I live in Detroit, and read the LBO listserve when I have time, and just saw this post. I find it interesting because I have been working for years with immigrants in Detroit, and have a lot of experience with Border Patrol in this area.
INS has said that these checkpoints are about "homeland security". The FBI has said that "[t]here are strands of Al Qaeda and Hezbollah and Hamas here in Michigan...." Point being that these checkpoints are part of the northern border security plan. It is also important to note that in and around Detroit, there are roughly 300,000 Arabs and Arab-Americans. Southwest Detroit borders the South End of Dearborn, which has been infiltrated by the FBI since 9-11.
Unfortunately, I do not kow how much BP has gone into Dearborn and other Arab communities at this point, but I can tell you, they are effectively shutting down Southwest Detroit. (Southwest Detroit is almost completely Latino, the majority of whom are Mexican - most undocumented - and Puerto Rican). BP is waiting outside Mexican grocery stores, the carnicerias, the flea market, etc. Friends who sell at the flea market said their sales were down 60% this past weekend, the grocery store said it's business was down by 50%, and this was echoed by the carnicerias. They have insisted that they will not set up checkpoints in Detroit proper, but they don't have to. They just roam the streets and stop anyone they wish to stop, and it is paralysing movement here. In the past, they stood outside of Churches that had mass in Spanish, and they went to all of the futbol games and arrested familes. It tooks years to get this practice to stop, and it finally ebbed a little bit. But now it is starting all over again.
When you are at the border, you have no constitutional rights (as far as I know), therefore there is no such thing as the 4th Amendment. Within 25 iles of the border, they can question you freely, and within 100 miles they can have checkpoints. If you are undocumented, there are ways to get around this, such as giving only your name if you are stopped, and carrying no ID from your home country. The burder of proof is on the BP to prove that you are not a citizen. Problem is, people get scared and give the very info that BP needs in order to be able to send them back. Who can blame people though? BP can threaten and use all sorts of tactics to get people to admit that they are undocumented. We do trainings for undocumented immigrants regarding their rights, but it is really hard to ask people to enforce these rights, then abandon them in detention because we don't have the resources (i.e. money, lawyers, etc.) to get them out....
Also interesting to note that the harvest is in, winter is coming, and most of the leaves are already cleaned up around here.... The need for low wage labor is not high at this time. The other areas in Michigan that ARE suffering the checkpoints are those areas that have a lot of farms. Although, immigration raids frequently happen thoughout the entire country after the harvest is in.
There may be hope for Detroit -- Detroit was a sanctuary city during the 80s.
jessica
On Tue, 19 Nov 2002 09:45:59 EST DoreneFC at aol.com wrote:
>I hate to tell you this, but I think this stuff is NOT
>new in NM, AZ, TX, southern CA.
>Maybe it's new in MI, and of course it expands an ongoing
>attack on civil liberties, but it's not new. It hasn't gotten to WA, I
>don't think,, but the other night the TV news was reporting on new camera
>at
>various point along the WA-Canada border.
>
Kevin wrote: The article itself mentions these states.
The articvle also metions the Fourth Amendment as a reason this is unconstitutional. Of course Unreasonable searches and seisures of vehicles does not apply to the fourth amendment and hasn't for quite some time. Cops can pull you over for anything and search your car without a warrant. :( - --- Sent from UnionMail Service [http://mail.union.org.za]
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