U.S. Mexico Border Area is Particular DUI "Hot Zone"
Posted on:6/15/2009
Written By: Chris Robideaux
| Be warned -- if you plan on driving drunk near the U.S./Mexico border, think twice as hard. Even if you are a United States citizen, if you are within 75 miles or so of the Mexican border, you are in an area which a 1976 ruling has made a "hot zone" when it comes to police search and seizure. |
Be warned -- if you plan on driving drunk near the U.S./Mexico border, think twice as hard. Even if you are a United States citizen, if you are within 75 miles or so of the Mexican border, you are in an area which a 1976 ruling has made a "hot zone" when it comes to police search and seizure. The 1976 United States vs. Martinez-Fuerte decision created an exception allowing the U.S. Border Patrol the unique power to establish checkpoints for seeking illegal immigrants, with the secondary purpose of finding drugs. So while, for instance, Yuma-area police cannot operate a K-9, or drug-detecting dog, checkpoint without violating the Fourth Amendment, the Border Patrol can.
A second exception was also created for drunk driving checkpoints under 1990's Michigan Department of State Police vs. Sitz, but some – including Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas – do not believe the exceptions to the Fourth Amendment are warranted.