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Comment by jbhatab | Hacker News Reader

Fantastic that he posted his experience, but it sounded like a pretty standard experience with authorities for many Americans. Genuinely curious why this is news compared to what happens to many other people?

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As a Global Entry holder myself I expect that because the government has done a background check on me, has my fingerprints, etc., it generally understands that (despite my Indian skin, unshaved stubble, and vote for Hillary) I am not a threat. I have voluntarily subjected myself the government conducting a background check and holding files / information on me in exchange for less hassle. So part of it is that it's baffling they would detain a Global Entry holder and effectively remove his Global Entry status without explanation.

(For what it's worth, I helped my family move cross-country by car in summer 2016; we passed a "border" checkpoint in New Mexico or so, on I-10 relatively far from the border, where they stopped each car, asked us if we were citizens, and let us go on our way when I answered yes. That seems like a much more "standard" experience than what's here.)

Part of it is denial of a lawyer. As I understand it, you might not have a right to deny the search, but you should still have access to counsel, because the point of legal representation is that they can tell you exactly what rights you do / don't have.

Part of it is an apparent government focus on Mozilla. Andreas Gal hasn't been at Mozilla for about four years, but that's what they asked him about. And there was the visa denial for Daniel Stenberg (author of curl) when heading to the Mozilla all-hands: https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2018/07/28/administrative-purgat...

And finally, part of it is that it shouldn't be common. It's a good reason for individuals and companies to leave America.

I'm an American and I have been detained and searched by CBP without actually ever leaving the country. They didn't ask my name, just that we needed to get out of the car while they let their dog search the car.

You don't have to get out of the car. CBP only have power to stop you to ascertain the citizenship of the passengers. They need reasonable suspicion to further detain you, or probable cause to search you or your car.

You can consent to the search, but you don't need to. If you refuse consent and they lack probable cause, the evidence would be suppressed.

For more details: https://www.aclu.org/blog/immigrants-rights/immigrants-right...

He claimed their dog indicated on our car... but that's a bunch of BS because the dog was already sitting next to them when we pulled up and didn't do anything further(exactly the same thing the dog did for the car in front of us).

He then tried to get us to say we had personal use amounts of drugs on us and he was only looking for massive amounts of narcotics(the "amount cartels have" according to him).

I was with a friend who was not a US citizen but is here legally on a work visa, they took his documents and left me alone while the dog ran through the truck.

And to be honest, do you really think I'm going to put up a fight when I haven't seen a shower in days and have a 7hr drive ahead of me?

We obviously fit a profile of sorts because the first words out of his mouth when we pulled up were to pull to the side because his dog indicated on us and he needed to search our car.

If the dog signaled, that's probable cause to search the car. They can take detain you and search every nook and cranny of both the car and its passengers.

Again - nothing distinct about being near the border for that.

As you said, it's not objective whether the dog legitimately signaled. But IIUC you have limited ability to demonstrate that. (anyone know of cases around this?)

> If the dog signaled, that's probable cause to search the car.

In other words:

The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution clearly states: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated unless a dog barks."

Unless a dog is directed by its handler to bark. FTFY

On a side note, it's probably a problem that people are told "Can you get out of the car so we can have this dog search it" and hear "You must get out of the car so we can have this dog search it," but my understanding is the courts put a lot of weight on that distinction.

The courts have ruled that if someone makes a request under threat of physical violence or death, it is impossible to consent unless of course the person making the threat in law enforcement.

Can you say where that happened?

These CBP searches happen all the time near the Mexican border. I've been stopped at a few before traveling down there. The CBP checkpoints are permanent in some places, so there's plenty of people who have to go through it during their daily commutes.

Just south of Marfa, TX on the way back from a camping trip in Big Bend. CBP closes the northbound lanes of the highway and has a checkpoint that everyone has to pass through.

The fact that this happens at all should be constantly in the news. This is unconstitutional treatment of a US citizen and CBP clearly needs oversight.

The ACLU is involved: https://www.aclunc.org/news/aclu-files-complaint-department-...

It has never happened to me, and I have crossed borders 100+ times, mostly Europe to UK and South Africa. Worst is Israel, and their checks were believably focused on finding explosives.

It’s important for people to know that such behavior is not the norm among civilized countries.

I have crossed the US border 100+ times as well. I have never been searched by CBP before.

It doesn't have to be news to be worth posting.

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