The young woman in this video has more “fortitude” than most Americans:
We are either a free people or we aren’t. Stop allowing the “authorities” to strip you of your rights by way of checkpoints, regardless of the “good intentions” they fall under. Nothing more to say.
"When they took the fourth amendment, I was silent because I don’t deal drugs. When they took the sixth amendment, I kept quiet because I know I’m innocent. When they took the second amendment, I said nothing because I don’t own a gun.
Now they’ve come for the first amendment, and I can’t say anything at all."
-Tim Freeman
Wow. That was quite impressive. Good for her.
On one hand, she was respectful and she did stand up for her rights. She did not submit to unreasonable search and seizure. She was not committing any crime.
However, I have to wonder if this was staged on her part. How many of us carry a video camera on the back roads of Arizona with enough memory reserved to record this girl saying “Am I free to go” 38 times? Rather than just sticking to her one line, why didn’t she state “I am an American citizen. I can prove it. I will stay here until your check of records is complete.” and then just exercise her right to remain silent?
One other question put three ways: Is this a protest against any limitation on our borders? Are you suggesting that there should be no checkpoints on our borders? Or do you not recognize the authority of border patrol agents?
Mark, in answer to your questions:
1. Didn’t look like it to me.
2. This checkpoint was not at the border, it was inside the country.
3. Border patrol agents have no authority to stop and detain law-abiding American citizens.
Thanks for reading.
David
If you go to the Valley or hunting south of Falfurrias or Hebronville you go through one of these. They usually stop you just long enough for the dog to make a pass. If the dog sounds off they will pull you out of line. Found this link on a Sarita Checkpoint google search.
http://www.texasobserver.org/border-patrol-takes-no-for-an-answer-at-internal-checkpoints/
The Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit have held checkpoints are the equivalent of a border. So, they can do a border search. There are checkpoints more than 100 miles from the nearest border where people are treated like they are crossing a border.
And, most of those ruilings came from judges who were appointed by Republican presidents because they weren’t activists. Those are the judges who are strict constrsuctionists.
The war on drugs and the war on terrorism have been terrible for the individual rights of Americans.
Tom Moran,
So because the rulings you referred to came from judges who were appointed by Republican presidents makes all of his ok? And we should just roll over and take it and not fight? And SCOTUS rulings should never be challenged? Wasn’t the ruling in Plessy v Ferguson once the supreme law of the land …and wasn’t it repudiated in Brown v Board of Education? The policy & authority should be changed….and since when do law abiding US citizens get worse treatment than the law breaking illegal alien criminals?
Yvonne: To the contrary, these are examples of how “strict constructionist” judges chosen by Republican presidents because they were not activist judges in fact are activist as hell and are quite willing to construe the Bill of Rights in such a way as to deprive citizens of what we thought were our rights.
The same is true of many of our elected state judges.
As a practical matter, many if not most of the judges appointed during the past few Republican administrations favor and trust big organizations more than they trust individual citizens. So, they trust the police, DEA and Customs not to abuse their power and, they trust big corporations to do the right thing.
I have been a Republican in Texas since it was a felony. I remember how happy we were in the early ’70s when being a Republican was reduced to a misdemeanor. I describe myself as an “unreconstructed Goldwater Republican.” But that doesn’t mean that I have to like what Republican judges do.
The young lady definitely knew what she was doing. There were several times in the first six minutes of the video (which began after Deputy Dog had already sniffed around her car) that the officer asked some questions that she wisely did not answer.
If anyone wishes to stand up to their “athoritah” I strongly suggest that you follow her example of sticking to the two basic questions. You are not obligated to have a “discussion” with anyone, anywhere. That includes people wearing badges.
Mark, Rosa Parks staged her bus protest several times before she made history.