I, a U.S. citizen, was arrested by a U.S. Border Patrol Agent today

reply to post by mrroqout


Thanks again for all the info. I saw Wellton driving through, it seems fairly new, that valley used to be empty.

reply to post by 27jd


So are you still going to try and fight this losing battle? Me, I'd go to court act very meek explain that I have no past criminal activities, that I work and contribute to the community. Then just hope they are lenient and erase it from my record.

Fighting it will just make the hair on their backs bristle and you will more than likely be worse off than when you started.

I read the article linked and in said that in most cases the agents ASKED FOR CONSENT after the dogs reacted. Even if one got searched without consent, and a small amount of alleged contraband is found, there is a way to improve your chances of getting it all dropped.

Most people simply pay the fines and walk away disgusted with our governments perverted sense of ' justice' and the stormtroopers that bust people for a seed...the article quotes a border patrol agent who says that even a seed gets written up. Imagine the time spent to bother someone over a seed, for Gods sake. It should repulse even the most rabid right winger, just for the waste of time and money.

BUT, there IS a way!! The DA quoted says that almost a quarter of the cases are tossed because of the dubious legality of them...and this means a chance to get it all dropped. Worth a try!!

Yopu do NOT plead guilty and pay a fine. You insist on a trial. You also take advantage of the new Supreme Court ruling that says you can confront the lab chemist that certifies that the substance you were allegedly caught with is in fact the proscribed substance alleged.

Do you think that the Federal DA...or the local one for that matter, will pay to bring in not only the agent that wrote the ticket, but also the lab technician that examined the sample? NO WAY !! They will drop that minor few grams of whatever so fast it will make your head spin.

If EVERYONE that was ticketed for such petty nonsense, such stupid and wasteful and ignorant conduct by the cops and DA's..if EVERYONE demanded a trial, the DA's would scream at the top of their lungs for the agents to STOP this crap!!

If it COST THEM instead of US, it would all change. If all the people victimized by this outrage would stand firm and demand all rights and all possible personnel to be subpoeaned and flown to Bumnut Arizona or wherever, fed, housed and transported...all over a few bits of plant material.

Only a demented drug warrior, with no shame and no conscience about believing lies and fantasies could possible believe that the ' justice' system could withstand the huge surge in ' business' and still function in a sane fashion.

What are they going to do? Go to trial and spend thousands of dollars to get a minor pot conviction? Send another victimless, nonviolent' offender' off to prisons that are aleady overcrowded to bursting with the same types? Insane!!

Insanity is the only explanation for this system. Using vast public dollars to support petty busts to make revenue. What a way to make a living: Destroy the Constitution, abuse the public and make them hate cops, get a pat on the back for getting more meat for the grinder...for the lawyers and judges and cops..to sustain this legal thievery and gouging is sickening.

If Tony Soprano shakes you down, thats a crime. But let him wear a badge and it all OK. What a sick system. Avoid all areas where these scum operate and do not carry contraband; if you must vacuum seal it and lock it in a briefcase in the locked trunk and hope for the best.

Thats really all you can do until enough people get smart enough to use the system against itself to the point of implosion...and if all accused were to demand a trial, virtually all petty busts would go away. As the funds dwindle the crooks with the badges and robes will look elsewhere to rob the people.

Oh good lord - this has to one of the funniest threads I have read today - VERY funny.

You got busted for drugs because you HAD drugs - duhhhh - no real conspiracy here.

I thinks it is a good thing - less dope on the street - near my kids - and out of your system so when I meet you on the hiway I don't have to worry if you cracked up or not and are you going to slide across the center line cause 3 little green dwarfs told you to.

Here is the skinny sparky - only in America could you bitch about being busted for drugs even though they are illegal and you had them on you - WHAT THE HELL DID YOU EXPECT?

Damn - next time I bump a bank and get busted by a Macy's security guard because I had blue dye and 20's falling out of my pants I'm gonna bitch about how its wrong that I got pinched just because I did something illegal.

Where did your parents go wrong?

Dorian Soran

reply to post by UniversalTraveller


Apparently if you pay the fine, they dismiss the case, part of the streamlining. I won't even be speaking to the judge on an individual basis, so there really is nothing to fight. I'll pay my fine for my mistake, but i will also make my voice heard in every way i can. If enough people are alerted, maybe we can make a real difference.

reply to post by 27jd


Why even make your voice heard.. More than likely someone like Dorian Soran will be listening and whatever you say only digs you deeper in there ignorant eyes.

reply to post by Dorian Soran


I love your blanket use of the word drugs.. Also I dig how you bring his parents into this.. Also, 3 little green men? Sensationalize it a bit more you ignorant twit.

The best part is how you equate his smoking of a "NATURAL PLANT" with bank robbing.

Nice.. Very Nice..

Originally posted by Dorian Soran
I thinks it is a good thing - less dope on the street - near my kids - and out of your system so when I meet you on the hiway I don't have to worry if you cracked up or not and are you going to slide across the center line cause 3 little green dwarfs told you to.

You are the one who allows his/her decisions to be made for them, whether it's little green dwarfs or the movie Reefer Madness, they are both decisions made on the basis of fantasy. Also, chief, for your information, after they sieze the drugs and write the ticket, the driver is sent on their way, in their car, back on the road to meet you on the highway. They don't even ask if you're under the influence of whatever they took, so you can be sure this checkpoint was not erected with the safety of you or your children in mind.

reply to post by 27jd


No offense to your point of being willingly to pay the fine but that is not how the fight will be won, the fight is won when god fearing people stand up against this by getting attorney's and the media involved. If you are willing to pay the fine then you deserve to be ticketed again and again. I am not a "hater" of you or your thread but I get very upset when those who scream "Not Fair" but yet do not stand up and fight against it.

Example: while atending a sporting event I was harassed by a cop for being let out of the car while in the parking strcuture of the event center, I challenged the cop to either fined me or go about his business, he fined me, I took it to court and won against the bs.

Another, I was at a park with a friend at midnight on our way home from visiting others, didn't know there was a law on the books that you can't be on/in the park after midnight, when the cop started to ask personal questions that had nothing to do with me being at the park I challenged him so he detained me, fined me so I took it to court again and won!

If you don't stand up to the wrong doings of the BP, Cops and governement regardless of the punishment you will never be free. That is just my opinion.
I again am not hating on you or your thread but simply saying why not fight it if you did nothing wrong?

[edit on 06/03/2009 by Rams59lb]

Originally posted by Rams59lb
No offense to your point of being willingly to pay the fine but that is not how the fight will be won, the fight is won when god fearing people stand up against this by getting attorney's and the media involved.

Problem is, the attorneys i have spoken to want to charge 2,000 dollars up front that i don't have, just to get my ticket reduced and i wouldn't have to appear in Wellton, but they have all said it is fully legit legally. Like somebody else said, they are in on the scam. I'm going to fight this checkpoint, trust me on that, in every legal way I can find as an AZ voter. I'm certainly not going to just let it go, but right now the only thing i can afford to do is pay the ticket, and look into the situation and see if there are any class action suits in the works, etc. But I fully understand your point in the need to fight this violation of all of our rights, but it's going to take alot more people than just myself.

[edit on 6-8-2009 by 27jd]

reply to post by 27jd


No doubt, you are right it is going to take a hell of a lot more people to get angry about this but until it effects them personally they will not stand up to fight. Instead they will attack you and Steven Anderson as they did after my earlier post as a money grabber. BTW, I had to return to Cali to fight the ticket I got in the parking lot in Anaheim but took the time off from work, drove down there forcing the cop to explain how I could get a ticket for J-walking in a parking structure lol... DisMissed!

I live in Nevada, I have a few friends that like to go to Yuma often, they've told me about the check points after inviting me on their trips and I have flatly refused to have to deal with those kinds of intrusons.

Good Luck to you and ignore the lazy do nothing haters. Karma will come around to them soon enough.

So - I have a question.

We've established these check points with dogs have been around for at least 20 years.

You have stated you've driven through them many times - and were waved through.

Your objection is a dog sniffed your car - and when they searched it they found something illegal.

You never answered my previous question - did they ask if they could search your car?

So only after you were caught with contraband and arrested - - are you here on ATS siting violation of constitutional rights.

Am I to assume the checkpoints are or were fine - until you got targeted?

reply to post by Rams59lb


According to mrroqout, they dismiss the case if you pay the fine, which is the minimum, 400 dollars and no record. But if you fight it they can hit you with more. I would go broke and still lose fighting this that way.

reply to post by Annee


Yea Anne, he saw this going on and didn't know his rights were being taken away. He didn't realize his right to carry an illegal substance was being crapped on until he got busted for it.

Good point, but as you know a criminal will only cry when they are done wrong.

P.S. He wasn't arrested. He states himself he was never booked. How is that going to go on his record when they can't even find a set of prints or photo that records his arrest? Hell, he isn't even going to see the Judge. The guy is a liar, as is most habitual criminals.

I've driven past this same checkpoint like 6 times in the past few months, and I was never bothered, I agree that the Border Partol should not arrest citizens, but drugs are drugs and drug sniffing dogs are just doing their job, I suspect you want to move to california because it's the loosest state on marijuana, well have fun in a bankrupt state, I wouldn't be surprised if california does the same thing soon, to try to make some money, I heard AZ is almost bankrupt itself this is probably why they've done this.

Originally posted by Annee
You never answered my previous question - did they ask if they could search your car?

Again, i've passed them before, but they never had dogs running the line and sniffing every car, ever. If you looked suspect, they would have you pull to the side, THEN they might bring a dog. Dogs were never used in this manner before at that checkpoint. I hope you're not REALLY as dense as you seem. And a dog hit constitutes probable cause, they are deputized, they don't need to ask permission. My adrenaline was a bit high, but i do not remember being asked consent, they told me the dog signal gives them the right to search.

reply to post by Razimus


Yes, it is bankrupt as well. I would rather my tax money go towards california's debt though, than this police state.

reply to post by jd140


Do you have some sort of cognitive issue that causes you to repeat the same nonsense, over and over again? Is your memory just screwed up from all the brainwashing? Oh yeah, i forgot you're junk sick, fresh off the chewing tobacco. Well, you're still spitting crap out of your mouth, just onto the keyboard instead of in a spitoon.

I was arrested. You do not have to be taken to jail, to be placed under arrest. I'm not lying. If i was going to lie, why wouldn't i say they tazed me too, or were at least extremely rude to me? They were polite and professional, and one joked with me about how Sea World sucks now because they don't give out free beer anymore. I do not blame ANYBODY but myself for MY situation, BUT the running of dogs by EVERY car up the line to the checkpoint itself, is what I feel is unconstitutional within our borders. But you're far too ignorant to ever let yourself see that point.