Man arrested by Border Patrol...lawful arrest?

[FlyingHunter]

Other than for the purpose of securing the border - at the border - domestic checkpoints are unconstitutional, period.

Truth

[ramairthree]

I have no experience with drug sniffing dogs.

I have lots of time involved with working dogs searching for other things.

Assuming there is no magical difference between dogs alerting to drugs vs. something else:

Dogs do sometimes appear to alert when the handler seems very excited or very frustrated, but nothing is found.

Dogs do sometimes appear to alert when nothing is found and it looks like nothing could possibly have been there.

For the sake of argument, say neither of the above ever happens dogs only alert if the scent of the intended target is present. They never alert in the absence of the intended scent. They are never prompted or influenced by their handler to alert.

I have seen dogs alert, and you find what you are looking for.

I have seen more time spent searching and finding nothing after the dog alerts though. But mostly when that happens it looks like something HAD been there that the dog should have alerted on. It just was not there anymore.

People with years of experience as handlers with drug sniffing dogs have flat out said that in their experience, dogs often alert to where a substance might have been, used to be, etc.

So, lets look at the checkpoints.

Why should I be subjected to a warrantless search, or detained to wait for a warrant, based on a dog alerting to the trunk of a rental car when the guy that had it last week had a suitcase of hash in there. Or because my wife's medical marijuana friend from college visited who always reeks of weed sat in the car yesterday when my wife took her to the airport. Or because a guy that had just toked up a bunch tried to open my door handle at the gas station a few miles back trying to open my door thinking it was his car?

A random guy on the road, not a suspect in anything,
is stopped to look for immigration issues that are not enforced,
or to check for a license or registration when it is not really for that just to see if he is drunk,

has a dog sniff his car when there is probable cause or reasonable suspicion for nothing.

Why is he subject to the sniffing?

Why is the dog alerting,
on what is fully known to often be alerting on something that is not there, no longer there, not even related to the person in the car,
grounds for a warrantless search or PC to detain and get a warrant for a search.

The reality is,
much like the "I smell alcohol" or "I smelled marijuana" line,
it is a means to subject random, non suspects to warrantless searches.
Or detain them with PC for a warrant.

It is a means to circumvent constitutional rights.

[SilverBullet432]

Damn good point. ^