Judge Rejects Drug Searches at Checkpoints

A federal judge Friday rejected the U.S. government’s bid to give the Border Patrol authority to make drug searches at the two immigration checkpoints on major freeways leaving the San Diego area.

In a major victory for civil libertarians, Judge J. Lawrence Irving ruled that the government’s request to use the checkpoints for both immigration and drug-related stops of motorists violated the Constitution, particularly Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure.

Defense attorneys opposing the government’s motion had argued that expanded narcotics jurisdiction at the checkpoints--located in the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 near San Clemente and of Interstate 15 in southern Riverside County--ultimately could give U.S. officials broad authority to set up drug checkpoints almost anywhere in the nation.

“Despite the gravity of the drug-trafficking problem and the brevity of the proposed stops,” Irving wrote in his 16-page decision, “this court cannot condone the evisceration of the Fourth Amendment by allowing permanent checkpoints to serve the ‘dual purpose’ of permitting Border Patrol officers to investigate both immigration and narcotics violations.”

The decision was applauded by Betty Wheeler, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial counties, who called the government’s request yet another example of the assault on individual rights associated with the anti-drug efforts.