US Customs & Border Protection (CBP) agents have recently set up immigration checks in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont to question motorists about their citizenship status as part of immigration enforcement actions under the Trump administration.
CBP agents made nine drug seizures and two arrests for immigration violations during an 11-hour checkpoint Wednesday, reports CBS Boston.
During the weekend of June 15-17, five illegal aliens were arrested from “Brazil, China, Ecuador, El Salvador and Mexico,” according to CBS Boston.
The checkpoints are “a means of preventing smuggling organizations from exploiting existing transportation systems to travel to the interior of the United States,” the CBP said in a statement.
The Supreme Court has affirmed that the CBP can conduct immigration checks that are a “reasonable distance” of 100 air miles from U.S. borders and coastlines. Officers also have the ability to ask about their citizenship status irrespective of any suspicion.
“Travelers have the right to remain silent,” the CBP statement continued. “Travelers who cooperate are passed through quickly, unless the agent suspects they are in violation of federal law. Travelers who refuse to cooperate may be referred to a secondary examination area to allow agents to conduct additional questioning to determine the traveler’s citizenship or residency.”
The American Civil Liberties Unions in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont filed suit against the US Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement in May. They are seeking records concerning local immigration enforcement actions, including bus raids, checkpoints, ICE arrests at previously safe locations like courthouses, and the alleged targeted arrests of immigrants’ rights activists.