PAUL SMITHS — A U.S. Customs and Border Protection traffic checkpoint popped up on state Route 30 in the Mccolloms area Thursday, with agents asking drivers if they are U.S. citizens.

The Enterprise reached out to CBP for more information on the immigration checkpoint stops. CBP spokesperson Mike Niezgoda said no arrests resulted from this operation, but confirmed there had been a checkpoint.

Marlena Newcomb was driving on this stretch of road at around 8 a.m. Thursday when she saw a collection of five CBP officers stopping both directions of traffic. She stopped and they asked her to roll down her window.

“(He) literally just said ‘Are you a U.S. citizen?'” Newcomb said. “I said ‘Yes,’ kind of like with a question in my voice. … He just tapped the roof of my car and said ‘Have a nice day.’ and that was it.”

The whole stop took around 15 seconds.

Newcomb said she expects these sorts of citizen check stops at the border itself, but not 30 miles away.

“It was weird,” she said.

Niezgoda said transportation checks are conducted at “a variety of access points” and are used to provide a “layered” enforcement approach to border security.

Two sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act — 235 and 287 — authorize CBP agents to board and search vehicles within 100 miles of the border, according to CBP. Agents have higher interrogation and arrest powers at these checkpoints than in other enforcement layers such as roving patrols. These traffic checkpoints are more common on America’s southern border.

Niezgoda provided a pamphlet he said agents hand to people at these checkpoints, which states that these checkpoints are set up on roads leading away from border areas that are used for illegal entry smugglers, and that agents have authority to question suspects, board vehicles and take evidence.

“I have some assumptions on why I got a quick tap of the car, ‘have a nice day,'” Newcomb said. “I just assume being a white person with no accent, probably, they weren’t super interested.”

She’s not sure what it would take for them to decide to press the issue more.

“I don’t know why they would take my word for the fact that I am a U.S. citizen,” Newcomb said.

CBP did not answer a question about how agents determine if they should take someone at their word or investigate further.

Newcomb also said one agent was using binoculars, which she assumed was for looking for cars that turn around. It is a felony to flee an immigration checkpoint. She posted about the stop on Facebook to make the local community to be aware and to be able to decide if they needed to adjust their travel plans. She said when she returned to that area at 7 p.m., the traffic stop was gone.

The checkpoint was set up north of Paul Smiths, near the intersection of state Route 30 and county Route 458, in an area where Newcomb said there is no cell phone service, which concerned her.

CBP did not respond to a question about the reactions from people who felt harassed, accused and uncomfortable at the traffic stop.

“These operations are used to deter illegal immigration, illicit human smuggling, contraband and terrorism,” Niezgoda said. “Border Patrol will continue to enforce the law and ensure those attempting to enter the United States illegally are apprehended, removed and/or face prosecution.”

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Know your rights

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Newcomb wondered, with President Donald Trump’s pledge for mass deportations, if she should expect to see more of these pop-up citizenry checkpoints in the future.

CBP did not answer questions about if people should expect more of these checkpoints, or give details about what documentation people should be prepared to have on them at these checkpoints.

These traffic stops have been challenged under the Fourth Amendment which protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government — but the Supreme Court has upheld the CBP’s authority to hold them.

“In United States v. Martinez Fuertes (1976) the U.S. Supreme Court balanced the governmental interest in stopping illegal immigration against the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable search and seizure, finding that only minimal intrusion existed to motorists at reasonably located check points, even in the absence of reasonable or individualized suspicion,” according to CBP.

The American Civil Liberties Union has a “know your rights” page on these sorts of traffic stops at tinyurl.com/25789vr8.

“Agents do not need any suspicion to stop you and ask you questions at a lawful checkpoint, but their questions should be brief and related to verifying immigration status,” according to the ACLU. “Some motorists will be sent to secondary inspection areas at the checkpoint for further questioning. This should be done only to ask limited and routine questions about immigration status that cannot be asked of every motorist in heavy traffic.”

It says agents must have “reasonable suspicion” for an extended questioning and that a search requires “probable cause.”

“You can ask an agent for their basis for reasonable suspicion, and they should tell you,” according to the ACLU. “Refusing to answer the agent’s question will likely result in being further detained for questioning, being referred to secondary inspection, or both.”

“Motorist’s (sic) may consent to a search but are not required to do so,” according to CBP.

In January, the Department of Homeland Security expanded “expedited removal” nationwide. It was previously limited to 100 miles from the border and for people who had been in the U.S. for less than two weeks. Now, it covers the entire country and relates to migrants without proper documentation who have been here fewer than two years, according to the Jan. 20 White House executive order.

Expedited removal bypasses immigration court judges and can be used unless the person has requested asylum.