Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/413/266/
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 16:28:23+00:00

Document:
Petitioner, a Mexican citizen and holder of a valid work permit, challenges the constitutionality of the Border Patrol's warrantless search of his automobile 25 air miles north of the Mexican border. The search, made without probable cause or consent, uncovered marihuana, which was used to convict petitioner of a federal crime. The Government seeks to justify the search on the basis of § 287(a)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which provides for warrantless searches of automobiles and other conveyances "within a reasonable distance from any external boundary of the United States," as authorized by regulations to be promulgated by the Attorney General. The Attorney General's regulation defines "reasonable distance" as "within 100 air miles from any external boundary of the United States." The Court of Appeals upheld the search on the basis of the Act and regulation.
Held: The warrantless search of petitioner's automobile, made without probable cause or consent, violated the Fourth Amendment. Pp. 413 U. S. 269-275.
(a) The search cannot be justified on the basis of any special rules applicable to automobile searches, as probable cause was lacking; nor can it be justified by analogy with administrative inspections, as the officers had no warrant or reason to believe that petitioner had crossed the border or committed an offense, and there was no consent by petitioner. Pp. 413 U. S. 269-272.
(b) The search was not a border search or the functional equivalent thereof. Pp. 413 U. S. 272-275.
STEWART, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which DOUGLAS, BRENNAN, MARSHALL, and POWELL, JJ., joined. POWELL, J., filed a concurring opinion, post, p. 413 U. S. 275. WHITE, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which BURGER, C.J., and BLACKMUN and REHNQUIST, JJ., joined, post, p. 413 U. S. 285.
The petitioner in this case, a Mexican citizen holding a valid United States work permit, was convicted of having knowingly received, concealed, and facilitated the transportation of a large quantity of illegally imported marihuana in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 176a (1964 ed.). His sole contention on appeal was that the search of his automobile that uncovered the marihuana was unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment and that, under the rule of Weeks v. United States, 232 U. S. 383, the marihuana should not have been admitted as evidence against him.
United States that connects the Southwest with the west coast. The petitioner was some 26 air miles north of the border when he was stopped. It is undenied that the Border Patrol had no search warrant, and that there was no probable cause of any kind for the stop or the subsequent search -- not even the "reasonable suspicion" found sufficient for a street detention and weapons search in Terry v. Ohio, 392 U. S. 1, and Adams v. Williams, 407 U. S. 143.
The Border Patrol conducts three types of surveillance along inland roadways, all in the asserted interest of detecting the illegal importation of aliens. Permanent checkpoints are maintained at certain nodal intersections; temporary checkpoints are established from time to time at various places; and finally, there are roving patrols such as the one that stopped and searched the petitioner's car. In all of these operations, it is argued, the agents are acting within the Constitution when they stop and search automobiles without a warrant, without probable cause to believe the cars contain aliens, and even without probable cause to believe the cars have made a border crossing. The only asserted justification for this extravagant license to search is § 287(a)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 66 Stat. 233, 8 U.S.C. § 1357(a)(3), which simply provides for warrantless searches of automobiles and other conveyances "within a reasonable distance from any external boundary of the United States," as authorized by regulations to be promulgated by the Attorney General. The Attorney General's regulation, 8 CFR § 287.1, defines "reasonable distance" as "within 100 air miles from any external boundary of the United States."
the above-mentioned portion of the Immigration and Nationality Act and the accompanying regulation. 452 F.2d 459, 461. We granted certiorari, 406 U.S. 944, to consider the constitutionality of the search.
"In enforcing the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures, the Court has insisted upon probable cause as a minimum requirement for a reasonable search permitted by the Constitution."
In seeking a rationale for the validity of the search in this case, the Government thus understandably sidesteps the automobile search cases. Instead, the Government relies heavily on cases dealing with administrative inspections. But these case fail to support the constitutionality of this search.
In Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U. S. 523, the Court held that administrative inspections to enforce community health and welfare regulations could be made on less than probable cause to believe that particular dwellings were the sites of particular violations. Id. at 387 U. S. 534-536, 387 U. S. 538. Yet the Court insisted that the inspector obtain either consent or a warrant supported by particular physical and demographic characteristics of the areas to be searched. Ibid. See also See v. City of Seattle, 387 U. S. 541. The search in the present case was conducted in the unfettered discretion of the members of the Border Patrol, who did not have a warrant, [Footnote 3] probable cause, or consent. The search thus embodied precisely the evil the Court saw in Camara when it insisted that the "discretion of the official in the field" be circumscribed by obtaining a warrant prior to the inspection. Camara, supra, at 387 U. S. 532-533.
warrantless inspections of commercial enterprises engaged in businesses closely regulated and licensed by the Government. In Colonnade, the Court stressed the long history of federal regulation and taxation of the manufacture and sale of liquor, 397 U.S. at 397 U. S. 76-77. In Biswell, the Court noted the pervasive system of regulation and reporting imposed on licensed gun dealers, 406 U.S. at 406 U. S. 312 n. 1, 406 U. S. 315-316.
"It is also plain that inspections for compliance with the Gun Control Act pose only limited threats to the dealer's justifiable expectations of privacy. When a dealer chooses to engage in this pervasively regulated business and to accept a federal license, he does so with the knowledge that his business records, firearms, and ammunition will be subject to effective inspection. Each licensee is annually furnished with a revised compilation of ordinances that describe his obligations and define the inspector's authority. . . . The dealer is not left to wonder about the purposes of the inspector or the limits of his task."
Id. at 406 U. S. 316.
whatever to believe that he or his automobile had even crossed the border, much less that he was guilty of the commission of an offense.
Since neither this Court's automobile search decisions nor its administrative inspection decisions provide any support for the constitutionality of the stop and search in the present case, we are left simply with the statute that purports to authorize automobiles to be stopped and searched, without a warrant and "within a reasonable distance from any external boundary of the United States." It is clear, of course, that no Act of Congress can authorize a violation of the Constitution. But under familiar principles of constitutional adjudication, our duty is to construe the statute, if possible, in a manner consistent with the Fourth Amendment. Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority, 297 U. S. 288, 297 U. S. 348 (Brandeis, J., concurring).
"Travelers may be so stopped in crossing an international boundary because of national self-protection reasonably requiring one entering the country to identify himself as entitled to come in, and his belongings as effects which may be lawfully brought in."
267 U.S. at 267 U. S. 154. See also Boyd v. United States, 116 U. S. 616.
But the search of the petitioner's automobile by a roving patrol, on a California road that lies at all points at least 20 miles north of the Mexican border, [Footnote 5] was of a wholly different sort. In the absence of probable cause or consent, that search violated the petitioner's Fourth Amendment right to be free of "unreasonable searches and seizures."
"These [Fourth Amendment rights], I protest, are not mere second-class rights, but belong in the catalog of indispensable freedoms. Among deprivations of rights, none is so effective in cowing a population, crushing the spirit of the individual and putting terror in every heart. Uncontrolled search and seizure is one of the first and most effective weapons in the arsenal of every arbitrary government."
Brinegar v. United States, 338 U. S. 160, 338 U. S. 180 (Jackson, J., dissenting).
known to a competent official authorized to search, probable cause for believing that their vehicles are carrying contraband or illegal merchandise."
267 U.S. at 267 U. S. 153-154.
E.g., Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U. S. 42; Dyke v. Taylor Implement Mfg. Co., 391 U. S. 216; Brinegar v. United States, 338 U. S. 160; Husty v. United States, 282 U. S. 694.
"[n]either Carroll, supra, nor other cases in this Court require or suggest that, in every conceivable circumstance, the search of an auto, even with probable cause, may be made without the extra protection for privacy that a warrant affords."
Chambers v. Maroney, supra, at 399 U. S. 50. See also Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U. S. 443, 403 U. S. 458-464.
With respect to aircraft, 8 CFR § 281.1 defines "reasonable distance" as "any distance fixed pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section." Paragraph (b) authorizes the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization to approve searches at a greater distance than 100 air miles from a border "because of unusual circumstances."
nor can it fairly be said to have been a search conducted at the "functional equivalent" of the border. Nor does this case involve the constitutional propriety of searches at permanent or temporary checkpoints removed from the border or its functional equivalent. Nor, finally, was the search based on cause in the ordinary sense of specific knowledge concerning an automobile or its passengers. [Footnote 2/2] The question posed, rather, is whether and under what circumstances the Border Patrol may lawfully conduct roving searches of automobiles in areas not far removed from the border for the purpose of apprehending aliens illegally entering or in the country. The Government has made a convincing showing that large numbers of aliens cross our borders illegally at places other than established crossing points, that they are often assisted by smugglers, that even those who cross on foot are met and transported to their destinations by automobiles, and that roving checks of automobiles are the only feasible means of apprehending them. It would, of course, be wholly impracticable to maintain a constant patrol along thousands of miles of border. Moreover, because many of these aliens cross the border on foot, or at places other than established checkpoints, it is simply not possible in most cases for the Government to obtain specific knowledge that a person riding or stowed in an automobile is an alien illegally in the country.
Thus, the magnitude of the problem is clear. An answer, reconciling the obvious needs of law enforcement with relevant constitutional rights, is far less clear.
The Government's argument to sustain the search here is simply that it was reasonable under the circumstances. But it is by now axiomatic that the Fourth Amendment's proscription of "unreasonable searches and seizures" is to be read in conjunction with its command that "no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause." Under our cases, both the concept of probable cause and the requirement of a warrant bear on the reasonableness of a search, though, in certain limited circumstances, neither is required.
"It is here that the probable cause debate is focused, for the agency's decision to conduct an area inspection is unavoidably based on its appraisal of conditions in the area as a whole, not on its knowledge of conditions in each particular building."
Id. at 387 U. S. 536.
In concluding that such general knowledge met the probable cause requirement under those circumstances, the Court took note of a "long history of judicial and public acceptance," of the absence of other methods for vindicating the public interest in preventing or abating dangerous conditions, and of the limited invasion of privacy occasioned by administrative inspections which are "neither personal in nature nor aimed at the discovery of evidence of crime." Id. at 387 U. S. 537.
Roving automobile searches in border regions for aliens, likewise, have been consistently approved by the judiciary. While the question is one of first impression in this Court, such searches uniformly have been sustained by the courts of appeals whose jurisdictions include those areas of the border between Mexico and the United States where the problem has been most severe. See, e.g., United States v. Miranda, 426 F.2d 283 (CA9 1970); Roa-Rodriquez v. United States, 410 F.2d 1206 (CA10 1969). Moreover, as noted above, no alternative solution is reasonably possible.
were not "aimed at the discovery of evidence of crime," 387 U.S. at 387 U. S. 537, violators of the housing code there were subject to criminal penalties. Id. at 387 U. S. 527 n. 2.
Of perhaps greater weight is the fact that these searches, according to the Government, are conducted in areas where the concentration of illegally present aliens is high, both in absolute terms and in proportion to the number of persons legally present. While these searches are not border searches in the conventional sense, they are incidental to the protection of the border, and draw a large measure of justification from the Government's extraordinary responsibilities and powers with respect to the border. Finally, and significantly, these are searches of automobiles, rather than searches of persons or buildings. The search of an automobile is far less intrusive on the rights protected by the Fourth Amendment than the search of one's person or of a building. This Court "has long distinguished between an automobile and a home or office." Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U. S. 42, 399 U. S. 48 (1970). As the Government has demonstrated, and as those in the affected areas surely know, it is the automobile which in most cases makes effective the attempts to smuggle aliens into this country.
The conjunction of these factors -- consistent judicial approval, absence of a reasonable alternative for the solution of a serious problem, and only a modest intrusion on those whose automobiles are searched -- persuades me that, under appropriate limiting circumstances, there may exist a constitutionally adequate equivalent of probable cause to conduct roving vehicular searches in border areas.
'unreasonable' unless it has been authorized by a valid search warrant."
"The Fourth Amendment does not contemplate the executive officers of Government as neutral and disinterested magistrates. Their duty and responsibility is to enforce the laws, to investigate, and to prosecute. . . . But those charged with this investigative and prosecutorial duty should not be the sole judges of when to utilize constitutionally sensitive means in pursuing their tasks."
United States v. United States District Court, 407 U. S. 297, 407 U. S. 317 (1972). See also Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U. S. 443, 403 U. S. 481 (1971); Chimel v. California, 395 U. S. 752, 395 U. S. 763-764 (1969).
To justify warrantless searches in circumstances like those presented in this case, the Government relies upon several of this Court's decisions recognizing exceptions to the warrant requirement. A brief review of the nature of each of these major exceptions illuminates the relevant considerations in the present case. In Terry v. Ohio, 392 U. S. 1 (1968), the Court held that a policeman may conduct a limited "pat down" search for weapons when he has reasonable grounds for believing that criminal conduct has taken or is taking place and that the person he searches is armed and dangerous. "The sole justification [for such a] search . . . is the protection of the police officer and others nearby. . . ." Id. at 392 U. S. 29. Nothing in Terry supports an exception to the warrant requirement here.
"When a dealer chooses to engage in this pervasively regulated business and to accept a federal license, he does so with the knowledge that his business records, firearms, and ammunition will be subject to effective inspection."
406 U.S. at 406 U. S. 316. Colonnade and Biswell cannot fairly be read to cover cases of the present type. One who merely travels in regions near the borders of the country can hardly be thought to have submitted to inspections in exchange for a special perquisite.
to evidence about a particular automobile renders irrelevant the justification for warrantless searches relied upon in Carroll and its progeny. Quite simply, the roving searches are justified by experience with obviously nonmobile sections of a particular road or area embracing several roads.
"In assessing whether the public interest demands creation of a general exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement, the question is not whether the public interest justifies the type of search in question, but whether the authority to search should be evidenced by a warrant, which in turn depends in part upon whether the burden of obtaining a warrant is likely to frustrate the governmental purpose behind the search."
Camara v. Municipal Court, supra, at 387 U. S. 533. See also United States v. United States District Court, supra, at 407 U. S. 315.
he is refused permission to inspect an automobile. It is also true that the judicial function envisioned in Camara did not extend to reconsideration of "the basic agency decision to canvass an area," Camara v. Municipal Court, supra, at 387 U. S. 532, while the judicial function here would necessarily include passing on just such a basic decision.
But it does not follow from these distinctions that "no warrant system can be constructed that would be feasible and meaningful." Brief for the United States 36. Nothing in the papers before us demonstrates that it would not be feasible for the Border Patrol to obtain advance judicial approval of the decision to conduct roving searches on a particular road or roads for a reasonable period of time. [Footnote 2/3] According to the Government, the incidence of illegal transportation of aliens on certain roads is predictable, and the roving searches are apparently planned in advance or carried out according to a predetermined schedule. The use of an area warrant procedure would surely not "frustrate the governmental purpose behind the search." Camara v. Municipal Court, supra, at 387 U. S. 533. It would, of course, entail some inconvenience, but inconvenience alone has never been thought to be an adequate reason for abrogating the warrant requirement. E.g., United States v. United States District Court, supra, at 407 U. S. 321.
(ii) the proximity of the area in question to the border; (iii) the extensiveness and geographic characteristics of the area, including the roads therein and the extent of their use, [Footnote 2/4] and (iv) the probable degree of interference with the rights of innocent persons, taking into account the scope of the proposed search, its duration, and the concentration of illegal alien traffic in relation to the general traffic of the road or area.
"This is precisely the discretion to invade private property which we have consistently circumscribed by a requirement that a disinterested party warrant the need to search."
387 U.S. at 387 U. S. 532-533.
to the legitimate need of Government . . . and the protected rights of our citizens."
407 U.S. at 407 U. S. 322-323. Yet we refused to abandon the Fourth Amendment commitment to the use of search warrants whenever this is feasible with due regard to the interests affected.
"We . . . do not take the position that the checking operations are justified because the officers have probable cause or even 'reasonable suspicion' to believe, with respect to each vehicle checked, that it contains an illegal alien. Apart from the reasonableness of establishment of the checking operation in this case, there is nothing in the record to indicate that the Border Patrol officers had any special or particular reason to stop petitioner and examine his car."
Brief for the United States 9-10.
There is no reason why a judicial officer could not approve where appropriate a series of roving searches over the course of several days or weeks. Experience with an initial search or series of searches would be highly relevant in considering applications for renewal of a warrant.
Depending upon the circumstance, there may be probable cause for the search to be authorized only for a designated portion of a particular road or such cause may exist for a designated area which may contain one or more roads or tracks. Particularly along much of the Mexican border, there are vast areas of uninhabited desert and arid land which are traversed by few, if any, main roads or highways, but which nevertheless may afford opportunities -- by virtue of their isolated character -- for the smuggling of aliens.
The motion to suppress was heard on stipulated evidence in the District Court. [Footnote 3/1] United States Border Patrol Officers Shaw and Carrasco stopped petitioner's car shortly after midnight as it was traveling from Calexico, on the California-Mexico border, toward Blythe, California.
The stop was made on Highway 78 near Glamis, California, 50 miles by road from Calexico. The highway was "about the only north-south road in California coming from the Mexican border that does not have an established checkpoint." [Footnote 3/2] Because of that, "it is commonly used to evade check points by both marijuana and alien smugglers." On occasions "but not at all times," officers of the Border Patrol "maintain a roving check of vehicles and persons on that particular highway." Pursuant to this practice "they stopped this vehicle for the specific purpose of checking for aliens." Petitioner's identification revealed that he was a resident of Mexicali, Mexico, but that he held a work permit for the United States. Petitioner had come from Mexicali, had picked up the car in Calexico and was on his way to Blythe to deliver it. He intended to return to Mexicali by bus. [Footnote 3/3] The officers had been advised by an official bulletin that aliens illegally entering the United States sometimes concealed themselves by sitting upright behind the back seat rest of a car, with their legs folded under the back seat from which the springs had been removed. While looking under the rear seat of petitioner's car for aliens, the officers discovered packages believed by them to contain marihuana. Petitioner was placed under arrest and advised of his rights. His car was then searched for additional marihuana, which was found in substantial amounts.
and petitioner was convicted. A divided Court of Appeals affirmed, 452 F.2d 459 (CA9 1971), relying on its prior cases and on § 287(a)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1357(a)(3), which provides that officers of the Immigration and Naturalization Service shall have the power, without warrant, to search any vehicle for aliens within a reasonable distance from any external boundary of the United States. [Footnote 3/4] I dissent from the reversal of this judgment.
This much is undisputed in this case. Persons and their effects may be searched at the border for dutiable articles or contraband. Conveyances may be searched for the same purposes, as well as to determine whether they carry aliens not entitled to enter the country. Neither, apparently, is it disputed that warrantless searches for aliens without probable cause may be made at fixed checkpoints away from the border.
and the majority that either a warrant or probable cause is required in the circumstances of this case. As the Court has reaffirmed today in Cady v. Dombrowski, post, p. 413 U. S. 433, the governing standard under the Fourth Amendment is reasonableness, and, in my view, that standard is sufficiently flexible to authorize the search involved in this case.
"question is whether, in all the circumstances of this on-the-street encounter, his right to personal security was violated by an unreasonable search and seizure."
Id. at 292 U. S. 9 (emphasis added).
States, 397 U. S. 72 (1970), MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS, writing for the Court and recognizing that the Fourth Amendment bars only unreasonable searches and seizures, ruled that the historic power of the Government to control the liquor traffic authorized warrantless inspections of licensed premises without probable cause, or reasonable suspicion, not to check on liquor quality or conditions under which it was sold, but solely to enforce the collection of the federal excise tax. [Footnote 3/5] United States v. Biswell, 406 U. S. 311 (1972), involved the Gun Control Act of 1968 and its authorization to federal officers to inspect firearms dealers. The public need to enforce an important regulatory program was held to justify random inspections of licensed establishments without warrant and probable cause.
to meet the evils at hand," 37 U.S. at 37 U. S. 76; and, in Biswell, we relied heavily upon the congressional judgment that the authorized inspection procedures played an important part in the regulatory system. 406 U.S. at 406 U. S. 315-317. In the case before us, 8 U.S.C. § 1357(a)(3), authorizes Border Patrol officers, without warrant, to search any vehicle for aliens "within a reasonable distance from any external boundary of the United States" and within the distance of 25 miles from such external boundary to have access to private lands, but not dwellings "for the purpose of patrolling the border to prevent the illegal entry of aliens into the United States. . . ." At the very least, this statute represents the considered judgment of Congress that proper enforcement of the immigration laws requires random searches of vehicles without warrant or probable cause within a reasonable distance of the international borders of the country.
It is true that, "[u]ntil 1875, alien migration to the United States was unrestricted." Kleindienst v. Mandel, 408 U. S. 753, 408 U. S. 761 (1972). But the power of the National Government to exclude aliens from the country is undoubted and sweeping.
"That the government of the United States, through the action of the legislative department, can exclude aliens from its territory is a proposition which we do not think open to controversy. Jurisdiction over its own territory to that extent is an incident of every independent nation. It is a part of its independence. If it could not exclude aliens, it would be to that extent subject to the control of another power."
Chae Chan Ping v. United States, 130 U. S. 581, 130 U. S. 603-604 ( 1889).
"The power of Congress to exclude aliens altogether from the United States, or to prescribe the terms and conditions upon which they may come to this country, and to have its declared policy in that regard enforced exclusively . . . is settled by our previous adjudications. "
Lem Moon Sing v. United States, 158 U. S. 538, 158 U. S. 547 ( 1895). See also Fong Yue Ting v. United States, 149 U. S. 698, 149 U. S. 711 (1893); Yamataya v. Fisher, 189 U. S. 86, 189 U. S. 97-99 (1903); United States ex rel. Turner v. Williams, 194 U. S. 279, 194 U. S. 289-290 (1904); Oceanic Steam Navigation Co. v. Stranahan, 214 U. S. 320, 214 U. S. 335-336 (1909); United States ex rel. Volpe v. Smith, 289 U. S. 422, 289 U. S. 425 (1933).
"almost continuous attention . . . to the problems of immigration and of excludability of certain defined classes of aliens. The pattern generally has been one of increasing control. . . ."
Kleindienst v. Mandel, supra, at 408 U. S. 761-762. It was only as the illegal entry of aliens multiplied that Congress addressed itself to enforcement mechanisms. In 1917, immigration authorities were authorized to board and search all conveyances by which aliens were being brought into the United States. Act of Feb. 5, 1917, § 16, 39 Stat. 886. This basic authority, substantially unchanged, is incorporated in 8 U.S.C. § 1225(a).
"[i]n the enforcement of the immigration laws, it is at times desirable to stop and search vehicles within a reasonable distance from the boundaries of the United States and the legal right to do so should be conferred by law."
H.R.Rep. No. 186, 79th Cong., 1st Sess., 2 (1945). The House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization was "of the opinion that the legislation is highly desirable," ibid., and its counterpart in the Senate, S.Rep. No. 632, 79th Cong., 1st Sess., 2 (1945), stated that "[t]here is no question but that this is a step in the right direction." The result was express statutory authority, Act of Aug. 7, 1946, 60 Stat. 865, to conduct searches of vehicles for aliens within a reasonable distance from the border without warrant or possible cause. Moreover, in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, 66 Stat.
163, Congress permitted the entry onto private lands, excluding dwellings, within a distance of 25 miles from any external boundaries of the country "for the purpose of patrolling the border to prevent the illegal entry of aliens into the United States. . . ." § 287(a)(3), 66 Stat. 233.
Section 1357(a)(3) authorizes only searches for aliens and only searches of conveyances and other property. No searches of the person or for contraband are authorized by the section. The authority extended by the statute is limited to that reasonably necessary for the officer to assure himself that the vehicle or other conveyance is not carrying an alien who is illegally within this country; and more extensive searches of automobiles without probable cause are not permitted by the section. Roa-Rodriquez v. United States, 410 F.2d 1206 (CA10 1969); see Fumagalli v. United States, 429 F.2d 1011, 1013 (CA9 1970). Guided by the principles of Camara, Colonnade, and Biswell, I cannot but uphold the judgment of Congress that, for purposes of enforcing the immigration laws, it is reasonable to treat the exterior boundaries of the country as a zone, not a line, and that there are recurring circumstances in which the search of vehicular traffic without warrant and without probable cause may be reasonable under the Fourth Amendment although not carried out at the border itself.
The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, like other circuits, recognizes that, at the border itself, persons may be stopped, identified, and searched without warrant or probable cause and their effects and conveyances likewise subjected to inspection. There seems to be no dissent on this proposition. Away from the border, persons and automobiles may be searched for narcotics or other contraband only on probable cause; but, under § 1357(a)(3), automobiles may be stopped without warrant or probable cause and a limited search for aliens carried out in those portions of the conveyance capable of concealing any illegal immigrant. This has been the consistent view of that court.
in a person's automobile conducted away from the international borders. . . . Appellant has confused the two rules in his attempt to graft the probable cause standards of the narcotics cases . . . onto the rules justifying immigration inspections. . . ."
The Courts of Appeal for the Fifth and Tenth Circuits share the problem of enforcing the immigration laws along the Mexican-American border. Both courts agree with the Ninth Circuit that § 1357(a)(3) is not void, and that there are recurring circumstances where, as the statute permits, a stop of an automobile without warrant or probable cause and a search of it for aliens are constitutionally permissible.
"Stopping the automobile ten miles from the Mexican border to search for illegal aliens was reasonable. See United States v. McDaniel, [463 F.2d 129 (CA5 1972)]; United States v. Warner, 5 Cir.1971, 441 F.2d 821; Marsh v. United States, 5 Cir.1965, 344 F.2d 317, 8 U.S.C. §§ 1225, 1357; 19 U.S.C. §§ 482, 1581, 8 C.F.R. § 287.1 ; 19 C.F.R. §§ 23.1(d), 23.11 . Once the vehicle was reasonably stopped pursuant to an authorized border check, the agents were empowered to search the vehicle, including the trunk, for aliens."
Id. at 171. Similarly, United States v. McDaniel, 463 F.2d 129 (CA5 1972), upheld a stop and an ensuing search for aliens that uncovered another crime. Judge Goldberg, with Judges Wisdom and Clark, was careful to point out, however, that the authority granted under the statute must still be exercised in a manner consistent with the standards of reasonableness of the Fourth Amendment.
"Once the national frontier has been crossed, the search in question must be reasonable upon all of its facts, only one of which is the proximity of the search to an international border."
The facts, except for when petitioner was stopped, are taken from the oral stipulation in open court. See App. 11-14. The time petitioner was stopped is given by the Complaint as 12:15 a.m., App. 4, while petitioner testified at trial that he was "stopped about 1:00." 3 Tr. of Rec. 62.
"Any officer or employee of the [Immigration and Naturalization] Service authorized under regulations prescribed by the Attorney General shall have power without warrant -- "
"(3) within a reasonable distance from any external boundary of the United States, to board and search for aliens any vessel within the territorial waters of the United States and any railway car, aircraft, conveyance, or vehicle, and within a distance of twenty-five miles from any such external boundary to have access to private lands, but not dwellings, for the purpose of patroling the border to prevent the illegal entry of aliens into the United States. . . ."
"(a)(2) Reasonable distance. The term 'reasonable distance,' as used in section 287(a)(3) of the Act, means within 100 air miles from any external boundary of the United States or any shorter distance which may be fixed by the district director, or, so far as the power to board and search aircraft is concerned, any distance fixed pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section."
"I assume we could all agree that the search in question must be held valid, and the contraband discovered subject to seizure and forfeiture, unless (a) it is 'unreasonable' under the Constitution or (b) it is prohibited by a statute imposing restraints apart from those in the Constitution. The majority sees no constitutional violation; I agree."
Id. at 397 U. S. 78.
In a separate dissent, Mr. Justice Black, joined by THE CHIEF JUSTICE and MR. JUSTICE STEWART, also emphasized that the ultimate test of legality under the Fourth Amendment was whether the search and seizure were reasonable. Id. at 397 U. S. 79-81.
The United States does not contend, see Tr. of Oral Arg. 29, and I do not suggest, that any search of a vehicle for aliens within 100 miles of the border pursuant to 8 CFR § 287.1 would pass constitutional muster. The possible invalidity of the regulation and of 8 U.S.C. § 1357(a)(3) in other circumstances is not at issue here.

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