[quote=no_such_reality][quote=bearishgurl]
Conversely, if you are a “Caucasian or Asian-looking” foreign driver who has a US-issued driver’s license driving a vehicle with a US-issued plate and you do not speak with a noticeable accent, you can probably pass thru these checkpoints with no problems.
Unfortunately, this is just the way it is :={[/quote]
Profiling is good.
Honestly, profiling is good. Profiling only is a problem when profiling becomes blinders.
Now, what percentage of illegal alien traffic coming over the southern border is Asian/Anglo-white?
It’s a circular argument to say the system is biased if it catches 90% of one ethnic group if in reality, the ethnic group is 90% of the violators.[/quote]
no_such_reality, these “checkpoints” are NOT set up on highways to/from the US/MX border. They are set up on an E/W bound US interstate where we, as Americans, have a God-given right to freely travel them to other points in this “great country” of ours.
I think the SW border of the US has become a “police state,” due to the “drug wars” that we will never win. These checkpoints don’t have sophisticated computers like the ones in CA. They depend on the eyes/ears of the officers, the noses of the dogs and phones/dispatch.
Here’s a recent night-driving example on eastbound I-10 in AZ:
HSO: Hi, ma’am, can I see your driver’s license? (FWIW: I don’t give the “appearance” of being “Hispanic.”)
Me: gives it to him. (Meanwhile large dog is slowly walked around my vehicle by second HSO.)
HSO: Is this your current address?
Me: Yes.
HSO: Is this your vehicle?
Me: Yes.
HSO: Where are you headed?
Me: TX.
HSO: Oh, where are you headed in TX?
Me: San Antonio.
HSO: Shines light in my vehicle on the four seats in it (pass seat with ice chest & back seats with kid and dog carrier. Kid asleep but now jolted awake). Young lady, is she your mom?
Kid: (groggily) Yes.
HSO: (goes around car and shines light in dog carrier). Is that a dog in the carrier?
Carrier: (Grrrr)
Me: Yes.
HSO: Okay, drive safe. Turn to the right of those cones and you’re on your way.
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Other time going thru with small U-haul trailer:
HSO: (ID checked . . . blah, blah.) What’s in the trailer?
Me: Oh, that’s my Aunt Mabel’s dresser and vanity that I promised to take to her this summer.
HSO: Where does she live?
Me: Ft. Smith, AR.
HSO: Why are you on I-10 instead of I-40?
Me: Well, because we’re going to take some big tools we borrowed last summer back to Uncle Fester in Wichita Falls first and stay there the weekend.
HSO: Ma’am, open up the trailer, please.
Me: (Opens it.)
HSO: Stand back please.
Me: (watch HSO shine a light in there and other HSO bring a dog in there.)
HSO: Okay, ma’am. You can close it. Stay in the right lane and drive safe.
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Piggs, it’s not that these agents are particularly interested in where you are going or what your “story is.” They DO speak Spanish but first attempt to engage you in a brief conversation in English to hear your English (unless you can’t speak English very well or at all).
The combination of your “profile” in their eyes and your brief “story” (answered without hesitation) has to make sense to them. If it does, they won’t ask for much more than your license.
Now, if I had given the appearance of being “Hispanic,” did not have a US driver license, could not readily access the proper documents or spoken broken or no English, I might be pulled into “secondary,” where I could search for my documents or my DL would be called into my home state (to see if it had been reported lost/stolen). Sure, NSR, this IS profiling but since it’s our Federal Gov’mt doing this, I’m not sure a citizen can do anything about it.
Comm’l vehicles undergo a slightly different procedure.
Again, I’ve traveled by road ALL MY LIFE and the SW corner of the nation has become a “police state,” IMO :={
