Advocates of America’s socialist immigration-control system oftentimes forget or ignore that their system comes with an immigration police state. At the risk of belaboring the obvious, a police state is the opposite of a free society.
In other words, there is not simply a sign at the international border that states “Do not enter.” If that’s all there was, foreigners would simply smile at the sign and proceed to enter the United States in violation of the sign. Instead, the government has to enforce the message contained in the sign. That’s where the immigration police state comes into play. The police state is intended to enforce America’s socialist immigration-control system.
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One aspect of this police-state system is domestic highway checkpoints, the same types of highway checkpoints that are found in countries ruled by communist or totalitarian regimes.
Under an immigration-control system, it’s logical that the government would have agents standing at established international crossing points. That’s where they determine if a person has the legal authority to enter the United States. If the person doesn’t have such authority, he is refused entry.
I grew up in Laredo, Texas, which is located on the U.S.-Mexico border. There was one bridge spanning the Rio Grande and connecting Laredo to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. There was a huge immigration-control station on the American side of the bridge. (There was also one on the Mexican side, although not as large.) When we returned from Nuevo Laredo in our vehicles, we would be required to stop and answer questions from federal immigration officials. They would ask if we were American citizens. Most of the time, they would wave us through. But other times, they required us to vacate the car and open the trunk. Under America’s socialist immigration system, they have the authority to conduct a complete search of one’s vehicle, one’s person, and one’s personal belongings, including computers.
Again, all this intrusion is logical from the standpoint of an immigration-control system. A simple “Do not enter” sign would not prevent foreigners from illegally entering the United States.
When one leaves Laredo and proceeds north on IH35, after about 40 miles he comes over a hill and encounters a surreal site. It’s a giant immigration-control station. Momentarily, one could get the distinct feeling that he’s traveling in Mexico and approaching the Mexico-U.S. border.
At that border-control station, it’s just like if you had traveled into Mexico and were returning across the international bridge. You are required to stop. An immigration official goes through the same routine that he does at the International bridge. He asks if you are an American citizen. Sometimes, he’ll order you to vacate your vehicle so that they can search it.
But there is something important to note about that station: Most of the people who travel through it are not returning from Mexico. Most of them are Laredoans or American citizens who have simply visited Laredo without entering Mexico. Nonetheless, they are subjected to these intrusive warrantless stops and warrantless searches.
If you’re an Anglo or driving a nice car, they’ll quickly wave you through. But if you’re dark-skinned and driving an old car, you had better have your papers with you because if you don’t, they will not let you through, especially if you can’t speak English. When we were growing up, we had a nanny who never learned English and who never learned how to drive. Although she was an American citizen, whenever she would travel north on the bus to visit my siblings in San Antonio and Dallas, she had to be sure she took her passport with her. If she forgot it, they would forcibly remove her from the bus and cart her back to Laredo.
And why do they have that highway checkpoint? Because after they established their immigration station at the international bridge, they discovered that Mexicans were circumventing it by trespassing on people’s farms and ranches and then getting into an automobile and head north. The highway checkpoint was intended to stop them from doing so.
These highway checkpoints are found in other border states as well. I was once traveling in Arizona on an interstate highway that ran east-west instead of north from the border. I encountered one of those immigration highway checkpoints there.
Make no mistake about it: While these checkpoints appear benign, they are anything but. Of sure, if you submit and comply with their orders, there is no problem. But if you refuse to answer their questions or submit your vehicle to a search, they will bust your window, forcibly drag you out of your car, sometimes beat you up for your recalcitrance, and then charge you with a criminal offense. There is nothing voluntary about these checkpoints.
Many years ago, I visited Cuba, which, of course, is ruled by a communist regime. They too have these types of highway checkpoints, where travelers are required to stop, show their papers, and be subjected to a search, just like here in the United States.
This is what every advocate of immigration controls should never forget — that it is this type of police-state tyranny that necessarily comes with a socialist system of immigration controls. It’s sort of like thunder that necessarily comes with lightening.
The post America’s Immigration Police State: Domestic Highway Checkpoints appeared first on The Future of Freedom Foundation.
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