Hey, Texas peeps. Is it normal to run into border patrol checkpoints that are not at the border?

Hey, Texas peeps. Is it normal to run into border patrol checkpoints that are not at the border?

We hit one north of Harlingen on the way to Corpus Christi. Dogs, guns and the whole bit. We are very white so they just verbally asked if we were US citizens, but the whole thing was so "papers, please," that I felt sick to my stomach.

Comments

  1. This is TOTALLY LEGAL.  Thanks Patriot Act!!!

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  2. (Actually, it might have been before the Patriot Act...I can't remember...it might also be a state vs federal law, so I'm not for certain...I just know it SUCKS)

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  3. Not just in TX, either.  Iirc (and I can't find my source, so take this as you will), border patrols can be set up pretty much anywhere the feds want to.

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  4. Chuck Thorin That looks right, but I don't remember it being from Yahoo news...not that that matters since the "news" steals stories from itself/other news agencies constantly.

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  5. Tonya Wershow It was just one of the top more mainstream results when I googled it.

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  6. I knew about the border basically being as a place where the 4th amendment didn't apply, but I had no idea about this 100 mile thing. Believe me, it's not the same by the Canadian border.

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  7. To be flippant, that's because "Canadians are white".

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  8. Just repeatedly ask if you're being detained. :)

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  9. Texas is also the place they eliminated the fifth amendment. If you don't answer a question, that is presumption of your guilt.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/17/supreme-court-silence_n_3453968.html

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  10. If I was alone, I'd probably question what was going on. With kids in the car what choice do you have except to go along? It sucks.

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  11. "With kids in the car what choice do you have except to go along? It sucks." -

    That's what Sophie thought.

    (I'm feeling crass today so this comment is tongue and cheek - I have two kids)

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  12. I guess you can go along and then explain what nonsense BS it is to your kids afterwards. "Live to fight another day," and all that.

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  13. Confirmed: "Am I being detained?" is the proper repeated answer.

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  14. That was a normal occurrence in Arizona.  If you question them you are in for a long day.

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  15. Don't question the airport security either.  same deal

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  16. They have been doing deep inside the border "border patrol" checkpoints since the 80's. To say their isn't a racial element is bs.

    I had an undocumented English guy in my car once and offered him up to the border patrol officer as an illegal and the cop threatened to arrest me. Really.

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  17. There's one around Falfurrias, which is roughly an hour drive north of the border.

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