Opinion ID: 204528
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Cases In Which We Have Found Reasonable Suspicion

Text: In United States v. Garcia, [19] we were presented with the following articulation of facts. The vehicle that was stopped was carrying a camper, which are commonly used to transport aliens. The camper had an unusually heavy and overloaded appearance and its windows were fogged, indicating that it contained living beings. The particular stretch of highway where the vehicle was stopped was a common alien-transporting route. The passengers had an unwashed and unkempt appearance, and they ducked and avoided detection by the officers. The vehicle was stopped at a late hour and was traveling at an unusually slow speed. We noted that a vital element is the belief on the part of the officers that the vehicle came from the border, which was lacking, but we were convinced that the surfeit of evidence outlined above was sufficient to overcome this obstacle. In United States v. Nichols, [20] the officer articulated the following facts, which we held constituted reasonable suspicion. The car was carrying a toolbox, and this officer had previously made arrests when he found illegal aliens concealed in such a container. The truck was about 30 miles from the border on a road that was notorious for transporting aliens, and the only improvements within 20 miles of the stop were ranches. The vehicle was further suspicious because it was a work truck, yet it lacked a company logo, was unusually clean, and was on the road a half-hour earlier than utility vehicles normally appear. The defendant stopped for 25 seconds at a stop sign and did not look at the officers when they shined their headlights on his truck. The traffic at the time was light, yet the defendant was traveling at an unusually slow speed, and he swerved off the road twice while he was being followed. In United States v. Orozco, [21] the government articulated the following facts, which we held were sufficiently suspicious to justify the stop. The arresting officer had personally apprehended twenty loads of illegal aliens in the same area in the previous five months and knew that a majority of the transporters of aliens pass through this particular stretch of I-20 on weekends between 9 A.M. and 10 A.M., precisely when the defendant was stopped. The truck appeared to be heavily loaded, the tires were underinflated, the bed was covered with a tarp, and the spare tire was on the back seat so as to make room for a large cargo in the bed of the truck. The driver was weaving and bouncing, and was evasive and would not respond to the officer when he honked and displayed his uniform. Although the traffic stop was made a significant distance from the border (200 to 300 miles), we held that this evidence was sufficient to constitute reasonable suspicion despite its lack of border proximity. In United States v. Morales, [22] we were satisfied that the arresting officer articulated sufficient facts. In that year alone, he had apprehended more than 600 aliens on the notorious stretch of the highway. The vehicle bounced over bumps and the tires were underinflated, indicating that the vehicle was carrying a heavy load. The vehicle had a fiberglass cover, which is common when transporting aliens. The driver was behaving suspiciously: He did a double take and slowed down when he saw the officer and began swerving in the road after that. The agents were further suspicious because the vehicle was passing through the area at a time of the day when it was common to transport aliens, and because the officer ran the vehicle's registration and discovered it was registered to someone named Philips, which did not match the driver's Hispanic appearance. In United States v. Cardona, [23] we affirmed the denial of the motion to suppress. The vehicle was stopped close to the border. It was riding low, even though there only appeared to be two persons in the vehicle. The trunk lock had been removed, which the agents surmised was an attempt to allow for free flow of air to apparently concealed passengers. The driver slowed down and started weaving when he saw the officers. In United States v. Inocencio, [24] we were convinced of reasonable suspicion by the following facts. The vehicle had triggered a sensor designed to identify vehicles avoiding routine traffic. The owner of the ranch where the car was spotted had specifically identified the vehicles that were authorized to access the private ranch road, and this vehicle was not one of them. Furthermore, the defendant's vehicle was an unfamiliar and atypical oil-field vehicle with no company logos. The agents did not recognize the driver, and he was wearing clean work clothes. The government also advanced that there was an apparent lead car-load car configuration. In United States v. Villalobos, [25] we confronted a situation in which the car was stopped close to a notorious area of the border at 2:20 A.M. The officers were working from a tip that described this specific type of car, and they did not otherwise recognize it as local. The car had a temporary tag, which is something that alien transporters often use, and it appeared to be part of a lead car-load car configuration. The driver decelerated when he saw the officers, even though he had not been speeding previously. In United States v. Jacquinot, [26] we confirmed reasonable suspicion, even though the vehicle was found 75 miles from the border. There was strong support that the vehicle had come from the border because it had activated sensors close to the border, and there were no major roads intersecting the highway between the border and the point where the defendant was stopped. Moreover, the defendant was driving a work truck before 6 A.M. on a Sunday morning, which is highly unusual. The defendant slowed to 15 miles per hour below the speed limit when he noticed the officer, even though the driver had not previously been speeding. The driver stopped at a stop sign for five seconds and then made an unusual turn. The vehicle was even more suspicious because it did not have a park sticker, which would have indicated that it was carrying tourists, and because it bore a Kansas license plate, and the agent knew that much drug smuggling had been destined for Kansas. In United States v. Chavez-Chavez, [27] we affirmed based on the following facts. The vehicle was stopped close to a checkpoint. The vehicle was a van, which is commonly used in alien trafficking, and it had rigid suspension, which the officers knew to be common in alien transporting because that allows the vehicle to carry more passengers without sagging. The passengers had a dirty appearance at 8 A.M., which more likely indicates that they had been in the brush for an extended period of time rather than that they had been working very early in the morning. In United States v. Zapata-Ibarra, [28] the panel majority held that the government articulated sufficient facts to constitute reasonable suspicion. The van was stopped close to the border on a road that had a reputation for alien transporting. The van was registered in San Angelo, which was suspicious because the driver appeared to be taking an indirect route to San Angelo so as to avoid the more heavily-patrolled roads. The van contained numerous passengers, and they appeared to be slouching (although we gave this fact little weight because the passengers could have been sleeping). In United States v. Muniz-Ortega, [29] we affirmed the denial of the suppression motion based on the following facts. The vehicle that was driving away from the Rio Grande River was a large, flat-bed truck, which is uncommon in this area but for the transportation of illegal aliens. The truck had taken on fresh mud and exhibited debris and scratches, indicating that it had recently been off road in the vicinity of the border. When the driver noticed the officer, he immediately turned his head away. In United States v. Galvan-Torres, [30] we confronted a situation in which the officers encountered the vehicle close to the border on a sparsely traveled road known for drug smuggling. The vehicle was discovered after midnight and in close proximity to another car. When the officers turned around to observe the vehicles, they noticed that one of the vehicles had been freshly abandoned with its occupants fleeing. In United States v. Samaguey, [31] we held that reasonable suspicion existed based on the following facts. The vehicle appeared to have come from the border because it seemed to be the vehicle that had tripped periodic sensors for hours. A lone Hispanic male was driving, and the vehicle was registered in someone else's name, both facts that are common among drug smugglers. Furthermore, the vehicle was traveling on a sparsely traveled road, and it proceeded below the speed limit after the driver saw the patrol car.