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Comment by grouseway | Hacker News Reader

I know this is a digression, but can you expand on the checkpoints a bit? Are there actually random roadblocks within 100 miles of the border where you get stopped and need to provide proof of residency or citizenship?

Just curious as a Canadian.

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> Are there actually random roadblocks within 100 miles of the border where you get stopped

Yes, there's a combination of established locations and "surprise" locations where Border Patrol stops every car on the interstate.

> you...need to provide proof of residency or citizenship?

I don't think they can legally make you produce this unless they have reasonable suspension of a crime. Every time I've been through they have you roll down your window and ask if everyone in the car is a US citizen. Usually there are dogs on both sides of your vehicle while you're asked. I've never had any trouble or had to produce my license.

In this conversation, I only bring it up because I assume when most people see a large police presence, they're nervous that (a) there's probably a reason to need that many police, and (b) what if the police mistakenly believe I'm a criminal? It's just not a pleasant environment, even though I haven't ever been personally hassled at a checkpoint.

Yeah, it's a thing. They're primarily in the 100 miles of the southern border, and generally you only get stopped if you have brown skin if you're worried about being a Canadian in the US.

Check out the term "constitution free zone" if you want to learn more.

I spend a lot of time near the TX/Mexico border. Everyone gets stopped, you get asked a couple questions and that's it. I haven't been required to show ID or anything like that. They do a walk around your car with a dog and then wave you through.

By stopped, I meant a situation where they don't just wave you through the checkpoint.

The dog they use around the car is to let them harass certain people based on what the dog handler thinks of them. https://health.ucdavis.edu/welcome/features/2010-2011/02/201...

> you only get stopped if you have brown skin

Maybe, though I think it's fair to point out a large number of CPB agents on the border also have brown skin, if for no other reason than they need a huge percentage of native Spanish speakers.

You can be racist and of the same race. You just see yourself as "one of the few good ones" and internally hate yourself a bit.

This is the general law enforcement mindset, a classist superiority complex that overcomes even one's own racial identity.

As a Canadian that is also a US permanent resident, yes, ICE and CBP have broad authority to set up checkpoints pretty much wherever they please. "100 miles" includes the coastline. They also can do warrant-free detention, and there have been cases of US citizens detained, sometimes for over a week IIRC, over nothing more than suspicion on the part of the ICE officer than the person in question wasn't actually a citizen.

Where it gets dicey is that they can stop you, but constitutionally they can't force you to produce documentation or detain you. But not many people actually know that, or can stomach saying no to federal officers, and so in practice they can.

It is a part of US law that has a great deal of grey area. The policy was retained under Obama and Trump expanded it although not really by very much. In general the abuses seem to be limited but that's not a great deal of consolation.

Also they have these in southern arizona. If you go to Tucson, you'll see them. And you see people driving past them sometimes. They are of questionable legality in practice, but I never was brave enough not to stop. There were endless stories of people refusing to stop & talk to the these border guards, and then there were strange legal arguments in court where the federal govt seemed like they didn't really want the cases to go to trial for not stopping, and I though it was because of the fear they'd lose the court case and set a precident.

They can make life hard for you, search your car for drugs or illegals, harass you for your citizenship details. A scourge on our country - a true "show me you papers" place. I heard from non-white friends that they were a little afraid of being harassed. It was a living embodiment of unfair policing.

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