While DUIBlock.com confirmed the spot as a sobriety checkpoint, many Clevelanders spent hours on Facebook and Twitter arguing about whether or not a DUI checkpoint could be used to target undocumented immigrants.
ICE, meanwhile, said the rumors were false.
“These reports create panic and put communities and law enforcement personnel in unnecessary danger,” a spokesperson for ICE said.
Reports across the New England states have flooded in regarding immigration/citizenship checkpoints along highway roads, indicating that the Trump administration’s zero tolerance crackdown on undocumented immigrants is not isolated along the Mexico border.
Ohio has become ground zero for ICE workplace raids, so the thought of an immigration checkpoint moonlighting as a cause for sober public safety is not out of the question.
The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects Americans from random and arbitrary stops and searches. However, these basic constitutional principles do not apply fully at our borders. For example, at border crossings (also called “ports of entry”), federal authorities do not need a warrant or even suspicion of wrongdoing to justify conducting what courts have called a “routine search,” such as searching luggage or a vehicle.
While Cleveland is not close enough to a border to be considered a “port of entry,” we are within the 100-mile border zone. Meaning, Border Patrol can operate immigration checkpoints. Luckily, Border Patrol cannot pull anyone over without “reasonable suspicion” of an immigration violation or crime nor can they search vehicles in the 100-mile zone without a warrant or “probable cause” (a reasonable belief, based on the circumstances, that an immigration violation or crime has likely occurred).
Unfortunately, according to the ACLU, Border Patrol agents routinely ignore or misunderstand the limits of their legal authority in the course of individual stops, resulting in violations of the constitutional rights of innocent people.
Nearly two thirds of the American population live within the 100-mile border zone, areas that have been nicknamed “Constitution Free Zones” in reference to how frequently people feel their constitutional rights have been violated.
But what about DUI checkpoints?
While a sobriety checkpoint is not explicitly a trap for undocumented immigrants, it might as well be.
The most common crime committed by undocumented immigrants is driving without a license. As they are undocumented, it’s extremely difficult for them to obtain a driver’s license, which explains the influx of Washington state and New Mexico licenses, as they are the only two states in the nation that do not require proof of residency or a social security number to apply for a license.
If an undocumented immigrant is stopped at a sobriety checkpoint, their license will be run through the system. If they do not have a license, police will arrest them and take them into a county or local jail.
Once booked, ICE has a program called Secure Communities that runs the fingerprints of anyone booked into any county or local jail in the country through a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and FBI database to determine if they are in the country illegally or not.
If it is discovered that the suspect is an illegal alien, ICE will put a hold on them and generally pursue a deportation order.
So, yes, while last night’s checkpoint was a sobriety checkpoint, it very well could have been used to identify and target undocumented immigrants and the local police would have been well within their jurisdiction to do so.
This article appears in Jun 27 – Jul 3, 2018.
What social media accounts were “a flurry” about this fake story? Looks like the same revolutionaries supporting the establishment Dems and media driven protest movement.
They had a checkpoint in the same location on a date infamous for boozehounds behind the wheel. St. Patrick’s Day, right? WRONG. The date was February 14th…VALENTINE’S DAY.
All those romantic couples…busted after consuming too much wine?
While whispering sweet nothings and staring into each other’s eyes.
Only in Cleveland.
And what happens if you turn off Lorain or turn around?
Do you get chased and cuffed and hauled away?
Heads-up “David”… (same troll, different name)”revolutionaries”…whatever the hell they are, do not support “establish ment Dems”..get your head out of your posterior orifice for a change and wise up.
Radicals work for the corporate elite? That’s some powerful shit you’re smoking, dude.
If we don’t keep the borders open then how will we continue to get our heroin and fentanyl from (98%) is smuggled from Mexico)?
Without the open borders how will we continue to traffick humans by the tens of thousands every year?
I see someone has been overdosing on Fox News conspiracy theories and propaganda. Otherwise, how could you explain someone’s lack of concern over the rise in white supremacy in the US, which has led to numerous murders, but instead chooses to blame a rather small organization that picks fights with extreme right bigots at pro-Nazi rallies.
And how could you explain the thoroughly uninformed and ignorant statement that people who don’t agree with him are for “open borders.” Perhaps if you sought information elsewhere, you might better understand the position of Dems, etc., but I’m sure that won’t happen and I’m not going to do your homework for you.
But feel free to speak for groups you don’t understand. Believe it or not, the concern for immigrants by other people is concern for immigrants as well as the concern for the erosion of civil rights that the current administration threatens. Democrats support health care because they want to help sick people. They support child care because they care about kids. They want to pass equal pay laws because they want pay rates to be fair. But it’s not just Democrats who have come out against this racist targeting of immigrants from Spanish speaking countries. Many religious groups, conservative groups, conservative women, etc., are also concerned about the attacks on civil rights AND the victimization of the families of asylum seekers.
If you are so worried about law and order, I hope you are calling your Republican legislators daily to get them to do something about the president’s being in violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause since his first day in office, his personally enriching himself through public office, his kids doing the same, the EPA head’s many violations of ethics laws, etc., etc.
I’m afraid you’ve been misled Clint. Perhaps you and regular Democrats care about those things but the current people in charge of your party are using fake news and manipulated rhetoric to advance the agenda of globalism. I realize it’s complicated to understand and that it easier (and virtuous) to oppose the movement of white supremacy/nazis/bigots (whatever term you are using to embarrass and silence opposing voices) but I’m afraid you’ve been a victim of media hysteria once again. Sorry guy.
And YOU, Spamming Troll, are one of those “opposing voices”…right? So does that mean you are also a white suprecmacist Nazi bigot as well? The shoe certainly fits, along with that robe and hood, and the incessant whining about the evils of Communism.
The media isn’t hysterical…it’s YOU, pal, and all your anonymous one-shot usernames. And your little dog, too!
Lets see
It’s a Friday night on a holiday weekend and perhaps drivers might be drinking?
You silly liberals have to quit making things up in your minds and get a real life.
So I guess according to your silly thoughts they’ve been doing this checkpoint at the exact same place on holidays I guess they’ve been looking for ILLEGALS all this time?
JUST THINK IF THE ILLEGALS WOULD OF MADE A CHOICE TO ARRIVE HERE LEGALLY THEY WOULDN’T HAVE ANY CONCERNS OF THEM HAVING TO LOOK OVER THEIR SHOULDERS IN FEAR OF ARREST IS THEIR OWN FAULT.
Maybe if you’d made the choice not to post while intoxicated, you might have made sense, Daddio. And why do drunks ALWAYS HAVE TO SHOUT?