Pastor Tazed, Beaten by Border Patrol in Warrantless Search

by Dave Bennion · 2009-04-16 20:24:00 UTC
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According to this pastor, the State Security Apparatus decided to break his car windows, taze him repeatedly, and then stomp on his head because he refused to consent to a warrantless search and seizure in violation of his Fourth Amendment rights.

The CBP officers who attacked Pastor Anderson must have gotten a little too used to terrorizing the undocumented and forgotten that citizens may not be so easily intimidated.  But the reason State Security jails, deports, or tortures foreigners has less to do with keeping citizens safe than with keeping them compliant.  Sometimes the mask slips a bit to reveal the ugliness underneath.

This search happened within the CFZ--the Constitution-Free Zone--that extends 100 miles inland from the border in which DHS conducts warrantless searches.  Two-thirds of the American public lives there.  DHS's warrantless searches are the reason no undocumented migrant should ride Greyhound or Amtrak in the CFZ, especially not in upstate New York.  I've lost count of how many clients of mine were stopped and detained on the train or bus en route through upstate New York.  Greyhound and Amtrak are happy to screw their customers when State Security asks.

Update: As a commenter and this article have noted, Arizona state law enforcement officers used the tazers, not CBP.  The state officers were working in conjunction with the CBP officers at the checkpoint and engaged Pastor Anderson at CBP's request.  I don't know if these state officers were staffing a Border Patrol checkpoint pursuant to a 287(g) agreement, but incidents like this are another reason to limit participation of state and local law enforcement in immigration enforcement operations.

Dave Bennion
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