Top DHS checkpoint refusals - Very good guidance

[Hig]

A few times I was in the mood and when they asked my country of nationality I just said "Murica" in the most redneck voice I could muster...the look on my wife was priceless.

 

[thegomezclan]

I wounder what there success rate is, I don't think drug and people runners are going to uses the routs that the checkpoints are on.

 

[Hig]

They are on every major highway out of el paso, can't say much about the other places. Even if there is another route eventually it feeds into a route with a check point. If you try the desert you will either A) end up at a check point, B) end up at the fence of a military installation, or c) hit a roving patrol. Couple that with the fact that the egress points out of the area by desert are funneled to common areas by rough terrain and it's a tough cookie.

 

[ASP785]

So excuse my ignorance, but am I to understand that all you have to do is say "yes I am a US citizen" and you are allowed to go on your way?

 

[henschman]

Hmm, when you are pulled over by a cop, you have an incentive not to, shall we say, aggressively assert your rights, because they usually caught you for something they could give you a ticket for. There is not near as strong as an incentive when it comes to a suspicionless stop. I say give em hell. Suspicionless stops go against everything this country once stood for. They bring dishonor to all who participate in them.

 

[SMS]

I got a kick out of the one where the Border Patrol agent called one fella a "kid" and the man answered something to the effect of "Kid? I'm a former U.S. Marine." and everyone in the car chuckled.

I'm sure they only showed the worst ones. There was probably a bunch where they just waved them on after the first challenge.

 

[Belthos]

So excuse my ignorance, but am I to understand that all you have to do is say "yes I am a US citizen" and you are allowed to go on your way?

Yes that's all there is to it in my experience.

 

[dutchwrangler]

I've dealt with these checkpoints doing my job. I tell them I'm a refugee from Canada. Government employees = worthless.

 

[KOPBET]

When they ask "Are you an American Citizen", all you have to do is say "Si Señor" and you're on your way, right?

Or even "no, sir" would be acceptable, since it is not a requirement for a DL.

 

[JD8]

I went through one of the big check points a couple of years ago, going from Ft Bliss to Sill. Pretty simple "yep, I'm a citizen" and "I'm headed to Ft Sill"... and I was on my way.

I feel for these guys. They're trying to work the illegal immigration and drug smuggling problems we all ***** about. They're told to put up these checkpoints and they end up in a position where they look like ass-hats. I wonder how many illegals / drug runners they catch.

Still (and it bothered me then), there's the Constitutional principle of the 4th Amendment - which these checkpoints seem to be violating. These guys (and the citizens) would probably be better off focusing their manpower on the border itself.

--edit--

Ok, the last one (where he asks the agent first if he is a citizen) made me laugh.

Will you feel sorry for guys just trying to do their job when they want to come into your house and check your guns to see if they are "stored properly?"