Opinion ID: 163539
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The referral to the secondary inspection area

Text: Mr. Velasco challenges his detention at the secondary inspection area, arguing that Agent Bowcutt’s initial questions generated suspicion of only Mr. Rios. As to this issue, the district court determined that, under the totality of the circumstances, the border agent’s observation of “suspicious circumstances . . . justified the continued detention of both of the defendants.” Aplt’s App. at 26. There is no question that “border patrol agents may question individuals regarding suspicious circumstances, in addition to citizenship matters, when those individuals are stopped at permanent checkpoints.” Preciado, 966 F.2d at 598. “A suspicious circumstance is not equivalent to the reasonable suspicion standard.” United States v. Rascon-Ortiz, 994 F.2d 749, 753 n.6 (10th Cir. 1993) (internal quotation marks omitted). Furthermore, [t]he presence of a suspicious circumstance allows a border patrol agent to ask a few additional questions concerning the suspicion during the course of a routine customs inspection. Since the additional questions do not add significantly to the length or intrusiveness of the -6- detention, the more rigid Fourth Amendment requirements of probable cause or reasonable suspicion are not required. Id. Border patrol agents are entitled to assess the facts in the light of their experience, and, as a result, we have recognized that they “may perceive meaning in actions that appear innocuous to the untrained observer.” United States v. Cantu, 87 F.3d 111, 1121 (citing Brown v. Texas, 443 U.S. 47, 52 & n. 2 (1979)). Here, the district court properly concluded that Agent Bowcutt may have found Mr. Rios’s answers to his questions unsatisfactory, warranting further inquiry regarding Mr. Rios’s immigration status.