It is well established that ICE, CBP (Customs & Border Protection) are specifically empowered to search travelers and their belongings within 100 miles of a border/coast without probable cause or a warrant.
These searches are specifically exempted from the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement. Pursuant to this authority, CBP/ICE may generally stop and search the property of any traveler entering or exiting the United States at random, or even based largely on ethnic profiles.
In the Supreme Court decision, United States v. Montoya de Hernandez, 473 U.S. 531, 538 (1985) the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled that “travelers may be stopped [and searched] at . . . the border without individualized suspicion even if the stop [or search] is based largely on ethnicity.“) (citing United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. 543, 562-563(1976)).
Critics of Arizona’s law state that state & local police have no authority to detain and ask people about their immigration status. THEY ARE WRONG!
In Mueller v. Mena, 544 U.S. 93 (2005), SCOTUS ruled UNAMIMOUSLY that state & local law enforcement officers may indeed ask about the immigration status of detained persons.
In Gonzales v. City of Peoria, 722 F2d 468, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals held that local law enforcement officers are permitted to enforce criminal provisions of the Immigration and Naturalization Act.
Further rebuttal of claims that local/state police lack of authority can be found in a Department of Justice memo of April 3, 2002 which concludes that “states have an inherent power, subject to federal preemption, to make arrests for violation of federal law”. That memo continues to be in effect as of this writing.
Obama has illegally ordered Homeland Security employees and leaders to ignore the oath they swore when they took office to enforce the laws of our country. Among them is John Morton, assistant secretary of homeland security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who said that his agency will not necessarily process illegal immigrants referred to them by Arizona authorities
