Traffic checkpoints in Michigan...

[Guest Frank Zappa Mask]

TRAFFIC CHECKS: Random stops begin today in Michigan

 

November 12, 2002

 

 

 

 

 

BY TAMARA AUDI

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

Contact TAMARA AUDI at 313-222-6582 or [email protected].

[Guest The Czech Republic]

"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"

"hey I don't have any weapons, what are you talking aboat, what have you guys got agaynst us, eh?

[Guest cynicalprofit]

Me: "hello civil rights"

Civil rights: "good-bye."

[Guest DrTom]

Considering the very real threat of terrorists coming down from Canada, we certainly need to do something. I don't know if this is it, but the idea is correct. It remains to be seen how good the execution of it will be. Considering that we refuse to run the risk of "offending" people by doing very necessary profiling right now, I fail to see how civil rights would be a concern.

[Guest cynicalprofit]

Isnt it border patrols job to do this service?

 

Isnt it illegal to stop and search me without a valid reason, just because there are terrorist running around doesnt mean I or you are one because we come from canada.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

How do the people at the Border Patrol know you're not a terrorist or aren't helping terrorist? Plus chances are their looking at Muslims, and not other races.

[Guest evenflowDDT]

Considering the very real threat of terrorists coming down from Canada, we certainly need to do something.

This is a joke right? Since when is THAT a threat?

 

Anyway, I actually don't mind this since it's been done at the Mexican border for years and it only makes sense to do it at both borders. It should also be noted, given the somewhat large and constantly increasing illegal immigrant population (I don't know exact numbers) that it isn't too terribly difficult to get by such borders. It's pointless, and ethnic profiling is never right, but it's going to happen anyway and if it makes somebody somewhere pacified enough that they'll notice the inaccuracies and rights being taken away in other, more extreme "security measures" I don't mind as much.

[Guest Olympic Slam]

Considering the very real threat of terrorists coming down from Canada, we certainly need to do something.

This is a joke right? Since when is THAT a threat?

Because just about anyone who sets foot in Canada is admitted into the country and given asylum. Canada is the easiet route to get to the U.S these days for anyone from the middle east wishing ill towards America.

[Guest Some Guy]

Flow, a bunch of the 9/11 highjackers came into America from Canada.

Entrance to Canada (by car at least) consists of this:

Pull up to customs station where a guy in a big toll both type thing asks you for ID. You give him the ID and he asks, "Do you have any guns or drugs with you?" You say, "no." He says, "Ok, welcome to Canada."

 

Point being, Canada doesn't care who comes into their country and as such we have to care even more who comes to ours from there.

[Guest DrTom]

This is a joke right? Since when is THAT a threat?

I think a few cases (and procedures) have been brought up to explain why the possibility of terrorists entering thru Canada IS a threat. Let's also not forget the terrorist who was stopped coming in thru Canada before the Millennium celebration.

[Guest NoCalMike]

The problem is that these policies assume Al Qaeda terrorists are just going to drive up to the border patrol and try to sneak by. No doubt this will just create a headache for law abiding citizens while Al Qaeda and other terrorists just find another way to get in.

[Guest Youth N Asia]

Hey man, I live in Michigan, and not a day goes by that I don't think aboot Canadian terrorists.

 

I remember right after 9/11...going from Michigan to Canada (or the other way around) resulted in 2-8 hour waits once you got to the bridge or tunnel...it was insane.

[Guest MarvinisaLunatic]

Gee..what the hell happened to that little thing called illegal search and seizure?

 

No Warrant or probable cause for this(although I guess the thought that EVERY single car on the road could contain a terrorist is enough probable cause for them to do it although I doubt it would hold up in court...)

[Guest Vern Gagne]

A federal court just ok'd the use of wiretapping on terror suspects and people believed to be working with foreign nations against the U.S.

It's not the same thing, but it can be fairly certain that these checkpoints will continue to be allowed.

[Guest DrTom]

Gee..what the hell happened to that little thing called illegal search and seizure?

It still exists. If you're pulled over, the police can ask to search your car, and you can say no. If they have probable cause, though (a gun on the floor, drug paraphenalia, etc), then they are empowered to search it in spite of your objections.

 

Police powers in terms of searching were expanded in the misnamed Patriot Act, though, so the concern is a valid one on that front.