The Customs Service granted all Border Patrol agents and some 600 state and local civilian law enforcement officials the authority to enforce laws regarding contraband. This enabled these agencies to conduct warrantless border searches, as if they were at the border. The Deconstitutionalized Zone was created. People who live in the Zone, which extends from the border to the Border Patrol's secondary checkpoints approximately 150 miles from the border, live by a different set of rules. Dogs now prowl through the post offices sniffing our mail, and the press again finds its access to relevant information blocked.
Government agents prowl privately owned property along the border without warrants or warnings.
People who live along the border can be pulled over and subjected to random warrantless searches. Police roadblocks along the border are routine. While one officer requests the driver's license, another walks a drug-sniffing dog around the vehicle. The police can conduct this search without probable cause. The courts have also upheld warrantless aerial surveillance of private property, so helicopters now hover over our homes looking for illegal plants or suspicious activity.