What are my rights at an immigration checkpoint within the US?

March 7, 2013 7:52 AM

This video of people refusing to answer questions at immigration checkpoints within the US--not at borders--was the subject of a bOINGbOING post, but it's not clear to me what my actual rights are and what the proper behavior is, if, indeed, I have the right to refuse to cooperate.

I live in Texas, though I rarely go close enough to the border to encounter these checkpoints (though I have encountered them in the past). I would like to know my legal rights, but the video doesn't spell that out. I would like to decline to cooperate if I have the legal right, but I don't want to come across as douchey as some of the people in the video. I would like to know the proper wording and procedure to follow, if I can legally decline.

I know that you are not my lawyer (YANML?), but some authoritative sounding advice would be nice.

posted by tippiedog to Law & Government (3 answers total)

Response by poster: Looks like that video contains at least two kinds of checkpoints: immigration check and some sort of produce checkpoint (California?). Let's stick with immigration.
posted by tippiedog at 7:56 AM on March 7, 2013

That video was the subject of a recent FPP where this was discussed a bit, IIRC.
posted by hoyland at 8:00 AM on March 7, 2013

Response by poster: Before posting, I limited my search to AskMeFi. hoyland, I just discovered the MeFi FPP.

Thanks, never mind.
posted by tippiedog at 8:02 AM on March 7, 2013