The Border Patrol Can Conduct Warrantless Searches of Most Americans

Daniel Dale at The Toronto Star:

A U.S. law gives the Border Patrol the right to board and search any vehicle within a “reasonable distance” of the country’s boundaries. A 1953 regulation defines “reasonable” as within 100 miles (160 kilometres).

Because “boundaries” include coasts, the “100-mile zone” includes entire states — all or almost all of New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont, the American Civil Liberties Union notes.

The zone also includes Houston and Los Angeles. All in all, well over half of Americans, more than 175 million people, live in a place where the Border Patrol believes it has the right to question people, search their vehicles and detain people it believes are unlawfully present.

The bus and train checks are not new. But they appear to be happening more often near the Canadian border than they did in the five years prior to Trump’s tenure. And they have attracted renewed scrutiny around the country as Trump touts his crackdown on illegal immigration and gives the Border Patrol more money and leeway.