Opinion ID: 400932
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Location of Search

Text: 22 Appellants' second basis for objecting to the search of their plane is that, even if a border crossing was established, the search was not valid as a border search because it was not conducted at the border or its functional equivalent. The Supreme Court gave birth to the functional equivalent of the border concept in Almeida-Sanchez v. United States, 413 U.S. 266, 93 S.Ct. 2535, 37 L.Ed.2d 596 (1973), in which it made a brief, unexplained statement of the doctrine and then held it inapplicable in that case. Almeida-Sanchez involved a warrantless search of an automobile by a roving band of the U. S. Border Patrol on an east-west highway located at all points at least 20 miles north of the Mexican border. Id. at 268, 273, 93 S.Ct. at 2537, 2539. The search had been conducted with neither suspicion of criminal activity nor any evidence that the subject vehicle had crossed the border. Id. at 268, 93 S.Ct. at 2537. After holding that the search did not fall within prior precedents applying relaxed fourth amendment standards to certain administrative inspections, the Court considered whether the statute authorizing the search could be upheld under the border-search rationale because it purported to authorize such searches within a reasonable distance from any external boundary of the United States. Id. at 272, 93 S.Ct. at 2539. The Court noted that (w)hatever the permissible scope of intrusiveness of a routine border search might be, searches of this kind may in certain circumstances take place not only at the border itself, but at its functional equivalents as well. Id. Justice Stewart, writing for the Court, did not elaborate on what constitutes the functional equivalent of the border, however, beyond giving two examples and holding the doctrine inapplicable in the case before the Court. 23 (S)earches at an established station near the border, at a point marking the confluence of two or more roads that extend from the border, might be functional equivalents of border searches. For another example, a search of the passengers and cargo of an airplane arriving at a St. Louis airport after a nonstop flight from Mexico City would clearly be the functional equivalent of a border search. 24 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, 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. 25 Id. at 272-73, 93 S.Ct. at 2539 (footnote omitted). 26 In a subsequent line of cases all involving Border Patrol stops but with slight factual variations, the Court again considered the constitutionality of vehicle stops conducted within U. S. borders. In United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U.S. 873, 95 S.Ct. 2574, 45 L.Ed.2d 607 (1975), the Court held that reasonable suspicion was required before roving Border Patrol officers could stop vehicles for questioning at points inside the U. S. border. In United States v. Ortiz, 422 U.S. 891, 95 S.Ct. 2585, 45 L.Ed.2d 623 (1975), it held that probable cause was required for full-scale searches conducted at permanent checkpoints within the border. Finally, in United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. 543, 96 S.Ct. 3074, 49 L.Ed.2d 1116 (1976), the Court upheld brief warrantless stops of vehicles at permanent checkpoints absent any suspicion that the particular vehicles contained illegal aliens. The Court did not apply the functional-equivalent theory in these cases; in fact, it avoided the border-search doctrine altogether. 14 Instead, it considered the formidable law enforcement problems of the Border Patrol in attempting to control the flow of illegal aliens into this country, and balanced this governmental interest against the degree of interference with individuals' fourth amendment rights caused by the stop or search procedure at issue in each case. See United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, supra, 428 U.S. at 552, 557-58, 96 S.Ct. at 3080, 3082-3083; United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, supra, 422 U.S. at 879-80, 95 S.Ct. at 2579; United States v. Ortiz, supra, 422 U.S. at 894-97, 95 S.Ct. at 2587-2589. 15 27 Expounding on the Supreme Court's analyses in Almeida-Sanchez and Martinez-Fuerte the Fifth Circuit, in United States v. Brennan, supra, 538 F.2d 711, considered the functional-equivalent-of-the-border theory in a case involving an airplane search. The court attempted to draw from the Almeida-Sanchez Court's examples the implicit reasoning underlying the theory and a test for determining its applicability in particular cases. The court concluded that the critical factors for establishing that a search took place at the functional equivalent of the border were (1) a high degree of probability that a border crossing took place and (2) an attendant likelihood that nothing about the object of the search has changed since the crossing. 16 The court found those criteria had not been met in the case before it because neither the facts concerning appellant's flight nor the character or procedures at the airport furnish(ed) any reliable indication that Brennan's flight was international. Id. at 715. The Brennan panel did not stop with an analysis of the Almeida-Sanchez examples in defining the functional equivalent of the border, however. In addition, it considered the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, supra, and held that the regularity factor emphasized in Martinez 17 would also support a search as one occurring at the functional equivalent of the border. Such factor would be established where 28 (t)he intrusion is minimal, the existence and function of the checkpoint is known to the citizen in advance of his entry into its lanes, there is little discretionary enforcement activity, and the results of the checking procedure may be reviewed by the courts without distortion of the issue of reasonableness by hindsight knowledge that the search produced the desired fruits, if any, of the stop or search. 29 United States v. Brennan, supra, 538 F.2d at 715-16 (citing United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, supra, 428 U.S. at 558-59, 96 S.Ct. at 3083). 18 30 The Brennan panel used the functional equivalent of the border language loosely to refer both to searches of conveyances that have actually crossed the border and to searches within the administrative-stop rationale employed by the Supreme Court in the Border-Patrol cases. 19 As noted above, however, the theory developed by the Supreme Court in the Border-Patrol cases is conceptually distinct from the traditional border-search doctrine and its extensions. A warrantless search, whether conducted at the actual border or elsewhere, is justifiable as a border search only where the government shows with reasonable certainty that the person or object searched has crossed the border. 20 The Border-Patrol cases, by contrast, require no individualized determination that the object searched has crossed the border. 21 Instead, the special law enforcement problems of patrolling the U. S. border and the regularity of certain Border Patrol detentions, which minimizes their interference with privacy, were held to justify the Border-Patrol stops in a context other than the border-search situation, i.e. in cases where the Court did not find that the requirements for a border search (or its functional equivalent) had been met. See note 14 and accompanying text supra. Neither the Border-Patrol cases nor the Brennan decision 22 should be read as imposing additional limitations on searches made at the border or its functional equivalents. Rather, those cases establish an independent rationale and standards applicable only to searches that do not qualify as border or functional-equivalent searches. 31 Fifth Circuit cases subsequent to Brennan have upheld searches following a border crossing, whether at the actual border or elsewhere, without regard to the regularity of conducting searches at the particular site involved. E.g., United States v. Pringle, 576 F.2d 1114, 1116-18 (5th Cir. 1978) (search of international mail at port of entry reasonable under fourth amendment simply because mail has crossed border); United States v. Ivey, 546 F.2d 139 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 431 U.S. 943, 97 S.Ct. 2662, 53 L.Ed.2d 263 (1977) (Customs search of aircraft at small airport after border crossing upheld). Other cases have upheld searches removed from the border without proof of a border crossing where the regularity factors of the Supreme Court's Border Patrol cases are met. E.g., United States v. Reyna, 572 F.2d 515 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 871, 99 S.Ct. 203, 58 L.Ed.2d 183 (1978); United States v. Alvarez-Gonzalez, 542 F.2d 226 (5th Cir. 1976), appeal after remand, 561 F.2d 620 (5th Cir. 1977). The holdings of these cases in substance have kept the border-search and Border-Patrol theories and their respective border-crossing and regularity requirements distinct. But cf. United States v. Sheikh, 654 F.2d 1057, 1068-70 (5th Cir. 1981) (applying both border-crossing and regularity requirements to search of international mail). What has remained confused after Brennan is the language used by the court. Both types of searches repeatedly have been referred to as functional equivalent of the border searches. Rather than recognizing that two different theories are being employed, the cases have tended to rely on those prior decisions the facts of which most closely parallel their own and to distinguish the others on a variety of bases. An additional source of confusion in our border-search cases is the extended border search terminology, which sometimes is used interchangeably with functional equivalent of the border but other times has been conceived as a variation of the latter with different fourth amendment requirements. 23 Compare United States v. Johnson, 588 F.2d 147, 154 n.11 (5th Cir. 1979) (difference between extended border search and functional equivalent of a search at the border is merely semantic) with United States v. Richards, 638 F.2d 765, 771-72 & n.4 (5th Cir. 1981) (extended border searches, unlike searches at border or functional equivalent, require reasonable suspicion of criminal activity because they usually occur after initial, routine search and involve greater invasion of privacy). 32 Ignoring, for the moment, the vagaries of language in the cases and looking to the substance of Fifth Circuit precedents, we discern three separate bases for upholding a warrantless search conducted somewhere in the vicinity of the border. First, there are the two already described. The limited stop at a permanent facility relatively near the border is justified under the rule of Martinez-Fuerte where practically necessary to control the flow of persons and objects into this country. A detention authorized under this theory requires no showing that the vehicle or item detained actually crossed the border, so long as the location of the detention and its scope are such as to ensure that it is necessary for controlling traffic across the border and that its intrusion on the privacy of those lawfully in the country is limited. See United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, supra, 428 U.S. at 556-64, 96 S.Ct. at 3082-3085; United States v. Ortiz, supra, 422 U.S. at 893-97, 95 S.Ct. at 2587-2589. Fifth Circuit progeny of the Supreme Court Border-Patrol cases are exemplified by United States v. Reyna, 572 F.2d 515 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 871, 99 S.Ct. 203, 58 L.Ed.2d 183 (1978); United States v. Alvarez-Gonzalez, 542 F.2d 226 (5th Cir. 1976), affirmed after remand, 561 F.2d 620 (5th Cir. 1977); United States v. Hart, 506 F.2d 887 (5th Cir.), vacated and remanded, 422 U.S. 1053, 95 S.Ct. 2674, 45 L.Ed.2d 706 (1975), reaffirmed, 525 F.2d 1199 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 428 U.S. 923, 96 S.Ct. 3234, 49 L.Ed.2d 1226 (1976). 24 33 A search within the border may also be justified as a border search requiring no warrant nor any suspicion if there is reasonable certainty that the object or person searched has just crossed the border, there has been no time or opportunity for the object to have changed materially since the time of crossing, and the search is conducted at the earliest practicable point after the border was crossed. Justice Stewart's example of the search of an aircraft at its first point of landing in the United States after an international flight is the paradigm example of this type of search. Almeida-Sanchez v. United States, supra, 413 U.S. at 272, 93 S.Ct. at 2539. This type of search is justified under the border-search doctrine because it is in essence no different than a search conducted at the border; the reason for allowing such a search to take place other than at the actual physical border is the practical impossibility of requiring the subject searched to stop at the physical border. The government's interest in controlling the flow of persons and objects across its borders is no less vital with respect to conveyances that cannot practically be detained at the physical border than with those that can. Our cases allowing searches of aircraft at their first landing point following international flights, e.g., United States v. Stone, 659 F.2d 569 (5th Cir. 1981); United States v. Ivey, supra; United States v. Klein, 592 F.2d 909 (5th Cir. 1979), searches of ships that have entered territorial waters conducted either within the territorial waters, see United States v. Williams, supra, 617 F.2d at 1096 (Rubin, J., specially concurring), or at the port where the ship first docks, United States v. Prince, 491 F.2d 655 (5th Cir. 1974), and searches of international mail at its port of entry, United States v. Pringle, 576 F.2d 1114 (5th Cir. 1978), fall within this category. See also United States v. Adams, 569 F.2d 924 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 967, 99 S.Ct. 457, 58 L.Ed.2d 426 (1978) (search of vehicle in National Park upheld on high probability it had just come into United States by crossing Rio Grande River). But cf. United States v. Whitmire, 595 F.2d 1303 (5th Cir. 1979) (search of ship at port not justifiable as border search where officers observed it only within U. S. waters). 34 Finally, we have allowed searches conducted within the border even after the first practicable detention point where supported by reasonable suspicion. The rationale for these cases, which sometimes use the extended border search terminology, is grounded in part on the fact that the border has been crossed and additionally on the special need of law enforcement officials to defer apprehension of those suspected of being engaged in illegal smuggling activities in circumstances where surveillance may lead them to  'higher ups' or other cohorts in the illegal enterprise, United States v. Fogelman, 586 F.2d 337, 348 (5th Cir. 1978), or to further evidence of the criminal activity. Such searches require reasonable certainty that a border crossing has occurred and that conditions have remained unchanged from the crossing until the search. United States v. Richards, supra, 638 F.2d at 772. Because searches so delayed may involve a greater invasion of privacy than searches at the border or first practicable detention point, however, they may be conducted without a warrant only if supported by reasonable suspicion. Id. n.4. Examples of this last category of search are United States v. Richards, supra (second search of package sent via international mail after defendant had claimed it from post office); United States v. Kenney, 601 F.2d 211 (5th Cir. 1979) (search of defendant's vehicle following observation of his crossing border at unstaffed point of entry on Rio Grande River and loading of vehicle with sacks reasonably suspected to contain marijuana); United States v. Walters, 591 F.2d 1195 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 442 U.S. 945, 99 S.Ct. 2892, 61 L.Ed.2d 317 (1979) (strip search of international passenger while still in airport fifty-five minutes after she passed through Customs enclosure); United States v. Fogelman, supra (search of truck following continuous surveillance after being loaded from ship that had crossed border); Government of Canal Zone v. Eulberg, 581 F.2d 1216 (5th Cir. 1978) (second search of vehicle offloaded from vessel arriving from Peru after initial inspection revealing contraband and following surveillance period during which appellant claimed vehicle from Customs); United States v. Martinez, 577 F.2d 960 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 914, 99 S.Ct. 288, 58 L.Ed.2d 262 (1978) (second search of international passengers' luggage after following passengers to airport parking lot where initial Customs probe had revealed cocaine in luggage). But cf. United States v. Johnson, supra, 588 F.2d 147 (search of duffle bag not justifiable as extended border search after surveillance of defendants following border crossing where officers had no reason to believe bag or its contents had crossed border). 35 The overlapping and inconsistent usage of the functional equivalent of the border language in our cases has cloaked this area of the law with an unnecessary complexity. For this reason, we now adopt a terminology for use in future cases that will eliminate the confusion. First, we decline to follow prior decisions in using the functional equivalent language to refer to Border Patrol or other checkpoint searches. These searches do not fit within the traditional definition of a border search, which refers to searches of persons, conveyances, or objects that have come into the United States from outside. See United States v. Ramsey, supra, 431 U.S. 606, 616-19, 97 S.Ct. 1972, 1978-1980, 52 L.Ed.2d 617. As we have already noted, checkpoint searches do not require that the object of the search have crossed the border. We thus choose to refer to such searches simply as checkpoint searches and not as searches at the functional equivalent of the border. 25 We view the functional equivalent of the border language as peculiarly appropriate to describe those searches that, although not conducted at the actual physical border, take place after a border crossing at the first practicable detention point. Such searches are truly border searches because their sole justification is the fact that the border has been crossed. Because the person, conveyance, or object is searched at the first place where it comes to rest within the country, it can truly be considered as having br(ought) the border with it. United States v. Brennan, supra, 538 F.2d at 715. Whether as a matter of the sovereign's grace or of the practical impossibility of stopping every entering person or object at the physical border such person or object is allowed to proceed to a point on the interior, the critical fact that the border has been crossed 26 remains unchanged. Moreover, the resumed expectation of privacy that generally accompanies one's assimilation into the mainstream of domestic activities has not yet developed when the search is conducted at the first practicable stopping point. Cf. United States v. Walters, supra, 591 F.2d at 1198 (degree of assimilation into domestic activities relevant in assessing reasonableness of extended border search). For these reasons, a search at such location can logically be considered as taking place at a functional equivalent of the border, and we therefore adopt that phrase to describe such searches. Finally, we believe it inappropriate to refer to searches conducted within the country at points other than the first practicable detention point as border searches or functional-equivalent-of-the-border searches. Such searches do not take place at the border, nor must they necessarily be near to it. Of course part of their justification lies in the fact that a border crossing has occurred. The delay in conducting such a search until the person has removed herself from the border area or port of entry makes the eventual unexpected search more intrusive, however, and therefore compels a requirement that those conducting the search have reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. Because searches in this category have a combined rationale and are not reasonable solely because the border has been crossed, compare United States v. Ramsey, supra, 431 U.S. at 619, 97 S.Ct. at 1980, they are not border searches in the traditional sense, either. Since the extended border search terminology has been used primarily in the context of this kind of search, we adopt that phrase to describe such searches. 36 Having attempted to distinguish the functional equivalent, extended border search, and checkpoint search doctrines, we must now consider their applicability to this case. Clearly the checkpoint search theory cannot be used to justify the search of appellants' aircraft since the location of the search was neither near the border nor a place at which stops or searches are regularly conducted. Although perhaps less obvious, under the record in this case we conclude that the search of appellants' plane did not take place at the functional equivalent of the border. After appellants' border crossing was observed by the Air Force on its radar network, their whereabouts were tracked until Major Hoge intercepted their plane. From there Hoge followed the plane until it landed at the airport on Rock Harbor Key. Had appellants been stopped at that point, the search would have occurred at the functional equivalent of the border because Rock Harbor Key was appellants' first landing point within this country. The government witnesses' testimony indicates, however, that no attempt was made to detain appellants at Rock Harbor Key. Rather, after being on the ground for a period of five to ten minutes, the plane was allowed to depart, at which point Customs took over the air surveillance operation. The eventual search at Sugar Loaf Key occurred neither at the place of first landing within the country nor at the first practicable detention point, see text supra at 865, and thus cannot be considered a search at the functional equivalent of the border. 27 Having eliminated both the checkpoint and functional equivalent theories as potential bases for upholding the search of appellants' aircraft, we are left with the extended border search doctrine as the sole remaining possible rationale. 37 The facts of this case fit neatly within the extended border search doctrine, which applies to searches conducted following a border crossing at points beyond the first practicable stopping point. As noted above, the extended border search doctrine has three elements: the government must prove that the object searched crossed the border, that its condition remained unchanged between the time of crossing and the time of the search, and that there was reasonable suspicion at the time of the search that the object was involved in criminal activities. Here, the government's evidence established with reasonable certainty that appellants' plane had crossed the border just before Major Hoge intercepted it. 28 Moreover, continuous surveillance of the plane by Air Force and Customs officials from the time of the crossing until its second landing indicates that the contraband found on the plane must have been present before the plane landed in the United States. See United States v. Richards, supra, 638 F.2d at 772. Appellants' plane was on the ground after its first landing for only five to ten minutes before it took off again. It is inconceivable that 918 pounds of contraband in large boxes could have been loaded onto the aircraft during that short period without the notice of Major Hoge. 29 Finally, the totality of the circumstances known to Customs officers at the time of the search at Sugar Loaf Key constituted reasonable suspicion that appellants were involved in drug smuggling. See id. Appellants had entered the United States by plane without filing a flight plan or otherwise notifying the government of their intended arrival. After landing at Rock Harbor Key they remained on the ground only briefly, and during the course of their subsequent flight they jettisoned several objects from the moving plane. A package that was ejected struck the windshield of the Customs plane, and Officer Cockes observed white powder streaming out of it. He also saw what he thought were maps, a navigation computer, and money being ejected from the plane. Although appellants later testified at the suppression hearing that they were unaware they were being followed, the Customs officers could reasonably have inferred that appellants departed from Rock Harbor Key to escape apprehension and that they threw the materials from the plane in an attempt to destroy evidence of illegal activities. Appellants' subsequent landing in a remote area and their immediate flight into the nearby bushes gave Customs further reason to suspect their involvement in illegal activities. Indeed, in light of all of these facts it would be difficult to arrive at any other conclusion. For the reasons above stated, we hold Customs' search of appellants' plane was justified as an extended border search. 38 Since we uphold the government's search of appellants' aircraft as an extended border search, we need not address whether the search was justified on the ground that appellants had abandoned the plane. Appellant Garcia argues that even if the search was otherwise constitutional it was invalid because Customs lacked statutory authority to conduct such a search. 30 The government correctly points out, however, that such authority is vested in Customs by 49 U.S.C. § 1509(b) and 19 C.F.R. § 6.10. 31 Hence, the search was statutorily authorized.