DHS Checkpoint Blog Entry 11: The French Connection

While driving Eastbound on SR86 in Southern Arizona on September 4, 2008, I was seized by three armed federal Homeland Security agents at an internal suspicionless checkpoint located over 40 miles North of the Southern border.

Agent LeBlanc, the K9 agent, ran his drug sniffing dog around and on my vehicle while searching for drugs and people absent suspicion.

His supervisor, Agent DeLeon? just stood there allowing his subordinate to not only utilize a drug sniffing dog on my vehicle at what is supposed to be an immigration checkpoint but also allowed LeBlanc's drug dog to board my vehicle and sniff around the truck bed absent probable cause or consent.

Such an action turned a cursory dog sniff into a full-fledge drug search absent reasonable suspicion or probable cause.

Additionally, with no visible name tag, the field supervisor was out of uniform and refused to spell his name which wouldn't have been necessary if his name tag had been visible.