Opinion ID: 671503
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Proximity of the Area to the Border

Text: 17 Because Agent Jones encountered Lopez-Martinez less than sixty miles from the United States-Mexico border, the proximity of the stop to the border also weighs in favor of the reasonableness of Agent Jones' suspicion that Lopez-Martinez was en route from the border. See 8 CFR Sec. 287.1(a)(2) (defining reasonable distance under 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1357(a)(3), statute authorizing immigration officials to conduct warrantless stops, as within 100 air miles from any external boundary of the United States). Although we eschew any inflexible mile benchmark in considering the second Brignoni-Ponce factor, we find the federal regulations informative. In addition, there is a marked contrast in distances from the border between this case and U.S. v. Venzor-Castillo, 991 F.2d 634, 639 (10th Cir.1993), where we held that the agent lacked reasonable suspicion to conduct a stop 235 miles from border. See also Barbee, 968 F.2d at 1028 (upholding stop that occurred in vicinity of Truth of Consequences checkpoint, north of Las Cruces). 18