoints will be set up in Detroit because of congestion, officials said. "We're looking at secondary roads, we're looking at smuggling, we're looking at roads traveling away from the water," Mossman said. The Detroit office caught 1,500 undocumented immigrants in the 2002 fiscal year. Under federal law, the Border Patrol can set up checkpoints up to 100 air miles from any international border, or from the shoreline. Within the first 25 miles, federal agents can stop drivers who seem suspicious, and they can search and conduct surveillance of private property. Those laws have been challenged repeatedly over the last few decades in lawsuits arising in southern border states, where checkpoints and searches are longstanding common practice. But the courts have consistently upheld the government's right to question and, in some cases, search and seize illegal drugs or weapons at checkpoints. The issue reached the Supreme Court in 1976, which said that warrantless stops and searches do not violate the Constitution in areas near the border. Civil rights advocates in Texas, Arizona and California say those decisions have led to ever-expanding militarized zones around the border. In those places, temporary checkpoints have become permanent, and agents now patrol neighborhoods in cars and on bicycles. "The situation is pretty bad here. We're watched all the time in our churches and our barrios," said Isabel Garcia, a public defender in Pima County, Ariz. "Racial profiling becomes their No. 1 law enforcement technique." Raleigh Leonard, Border Patrol agent and spokesman for the San Diego sector, said that 11 permanent checkpoints -- four of which operate at all times -- are vital to cutting the flow of illegal immigrants, drugs and weapons. "We routinely run into a lot of narcotics traffickers. Because of those checkpoints, those narcotics are kept out of our schools and our streets," Leonard said. "We also take a lot of criminals for nonimmigration offenses. We run into children who are kidnapped." That's precisely what worries Eva Garza Dewaelsche,executive director of Latin Americans for Social and Economic Development, a nonprofit advocacy group in southwest Detroit. "As far as I'm concerned, I feel it's another opportunity for law enforcement to intimidate my community and my people," she said. But David Ray, associate director of anti-immigration group the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said his organization supports the stops. "It's common-sense immigration enforcement," he said.Contact TAMARA AUDI at 313-222-6582 or audi freepress.com. MORE MICHIGAN STORIES FREEP FRONT | NEWS FRONT - NEW TODAY ----------------------------- Transit bill untouched despite its supportersMemo: Complex vulnerable to terrorTIGHTENING MICHIGAN'S BORDERS: Illegal immigrants sought during traffic spot checksMICHIGAN NEWS BRIEFS: Lansing -- Granholm to continue commuting from home SPECIALS ---------------- [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by FoM on November 12, 2002 at 11:15:33 PT Dr. Russo Good to see you! I hope you had a nice time at the Conference. I haven't found much about the event so far but I'll keep looking. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Ethan Russo MD on November 12, 2002 at 10:57:53 PT: Why Detroit There are two reasons this is happening in Detroit. The first is that the city has a very large Arab population that they would like to keep in line.The second is that Detroit is close to Canada, and a message is being sent.Subtle, but effective, these feds. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by John Tyler on November 12, 2002 at 10:00:58 PT Your "papers" please Ve vill look at your papers now and zee if they are in order. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment