On Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 4:50 PM, Herman Miller <[email protected]> wrote:
> Upon returning to the United States the DHS has a huge amount of authority > to search anything and everything in your pocession, literally anything they > want to look at is open game. Herman is exactly right. ANY and every time you cross a border--ANY border--you essentially and voluntarily surrender any and all personal rights you may otherwise have. They can do anything to you and your stuff that they want and for an inconvenient amount of time--in the name of whatever completely off-the-wall and baseless Homeland Security law that the running-scared Congress may have passed or DHS may have promulgated and using any kind of profiling they adamantly deny. Without rules and regulations they wouldn't have a job. They don't have to make sense or have probable cause; the inspector could just be wanting to get a few jollies at your expense--and it would be perfectly legal. They can detain you. You pretty much have no civil rights and no defenses at that point--consider that a given and be satisfied with it. But the important thing to remember is that you have volunteered to this scrutiny by voluntarily crossing the border. If you don't like that situation don't cross any borders. --Ediger
